Contents: 1. Introduction. 2. Basic nutrients. 3. Vitamins. 4. Non-nutrient components in vegetables, fruits, spices and their significance. 5. Quantum of food and longevity. 6. Effect of cooking. 7. Nutritional and medicinal values of vegetables. 8. Nutritional and medicinal values of spices. 9. Nutritional and medicinal values of fruits. 10. Nutritional and medicinal values of oil seeds and nuts. 11. Nutritional and medicinal values of pulses. 12. Medicinal values of some food plant parts. 13. Merits and demerits of non-nutrients. 14. Epilogue. Selected references. List of names of plant foods in English, Latin and Sanskrit. Index.
"A plethora of scientific literature existed scatteredly on the biological activities of basic nutrients and medicinal compounds present in different types of plant foods. The author of this book has collected those information for as many as 128 plant food items. Nutritional and medicinal values of 85 and only medicinal values of 45 plant foods have been presented in this book. These plant foods are vegetable, spices, fruits, oilseeds, nuts, beverages, mouth freshener etc.
"Some of the well known plant foods for which nutritional and medicinal values have been elaborated are Onion, Garlic, Carrot, Chilli, Cabbage-Cauliflower, Bitter gourd, Cluster bean, French bean, Pea, Spinach; Black pepper, Clove, Turmeric, Ginger, Fenugreek; Pineapple, Papaya, Apple, Pear, Mango, Guava, Grape, Citrus; Groundnut, Mustard, Sesame, Cashew nut, Walnut; Lentil, Bengal gram, Pigeon pea, Soyabean; Asparagus, Neem leaf, Thyme leaved gratiola, Gotu kola, Indian cassia, Cinnamon, Coffee, Tea, Coco, Licorice, Asafoetida, Star anise, Black cumin, Cubeb, Betel leaf etc.
"The unique feature of this book is that it contains detailed elaborations of bioactivities of mineral nutrients, vitamins and medicinal compounds which provide protective to human beings from various ailments and/or physical disorders like cancer, problems of cardio-vascular systems, rise or fall of blood pressure, rise of blood sugar, platelet aggregation, problems of digestive, urinary, bronchial and memory systems. In addition, readers will know about the plant food sources containing antioxidants, (cancer preventives), antimutagens and antiviral compounds.
"This book will be of immense practical use to health professionals, dieticians, nutrition scientists, medical students and teachers of all the branches, experts of sports medicines, physios of all types of games, health conscious ladies and gentlemen and the public at large." (jacket)