Nutricines and Derivatives of Nutrients in Animal Health and Disease Prevention

Book excerpt: Good animal health is of great importance for the efficient production of animal-derived foods at a low cost. The demand for solutions for animal health maintenance and disease prevention is a major global challenge in animal production, food safety, and public health. The animal body has a complete self-defense system, including oxidation and anti-oxidation balance, immune activation and suppression balance, pro- and anti-inflammatory balance, which can help the host against various factors that endanger normal life activities. Nowadays, the strategy of nutrition-based health has become an increasingly important solution for animal health maintenance and disease prevention. Nutrients (carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals, vitamins, et al.) and nutricines (carotenoids, enzymes, fatty acids, flavors, oligosaccharides, organic acids, phospholipids, polyphenols, et al.) are two major categories of components in feeds. Nutricines and some derivatives of nutrients (vitamin derivatives, amino acid derivatives, et al.) have been intensively studied in animal and cell culture models, and their roles in animal health maintenance and disease prevention are intimately known.