Connecting Indian Wisdom and Western Science

Luisella Verotta, master degree in chemistry, is a senior assistant professor of organic chemistry and adjunct professor of natural products chemistry at the University of Milan, Italy. Verotta is a member of the Faculty of Science and Technology teaching staff. Her main research studies are in the realm of bioactive natural products, aimed at obtaining lead compounds for the development of new therapeutic agents, particularly noncytotoxic chemopreventive agents and antimalarial compounds. She has pursued parallel lines of investigations, such as the synthesis of compounds of pharmaceutical relevance based on natural scaffolds, the study of their medicinal chemistry, and the mechanism of activity. Recent researches are based on the synthesis of new entities inspired by natural products to produce new functional biomaterials for biomedical and food applications or as nutraceuticals. She has been a visiting scientist in many Third World countries, introducing young researchers to the phytochemical study of medicinal plants. She is an extramural phytochemical expert for the Centre for Orientative Education (COE), an Italian NGO that fosters and supports projects in Third world countries (TWC) for the sustainable use of natural resources. She has authored and coauthored more than 110 research papers (including full papers, book chapters, patents) and more than 110 communications to congresses, including poster presentations, oral communications, and invited and plenary lectures. She holds research contracts with several companies interested in the discovery of new bioactive natural products and acts as a reviewer of several international scientific journals. She is a member of the editorial board of Fitoterapia (Elsevier). For CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group, she coedited Herbal Principles in Cosmetics: Properties and Mechanisms of Action in 2010.Maria Pia Macchi is an anthropologist member of the International Society of Et

"... this book is a welcome arrival. It is a book led by Mediterranean researchers and joined by Indian researchers. They have explored together the wisdom of Indian dietary and nutritional knowledge. And the focus has not been just on ingredients and recipes for wellness. Rather, it begins with the underlying theories of nutrition, the evidence, and personalised application, as a basis for expanding understanding of how nutrition can be culturally based, and locally sourced to address health prevention and health promotion needs in a personalised way for vast sectors of the global population. Accordingly, this will become a landmark book, opening the way to a new generation of research into Indian and South and Southeast Asian nutritional theory and traditions - with implications leading all the way back to the Mediterranean and its global diaspora." -Professor Gerard Bodeker, Chair, Global Initiative for Traditional Systems of Health, Oxford, UK; Deptartment of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford; and Dept of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, USA

• Indian and Mediterranean Traditional Dietetics: An Historical Overview. Traditional Systems of Medicine in India: A Holistic Approach to Health. Principles of Ayurveda for Food, Nutrition, and Health. The Quest for Longevity in Ayurveda: Dietetic and Lifestyle Advice. The Principles of Diet Therapy in the Unani System of Medicine. Traditional Indian Concepts of Nutrition: Toward an Integrative Approach. The Pillars of Western Nutritional Science. Nutrients: The Essence of Life. The Role of Nutraceuticals. The Mediterranean Diet from Ancel Keys to the Present: Epidemiological Studies on Selected Populations and Practical Applications in the Modern Cultural Context. Balancing the Food and the Balanced Food. Healing Influences of Spices. Healing Properties of Food. Conclusion. Crossing Communities and Environments: Rethinking Diets from an Intercultural Perspective. Acknowledgments. Glossary.