Ayurvedic Science of Food and Nutrition [recurso electrónico

Ayurveda is widely considered to be one of the oldest health care traditions still in practice today. Originating in India over 3,000 years ago, it is now increasingly recognized and practiced globally including in many European countries and the United States. Food and nutrition play a crucial role in the health care wisdom of Ayurveda. The __Ayurvedic Science of Food and Nutrition__ discusses the various principles of healthy eating as prescribed by Ayurveda. Divided into three sections, it addresses the fundamentals, the clinical applications, and the future challenges of Ayurveda. Specifically, the book discusses issues such as the concept of diet, the use of food as medicine, especially to treat diabetes and cancer, convalescent food practices, and fasting therapy. The __Ayurvedic Science of Food and Nutrition__ is unique in that it is one of the only books to investigate the scientific rationale behind Ayurveda, enabling this health care tradition to potentially be incorporated into a Western clinical practice model when this latter conventional therapy is found to be ineffective. In our modern society, expectations are high, also with respect to our daily diet. In addition to being merely "nutritious", i.e. supplying a variety of essential nutrients, including macro-nutrients such as proteins or micro-nutrients such as minerals and vitamins, it is almost expected that a good diet offers further advantages - especially well-being and health and the prevention of chronic diseases, which are, as we generally tend to grow older and older, becoming a burden to enjoying private life and to the entire society. These additional qualities are often sought in diets rich also in non-nutritive components, such as phytochemicals. In contrast to drugs, which are taken especially to cure or ameliorate diseases, it is expected that a healthy diet acts in particular on the side of prevention, allowing us to become old without feeling old. In the present book, rather then trying to give an exhaustive overview on nutritional aspects and their link to well-being and health, selected topics have been chosen, intended to address presently discussed key issues of nutrition for health, presenting a reasonable selection of the manifold topics around diet, well-being, and health: from the antioxidants polyphenols and carotenoids, aroma-active terpenoids, to calcium for bone health, back to traditional Chinese Medicine. Ayurveda is widely considered to be one of the oldest health care traditions still in practice today. Originating in India over 3,000 years ago, it is now increasingly recognized and practiced globally including in many European countries and the United States. Food and nutrition play a crucial role in the health care wisdom of Ayurveda. The Ayurvedic Science of Food and Nutrition discusses the various principles of healthy eating as prescribed by Ayurveda. Divided into three sections, it addresses the fundamentals, the clinical applications, and the future challenges of Ayurveda. Specifically, the book discusses issues such as the concept of diet, the use of food as medicine, especially to treat diabetes and cancer, convalescent food practices, and fasting therapy. The Ayurvedic Science of Food and Nutrition is unique in that it is one of the only books to investigate the scientific rationale behind Ayurveda, enabling this health care tradition to potentially be incorporated into a Western clinical practice model when this latter conventional therapy is found to be ineffective. About the Editor Sanjeev Rastogi is associate professor at the State Ayurvedic College and Hospital of Lucknow University, in Lucknow, India. Part I. Ayurvedic Fundamentals of Food and Nutrition.- Ayurvedic Principles of Food and Nutrition: Translating the Theory into Evidence Based Practice.- The Basic Tenets of Ayurvedic Dietetics and Nutrition.- Concept of Diet in Ayurveda and its implications to the modern world.- Applying Ayurvedic Eating Principles to the Science of Stress linked Food Behavior.- Part II. Integrated food science and its clinical application.- Integrating the Science and Art of Using Food as Medicine.- Integrated Food and Nutrition in the Management of Diabetes.- Convalescent Food Practices in Ayurveda.- Food based interventions for cancer management - an Ayurvedic perspective.- Food Based Therapeutics: A Converging Paradigm of Traditional and Modern Food Science.- Fasting as a Curative Practice: Historical, Traditional and Contemporary Perspective.- Part III. Ayurvedic Food Science: Challenges of proving its uniqueness in the purview of Science.- A scientific examination of western dietary practices as they relate to food practices in Ayurveda.- From book to bedside: Challenges of translating Ayurvedic science of food and nutrition for the common benefits. Dietary derived antioxidants : implications on health / Jaouad Bouayed and Torsten Bohn Antioxidant and pro-oxidant effects of polyphenolic compounds and structure-activity relationship evidence / Estela Guardado Yordi, Enrique Molina Pérez, Maria João Matos and Eugenio Uriarte Villares Whole grain consumption and health of the lower gastrointestinal tract : a focus on insoluble-bound phenolic compounds / Neal Okarter Nutrition and bone health in old age / Manuel Díaz-Curiel, María J. Moro-Álvarez and Susana Sana-Baena Potato antioxidant compounds : impact of cultivation methods and relevance for diet and health / by Danièle Evers and Hannah Deußer Beneficial effects of fragrances in beverages on human health / Hitoshi Aoshima The therapeutic benefits of essential oils / Abdelouaheb Djilani and Amadou Dicko Functional foods based on traditional chinese medicine / Chunyan Yao, Ruiwen Hao, Shengli Pan and Yin Wang Health-promoting food ingredients and functional food processing / Lizhe Want and Torsten Bohn. Universal applicability of ideas and concepts Non-traditional approach to health and nutrition Provides insight into Ayurvedic medicine