Applied Environmental Science and Engineering for a Sustainable Future Series Editors Jega V. Jegatheesan Deakin University, Geelong, Australia Li Shu Deakin University, Geelong, Australia Piet Lens UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, The Netherlands Chart Chiemchaisri Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand Applied Environmental Science and Engineering for a Sustainable Future (AESE) series covers a variety of environmental issues and how they could be solved through innovations in science and engineering. Our societies thrive on the advancements in science and technology which pave way for better and better standard of living. The adverse effects of such improvements are the deterioration of the environment. Thus, better catchment management in order to sustainably manage all types of resources (including water, minerals and others) becomes paramount important. Water and wastewater treatment and reuse, solid and hazardous waste management, industrial waste minimisation, soil and agriculture as well as myriad of other topics needs better understanding and application. The book series will aim at fulfilling such a task in coming years. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13085 Seema Patel Emerging Bioresources with Nutraceutical and Pharmaceutical Prospects 1 3 Seema Patel San Diego State University San Diego California USA Applied Environmental Science and Engineering for a Sustainable Future ISBN 978-3-319-12846-7 ISBN 978-3-319-12847-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-12847-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2014957393 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) This is for my parents and husband Surya Foreword “Sustainable Future” is not merely a catch phrase of today but a serious concern for the entire world to be aware of. Our resources are depleting due extensive utiliza- tion of them in the pursuit of advancing the standard of living. Our need for various consumer products has increased enormously and thus the demand for resources to produce them also has increased significantly. All three spheres (air, water and soil) of our earth are being polluted due the emission/discharge of various pollutants. The consequences are apparent in the form of global warming, extreme weather events such as flooding, forest fires and droughts. While the above sentences depict a pessimistic picture, it is never late to slow down, reduce and finally to reverse those adverse effects through concerted efforts by all disciplines such as science, engineering, medicine, sociology etc. It has become obvious that more than 50,000 products are used by consum- ers and they need many chemicals in the form of elements and compounds. This exhaustive list of consumer products however can broadly be categorized into the following six groups: (i) food, (ii) metals, (iii) wood, leather and paper, (iv) clothing and textiles, (v) petroleum, chemicals and plastics and (vi) electronics, computers and transport. They are used in the welfare of societies such as food, shelter, health, transport, communication and education as well as other needs namely research, security/defense etc. for example, only half of the petroleum oil is converted to gasoline and rest of the petroleum is used in 6000 products. Further, the resources that are released to the environment mostly degrade the quality of the latter, due to the way they enter the environment. Some of the ex- amples are as follows: • Increased levels of carbon dioxide from industrial processes as well as transpor- tation has led to greenhouse effects. • Municipal and industrial wastewater discharges have polluted the receiving nat- ural water bodies. • Discharge of concentrate and pre-treatment effluents from seawater desalination has damaged the coastal seawater. • Disposal of solid waste to landfills have caused greenhouse gas emissions and release of toxic leachate to the environment. vii viii Foreword Therefore, efforts should be focused on the following in order to have a sustain- able future: • Reducing consumption as well as reuse and recycle of resources • Recovering raw materials, process chemicals and by-products • Reducing pollution at source as well as segregating pollutant streams for better treatment and resource recovery; employing process/technology modification • Improving the treatment technologies to reduce the concentrations and loads of pollutants that enter the environment • Developing monitoring techniques to analyse − the contaminants that have already entered the environment and − the existing contaminants that are present in both trace and large quantities as well as in concentrated and dispersed forms • Developing novel technologies in order to utilise the existing resources in sus- tainable ways • Understanding and eliminating the adverse effects of new technologies • Maintaining Sustainable growth of industries through appropriate resource man- agement using industrial ecological principles. It is essential that the entire world starts to apply the above steps continuously and consistently in all activities for sustainable use of natural resources and to reduce the rate of increase of the emission of pollutants to the environment. For example, one of the best ways to have sustainable growth of industries is to employ industrial ecological principles where resources are utilised among several industries. The term resource includes by-products and wastes, since one industry’s by-products and wastes could be another’s raw materials. The industrial ecological principle should be practiced within an industry, among industries in an industrial park, industrial parks in a country and finally among countries. Developing such co-ordination would take enormous effort and time but eventually would pave way to global sustainability which is inevitable if human race to exist on the earth. This book series on “Applied Environmental Science and Engineering for a Sus- tainable Future” will bring edited books on Biodiversity, Biofuels, Bioremediation, Cleaner production and green synthesis, Climate change adaptation and mitiga- tion, Desalination, Environmental Technology and Engineering, Nuclear waste, Soils and sediments, Solid and hazardous waste management, Waste gas treatment, Wastewater, Water, etc. This approach will provide broader prospective on sustain- ability by looking at air, soil and water. Further, this book series will attract Aca- demics, Researchers, Postgraduates, Consultants and Government Employees in the area of environment and industrial production. The series will also help to form a background to all readers who seek to develop their own solutions to overcome the environmental problems that they encounter. The first book of the series on “Emerging Bioresources with Nutraceutical and Pharmaceutical Prospects” belongs to Biodiversity and provides a great insight to Foreword ix the value and usefulness of underutilized food sources. Phytochemical profile and nutritional benefits of ten neglected nutritional sources such as strawberry guava, opuntia (prickly pear), carissa (type of shrub), purslane (hogweed or miner’s let- tuce), grape seed extract, chia, prosopis, quinoa, milk thistle and chaga have been evaluated thoroughly. Large number of references has been included at the end of each chapter allowing readers to gain additional information and data for their use. Preface Mankind has fallen susceptible to an army of ailments, be it for nutritional defi- ciency, pathogenic or metabolic causes. The detrimental effects necessitate mitiga- tion in order to ensure robust health and longevity. Excess reliance on chemical drugs has its risks like microbial resistance and irreparable side effects. If nutrition and immunity could be derived from the diet, it would be the best solution to the nagging issues. In fact, the discovery of functional foods and their enrichment with bioactive components has emerged as a fast-track research area. Several promising plant-derived components have been recognized in this regard. For their phyto- chemical abundance viz. dietary fibre, essential amino acids, poly unsaturated fatty acids, minerals, vitamins and sterols, they are touted to be ideal nourishing agents and safeguard against all kinds of physical threats. The term ‘superfood’ has been devised for this league of foods with plentiful phytochemicals and few anti-nutri- ents. More or less, we are familiar with blueberry, ginkgo, green tea, cereal bran, ginseng, spirulina, seaweeds, mushrooms, acai berry, fish oil and propolis as some of the most popular nutraceuticals. However, apart from these familiar nutrition sources, there exist scores of other candidates with potential to be developed as health foods. For certain reasons they have hardly been exploited. Endemic distribution, low yield and post harvest loss have been identified as the key reasons for their low consumer approval. This book attempts to introduce the current status and future prospects of these obscure as well as up-and-coming food sources. However, it is a vast area and is beyond the scope of this compilation to discuss the entire emergent candidates. So, the author selects ten random resources (the author has taken the liberty of deciding the chapters as per own interest and perspective) from different living kingdom, family and geo- graphical reasons for elaboration. A chapter has been dedicated to each candidate with unique nutritional profile, presenting crucial overviews and visions of their nutraceutical and pharmaceutical implications. The author has strived to project various aspects, namely current status, nutritional constituents, therapeutic spec- trum, pitfalls encountered, innovative processing, future prospects and conclusion. The looming food insecurity, agricultural waste management, biodiversity conser- vation, threats of invasive plants, value-addition of food and importance of dietary intervention against metabolic diseases are the motivation behind this work. This xi