Phytochemical

Phytochemicals are naturally-occurring chemicals present in or extracted from plants. Some phytochemicals are nutrients for the plant, while others are metabolites produced to enhance plant survivability and reproduction.

The fields of extracting phytochemicals for manufactured products or applying scientific methods to study phytochemical properties are called phytochemistry. An individual who uses phytochemicals in food chemistry manufacturing or research is a phytochemist.

Phytochemicals without a nutrient definition have no confirmed biological activities or proven health benefits when consumed in plant foods. Once phytochemicals in a food enter the digestion process, the fate of individual phytochemicals in the body is unknown due to extensive metabolism of the food in the gastrointestinal tract, producing phytochemical metabolites with different biological properties from those of the parent compound that may have been tested in vitro. Further, the bioavailability of many phytochemical metabolites appears to be low, as they are rapidly excreted from the body within minutes. Other than for dietary fiber, no non-nutrient phytochemicals have sufficient scientific evidence for providing a health benefit.

Some ingested phytochemicals may be toxic, and some may be used in cosmetics, drug discovery, or traditional medicine.