“Omics” technologies in studying nutraceuticals and probiotics’ influence on human health

Introduction

High throughput platform development and powerful bioinformatics’ tools in combination have contributed to our comprehension of the role of nutraceuticals, probiotics and other bioactive ingredients in human health. They have helped us study the biological and the cellular responses induced by these supplements, allowing us to validate and understand their health promoting capabilities. Current trend in the omics approach is using multiple omics platforms in collaboration, to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the nutraceuticals and probiotics functionality in human health. Different omics platforms help in deepening our knowledge of interaction of nutraceuticals, bioactives and probiotics, with the host and studying their mechanism of actions, safety concerns, efficacy and characterization including development of new health ingredients from traditional medicines (1). Plant-derived bioactive molecules, phytonutrients, consisting of flavonoids and phenolic compounds have an important function in human diet and nutrition. Genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics are main omics analyses that can be used for functional foods and nutraceuticals (Figure 1). Natural phytochemicals may affect signaling pathways and genome expression which can be studied using genomics (nutrigenomics) and transcriptomics. Functional foods and nutraceuticals like carotenoids, polyamines, folates, phenolics, flavonoids and non-flavonoid condensed tannins have been shown to modulate various cellular processes (2,3).

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