Herbs, Spices, and Medicinal Plants for Human Gastrointestinal Disorders: Health Benefits and Safety

Herbs, Spices, and Medicinal Plants for Human Gastrointestinal Disorders: Health Benefits and Safety presents valuable information for exploring the health claims of plant-based phytochemicals for the treatment and prevention of gastrointestinal disorders. It details the healing benefits of specific spices and herb plant-based remedies, such as garlic, onion, black pepper, aloe vera, Indian gooseberry, chamomile, and dandelion for the treatment of colorectal cancer and hemorrhoids, irritable bowel syndrome, gallstones, celiac disease, peptic ulcers, etc. It also discusses the therapeutic properties of fermented foods and beverages and the healing benefits of lectins in the management of gastrointestinal disorders.

The abundance of research presented in this volume will be valuable for researchers, scientists, growers, students, processors, traders, industries, and others in the development of plant-based therapeutics for gastrointestinal diseases.

Megh R. Goyal, PhD, PE, is a Retired Professor in Agricultural and Biomedical Engineering from the General Engineering Department in the College of Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez Campus. He has worked as a Soil Conservation Inspector and as a Research Assistant at Haryana Agricultural University and Ohio State University. He was the first agricultural engineer to receive the professional license in Agricultural Engineering from the College of Engineers and Surveyors of Puerto Rico and was proclaimed the ＂Father of Irrigation Engineering in Puerto Rico for the Twentieth Century＂ by the ASABE, Puerto Rico Section, for his pioneering work on micro irrigation, evapotranspiration, agroclimatology, and soil and water engineering. During his professional career of over 52 years, he has received many prestigious awards. A prolific author and editor, he has written more than 200 journal articles and several textbooks and has edited over 85 books.

Preeti Birwal, PhD, is working as a Scientist (processing and food engineering) in the Department of Processing and Food Engineering at the College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India. She is currently working in the area of nonthermal food preservation, fermented beverages, food packaging, and technology of millet-based beer. She has served at Jain Deemed to be University, Bangalore, as a member of the board of examiners and placements. She has participated at several national and international conferences and seminars and has delivered lectures as a resource person on doubling farmers’ income through dairy technology in training sponsored by the directorate of Extension, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. Dr. Birwal has published research papers, an edited book, book chapters, popular articles, conference papers, abstracts, and editorial opinions. She is advising several MTech scholars in food technology and has successfully guided five postgraduate students for their dissertation work. She also serves as an external examiner for various Indian state agricultural universities and as an editor and reviewer of several journals. Dr. Birwal has been named outstanding reviewer of the month by the online journal Current Research in Nutrition and Food Science. She has successfully completed AUTOCAD 2D & 3D certification. She is a life member of IDEA. She graduated with a degree in Dairy Technology from ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, India; a master’s degree in Food Process Engineering and Management from NIFTEM, Haryana; and PhD (Dairy Engineering) from ICAR-NDRI, Bangalore, India. She has received several fellowships from MHRD, Nestle India, GATE, and UGC-RGNF.

Durgesh Nandini Chauhan is working at Ishita Research Organization, Raipur, India, as a freelance writer and is also guiding pharmacy, Ayurvedic, and science students in their research projects. Mrs. Chauhan has 14 years of academic experience at various institutes in India in pharmaceutical sciences. She taught subjects such as pharmaceutics, pharmacognosy, traditional concepts of medicinal plants, drug-delivery phytochemistry, cosmetic technology, pharmaceutical engineering, pharmaceutical packaging, quality assurance, dosage designing, and anatomy and physiology. She is a member of the Association of Pharmaceutical Teachers of India, SILAE: The Scientific Network on Ethnomedicine (Italy), among others. Her previous research work included ＂Penetration Enhancement Studies on Organogel of Oxytetracycline HCL.＂ She attended an AICTE-sponsored Staff Development Program on ＂Effects of Teaching and Learning Skills in Pharmacy: Tools for Improvement of Young Pharmacy Teachers＂ and a workshop on analytical instruments. She is also active as a reviewer for several international scientific journals and an active participant in national and international conferences, such as Bhartiya Vigyan Sammelan and International Convention of Society of Pharmacognosy. She has written more than 10 publications in national and international journals, 13 book chapters, and two books: Optimization and Evaluation of an Organogel and Plant- and Marine-Based Phytochemicals for Human Health: Attributes, Potential, and Use. Mrs. Chauhan completed her BPharm degree at the Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya, Bhopal, India, and her MPharm in pharmaceutics from Uttar Pradesh Technical University (currently Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University), Lucknow, India, in 2006.