Bioactives in Fruit

For centuries we have known that fruit is important forhealth, but we are only just beginning to fully understandwhy. Bioactives in Fruit: Health Benefits andFunctional Foods aims to summarise some of ourcurrent knowledge on the bioactive compounds that areassociated with the health benefits of specific fruits with astrong emphasis on the validation of health benefits by humanintervention trials. Reflecting the current interest in foodand health, the book includes strategies to retain and enhancethe bioactives in fruit through breeding, growing conditions, fruit storage, processing into ingredients and production offunctional foods. To accomplish this task authors with expertise in biology, chemistry, pharmacology, food science, nutrition, medicine, and horticulture have contributed. They come fromuniversities, government and industry fundedresearch institutes and biotechnology and food companies inEurope, the United States, Asia and New Zealand to give thebook a broad perspective. This book, describing fruit bioactives, theirhealth benefits when consumed as a food and related topicsregarding their development into fresh or processed functionalfoods, will be of use to postgraduate students, researchers, functional food product developers, foodregulators and anyone who has curiosity about why fruit isgood for you. The information contained within willprovide plant breeders with new targets for the development ofvalue-added horticultural products, and will also providenutritionists and dieticians with a useful resource fordeveloping strategies to assist in preventing orslowing disease onset or severity. Bioactives inFruit: Health Benefits and Functional Foods is amajor resource which will be required reading for anyoneworking in the fields of health and functional foods.