Investigation on Nepalese Herbs, Spices, Food and Food Ingredients

for their efficacy as a Nutraceutical and Functional foods

A DRAFT RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Prepared and submitted by

Department of Food Technology and Quality Control

Ministry of Agriculture, Government of Nepal.

Submitted to
Danik M. Martirosyan, PhD.
President
Functional Foods Center at D&A Inc. USA.
580 W Arapaho Road, Suite 130
Richardson, TX 75080-4359
Phone: (469) 441-8272
Fax: (214) 646-0022

Investigation on Nepalese Herbs, Spices, Food and Food Ingredients

for their efficacy as a Nutraceutical and Functional foods

Introduction and background:

Nutraceutical ingredients and functional foods, legally defined as natural
substances that may be used individually, in combination, or even added to food or
beverage for a particular technologic purpose or health benefits, must have an adequate
safety profile demonstrating the safety for consumption by humans. The option of health
and disease management by natural means has been embraced by a large fraction of the
world population. Striking growth in research on nutraceuticals and functional foods is an
integral and vital component of the revolution. Proof of efficacy and safety are two key
sets of information that underlie the successful use of nutraceuticals and functional foods
for the management of human health and well-being. Functional foods offer a new kind
of health message by promising specific effects caused by particular food products. These
foods promise a relatively swift benefit, usually a change in physiological measures like
blood cholesterol level or reducing elevated blood pressure.
Expanding knowledge of the role of physiologically active food components,
from both plant (phytochemicals) and animal (zoochemicals) sources, has notably
changed the role of diet in health. The development of functional foods has evolved as
food and nutrition science has advanced beyond the treatment of primary deficiency
syndromes. Development of functional food products will continue to grow throughout
the 21st century as consumer demand for healthful products grows. Factors contributing
to this reshaping of the food supply include the following:
1. An aging population;
2. Increased health care costs;
3. Self-efficacy, autonomy in health care, and an awareness and desire to enhance
personal health;
4. Advancing scientific evidence that diet can alter disease prevalence and
progression, and
2

5. Most importantly, changes in food regulation.

Nutrients and nonnutritive food components have also been associated with the
prevention and/or treatment of chronic diseases such as cancer, coronary heart disease,
diabetes, hypertension, and osteoporosis. As the data supporting the role of diet in health
promotion and disease prevention continue to mount, it is likely that the quantity of
enhanced foods will expand substantially.
The Himalayan kingdom of Nepal is very rich in medicinal plant bio-diversity. Its
high pastures are home to many aromatic and medicinal plants some of which are
among the most popular in the traditional medical systems of the region called the
Ayurvedic. These medicinal plants, their products, and the traditional medicinal practice
have been preserved as unwritten (oral) tribal folklore. There is no record of this unique
empiric knowledge about plants having curative properties which generally get passed on
from one generation to another only verbally and many times kept secret. Thus there is a
need to extract medicinal plants mentioned in well known in Ayurveda,

tribal

medicine and house hold remedies, to find out their efficacy by modern biochemical
and pharmacological methods. Ultimately, the active principle responsible for the
activity is to be ascertained. For the present study natural medicines and medicinal
foodstuffs of Nepal are chosen, which are well known for their chronic disease
preventing effects and most widely acclaimed remedy for the traditional treatment of
several disease and health complications since ancient times.
Objectives
This study aims at evaluating the potential of Nepalese traditional food and food
ingredients as Nutraceutical and functional foods. Therefore, selected traditional
Nepalese foods and food ingredients from different geographic locations will be studied.
Specifically, this study will have the following objectives:
1. To congregate the information about the ethnobotanical aspects and fulfill the
void of lack of information about these indigenous food and herbs. As a result of

output of the proposed research can be taken as base line data for further
exploration of the subjects.
2. To study phytochemistry and biochemistry of the selcted potential food and herbs
and its active components;
3. To study health promotional activities of these selected potential foods and food
ingredients in the prevention or treatment of chronic disease, such as cancer,
diabetes, cardiovascular disease etc.
4. To study nutraceutical and functional efficacy of selected traditional Nepalese
food and food ingredients, and their possible use in the formulation of new
neutraceutical and functional foods.
5. To bring forward scientific evidence of studied food and herbs for
commercialization and increment in peopless livelihood of the Himalayan
kigdom of Nepal.
Tentative research plan
Ayurveda and other Nepali literature mention the use of food and herbs in treatment
of various human ailments. Ethnobotanical researches conducted in last few decades on
plants mentioned in ancient literature or used traditionally for tribal medicine have shown
such property. The proposed study investigates such foods and herbs and their products
(active, natural principles and crude extracts) that have been mentioned/used in the
Nepali traditional system of medicine. The research will evaluate the possible health
promotional activities of selected food and herbs, which may yield useful results in our
quest to develop new nutraceutical and functional foods and can be beneficially used in
the treatment and prevention of several human chronic diseases. Proposed research will
be conducted on these three different phases:
Phase I: Survey and collection of data and saples
Documentation of informations available on different traditional herbs and foods
that are being using in the traditional ayurbeda system; and sample collection.

Phase II: Biochemical investigation

Nutritional and Biochemical evaluation of the samples for various health
promotional activities using chemical and biological guided assay.
Phase III: Trail and evaluation of applicability in the new formulations
Potential ingredients will be used in the formulation of new nutraceutical,
functional food and drinks. The efficacy of such health products will further
evaluated by chemical and biological assy.
Expected outcome
The expected outcomes of the proposed research are listed as follows:
1. Medicinal, functional and nutritional characteristics of several indigenous food
and herbs, which is presently unexplored, will be elucidated. Thereby, regional,
national and international interest about the potential benefit of these foods and
herbs will be created; they will be domesticated and commercialized through
production of functional foods, dietary supplements and pharmacological uses.
2. The comprehensive results of proposed research will be highly useful for food
scientist, nutritionist, biochemist and pharmaceutics. The food and food
ingredient found with high functional and biochemical potential can be used in the
formulation of important nutraceutical and functional foods and may find useful
in the prevention and management of the chronic health problem- diabetes
mellitus, cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
3. Nepali foods and medicinal herbs are presently limited only in traditional
ayurvedic treatment. Similarly, much of the herbal resources is collected from the
wild and exported out of the country in the form of crude plant materials.
Therefore these valuable resources are still under-utilized and under-value in
Nepal. However, outcome of this proposed study would highlight their medicinal
and therapeutic values, which will promote the production, processing and
utilization of these foods and herbs for formulation of therapeutic drugs and
functional foods, and offer a significant means of income generation for the

people, as well as tremendous potential for increasing these socioeconomic

benefits to Himalayan kingdom like, Nepal.
4. Natural bioresources will be taken as invaluable assests; exploration on their
indigenous

food and herbs of Nepal for potential health benefits will be

undertaken by national and international research institutions, many of them,

which at present, can be eptiomized as destined to extinction.
5. Furthermore, series of reports and papers will be produced and efforts will be
made to publish and widely circulate these papers as well as the findings. Reports
and papers will be presented in conferences, seminars and workshops during the
program. It will help to disseminate the findings of these studies. The sharing of
experiences and knowledge with American professionals and experts would help
to broaden our vision, which ultimately helps to improve research standard of our
institute in the future. Similarly, American collaborative researcher may be
benefited from interaction and joint research work.
Time frame and laboratory work:
The total duration of the proposed research will be 3 years. The laboratory
analysis and other investigations of samples will be carried out at Central Food Research
Laboratory, of Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC),
Government of Nepal, and Functional Food Center (FFC) Inc. Texas, USA.
Financial aspect:
The proposed research will be a joint collaborative work between DFTQC and
FFC. The research cost will be planned as per the mutual understanding between DFTQC
and FFC based on the resources availability and financial rules and regulations.