Botanicals for age-related diseases: From field to practice

Abstract

The Purdue-University of Alabama Botanicals Research Center for Age Related Disease joins novel technologies to study the bioavailability of bioactive polyphenolic constituents and their relation to health. Manydiseases that manifest with age relate to oxidative stress and tissue damage. Our goal is to follow the fate of bioactive constituents from a complex mixture to the organ affected by the disease and relate that to a protective mechanism. Equally important is to screen commercially available botanicals for their efficacy and safety. Botanicals and their relation to bone antiresorptive capacity, cognitive function, vascular effects, and cancer are principal themes in our center. © 2008 American Society for Nutrition.