Postharvest Strategies to Enhance Bioactive Ingredients for Type 2 Diabetes Management and Heart Health

Diet and dietary patterns play a crucial role in the rapid emergence of non-communicable chronic diseases and diets rich in plant-based phytochemicals can be an important part of overall solutions in the prevention of such diseases including type 2 diabetes. The maintenance and enhancement of phytochemicals during post-harvest stages is a major challenge and different strategies including alterations in storage environment, physical and chemical elicitors and biotechnological tools are emerging for the improvement of phytochemical contents in fruits and vegetables. Functional foods with enriched source of phenolic phytochemicals with bioactive potential as natural alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase inhibitors may provide a better therapeutic strategy to control post-prandial hyperglycemia linked to type 2 diabetes without side effects.