Galangal—Roles in nutraceuticals and functional foods

This chapter discusses briefly about the galangal, including greater galangal (Alpinia galanga (L.) Willd) and lesser galangal (Alpinia officinarum Hance), which are broadly used in several foods and traditional medicines in Southern Asia and Indonesia because of the presence of numerous bioactive components particularly galangin that have various medicinal and pharmacological properties such as antiinflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer, cardiovascular, liver health, neuroprotective, antiviral, antimicrobial, reproductive, and immune-stimulating activities. Galangal are widely used as flavoring agent in foods, sausages, spicey condiments, and herbal tea. Therefore, galangal can be the hopeful spices to develop a diversity of innovative functional foods and nutraceutical formulations that could assist satisfy the necessity of the human health and wellness due to the various biological activities.