Berries and Berry Bioactive Compounds in Promoting Health

The area of research on the health benefits of berries, their bioactive compounds and their related metabolites has exploded in the last 20 years resulting in new knowledge in the understanding of their metabolism, molecular mode of action as well as their clinical significance in promoting health and preventing chronic disease.

Berries and Berry Bioactive Compounds in Promoting Health, reviews state-of-the-art research findings on this exponentially growing area. This comprehensive book brings together international experts in their corresponding fields with cutting-edge reviews. Exploring the effects and mechanisms of action of berry bioactive compounds and their metabolites on different body systems and chronic diseases, including their role on gut microbiota and eventual effect on health is the focus of this book. Unique topics covered, include the chemistry and analytical methods of detection of berry bioactive compounds, bioavailability, metabolism and factors that affect them including individual variability, their interaction with the gut microbiome, and their role and mechanism(s) of action on chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome and obesity-induced inflammation, and cancer as well as neuroprotection and wound healing.

It will be of benefit to scientists conducting research in the area of berries and their bioactive compounds on health and disease and for health care professionals, nutritionists, dietitians and clinical researchers, nutraceutical and natural food product developers (industry) and food regulators.

Professor Klimis-Zacas received her PhD in 1982 at Pennsylvania State University and now is Professor of Clinical Nutrition at the School of Food and Agriculture, The University of Maine, USA. Her professional interests are nutritional physiology and biochemistry, nutrition and vascular function and metabolism and berry bioactives and their role on chronic disease (cardiovascular, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome). She teaches on food and nutrition, medical nutrition therapy, trace minerals, and lipids, diet and cardiovascular disease. Recent research in her laboratory targets vascular nutrition, nutritional biochemistry and clinical nutrition, in an attempt to unravel mechanisms of bioactive compounds in berries in attenuating oxidative stress, endothelial dysfunction and inflammation, the cause of several chronic diseases.

Dr Rodriquez-Mateos received her PhD from the University of Reading in 2006 which lead to her doing further postdoctoral research. In 2012, she became Research Group Leader at the University of Duesseldorf, Germany. Since 2016, she has been Lecturer in Nutrition at King’s College London with research interests including the influence of diet on cardiovascular disease prevention, effects of polyphenols and other plant food bioactives on cardiovascular health and mechanisms of action, the bioavailability of dietary phytochemicals and analysis of food components and biological samples using chromatography and mass spectrometry techniques /metabolomics.