The Functional Foods: Nutrient and Health Benefits (Innovations in Plant Science for Better Health: From Soil to Fork)

The consumption of functional foods is growing in the health and wellness communities because of their range of potent nutrients and health advantages, such as the ability to shield against illnesses, stop vitamin deficiencies, and encourage healthy growth and development.

This new volume discusses the nutritional and health benefits of functional foods. The volume first looks at the functional activities of plants and their derivatives, discussing microgreens as functional foods as well as functional foods for certain populations, including those involved in sports and the elderly. The volume includes chapters on antiviral activities of functional foods for first helping to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19 as well as combating the disease once contracted. Several chapters detail the beneficial antidiabetic activities of plants, looking particularly at mushrooms and guava. Probiotics as functional foods for human health is investigated as well, discussing the role of probiotics in gut microflora, probiotics as dietary supplements, various extraction methods, and more. Finally, the volume addresses the quality aspects of functional foods, providing an overview of foodborne pathogens and food-related microorganisms.

This volume will aid experts working in food science and technology, agricultural science, food safety, and Ayurveda around the world. It will be of interest and use to professional food scientists, nutritionists and dieticians, academicians researching food engineering problems, and graduate-level students in related fields.

Megh R. Goyal, PhD, PE, is a Retired Professor in Agricultural and Biomedical Engineering from the General Engineering Department in the College of Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico–Mayaguez Campus. He has worked as a Soil Conservation Inspector and as a Research Assistant at Haryana Agricultural University and Ohio State University. He was the first agricultural engineer to receive the professional license in Agricultural Engineering from the College of Engineers and Surveyors of Puerto Rico and was proclaimed as the "Father of Irrigation Engineering in Puerto Rico for the twentieth century" by the ASABE, Puerto Rico Section, for his pioneering work on micro irrigation, evapotranspiration, agroclimatology, and soil and water engineering. During his professional career of over 52 years, he has received many prestigious awards. A prolific author and editor, he has written more than 200 journal articles and several textbooks and has edited over 100 books.

Junaid Ahmad Malik, PhD, is a Lecturer with the Department of Zoology at Government Degree College, Bijbehara, Kashmir (J&K), India, and is actively involved with teaching and research activities. He has more than eight years of research experience. His areas of interest are ecology, soil macrofauna, wildlife biology, conservation biology, etc. Dr. Malik has published over 20 research articles and technical papers in international peer-reviewed journals and has authored and edited books, book chapters, and more than 10 popular editorial articles. He also serves as an editor and reviewer of several journals. He has participated in several state, national, and international conferences, seminars, workshops, and symposia and has more than 20 conference papers to his credit. He is a life member of the Society for Bioinformatics and Biological Sciences.

Anu Kumari, MTech, is working as Assistant Professor (Dairy Engineering) in the Department of Dairy Engineering at Warner College of Dairy Technology, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj, U.P., India. She is currently working on the development of biocomposites for food and dairy products, process mechanization of dairy equipment, mathematical modeling, image analysis technique, rheology of food and dairy products, by-product utilization of agricultural commodity, and baking of food and dairy products. She previously served at Dairy Science College, KVAFSU, Hebbal, Bengaluru, as Assistant Professor. She has guided 12 postgraduate students and co-guided several master scholars in dairy and food technology. She has participated in several national and international conferences and seminars and has published more than 50 papers, book chapters, etc. She has received several awards for her work. She has served at several universities as an external examiner and paper setter for dairy engineering courses. She gained experience at Feeder Balancing Dairy, Patna Dairy Project (Sudha Dairy), Bihar, India; Mother Dairy Fruits and Vegetable Pvt. Ltd., Patparganj, New Delhi; Experimental Dairy at ICAR-NDRI, Karnal, etc. She earned her degree in Dairy Technology at Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences (SHUATS) and her MTech in Dairy Engineering at ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, India.