Bioactive compounds are compounds that are naturally extracted from plants and microbes. They are designated as energy-dense molecules because they play an important role in the normal functions and metabolic pathways of life. Not all bioactive compounds have positive impacts on pathways, and some have negative consequences as well. It has been observed that these derived bioactive compounds possess remarkable characteristics such as healing, anti-cancerous, anti-oxidant, etc. Phytochemicals are the bioactive compounds that are present in foods and possess the ability to interfere positively with the metabolism of human health. They have been classified as alkaloids, terpenoids, phytosteroides, resveratrol, and cardiac glycosides. It has been observed that these bioactive compounds are the center of attraction in the drug discovery areas which are utilized against various diseases as plants and microbes are exploited for the extraction of bioactive compounds.
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Bioactive compounds are compounds that are naturally extracted from plants and microbes. The term ‘bioactive’ comprises two words i.e., ‘bios’ and ‘activus’ which refer to compounds having the ability to provide energy to humans. They are designated as energy-dense molecules because they play an important role in the normal functions and metabolic pathways of life. Not all bioactive compounds have positive impacts on pathways, and some have negative consequences as well. Besides this, several bioactive compounds have both positive and negative effects on the metabolic pathway. The positive and negative effects of bioactive compounds are determined by their in the body. Though, their concentration is also dependent on so many factors such as the nature of the compound, components of compounds, their interaction with the other molecules or substances, etc. It has been observed that these derived bioactive compounds possess remarkable characteristics such as healing, anti-cancerous, anti-aging, antipyretic, etc. (Huang et al., 2010; Bendary et al., 2013; Nath et al., 2013). There are some essential bioactive molecules which have been required by the body in order to develop resistance against various disorders (Biesalski et al., 2009). There are some non-essential bioactive molecules whose presence increases the metabolism but their absence doesn’t have any consequences (Biesalski et al., 2013). The essential bioactive molecules comprises of vitamins, fatty acids which plays important role in metabolic pathways. Some of the vitamins are required by the enzymes as cofactors. Though they are considered beneficial for human health, still, consumption of these compounds beyond the prescribed doses can cause adverse effects also (Chambial et al., 2013). Phytochemicals are the bioactive compounds that are present in foods and possess the ability to interfere positively with the metabolism of human health. They are the non-essential compound which shows diversity in structure and function (Biesalski et al., 2009). They have been classified as alkaloids, terpenoids, phytosteroides, and cardiac glycosides (Somani et al., 2015). It has been observed that these bioactive compounds are the center of attraction in the drug discovery areas which are utilized against various diseases as plants and microbes are exploited for the extraction of bioactive compounds. Phytochemicals are the ones which are mostly present as active compound or secondary metabolite in the plants. There are primary and secondary metabolites in the plants. Primary metabolites are those compounds which are required by the plants for their survival purposes (Akhtar et al., 2019; Omeroglu et al., 2019). On the contrary, secondary metabolites are the ones which have been used by the plants for their defense purposes (Zhang et al., 2015; Cooper & Nicola, 2015).