Prakash, BhanuSingh, Prem PratapKumar, AkshayGupta, Vishal2025-01-302025-01-302021978-032385917-2; 978-012824369-5https://dl.bhu.ac.in/ir/handle/123456789/23994The present chapter provides an overview of the journey of food from hunger satisfaction to health-promoting agents. The inherent components of food such as carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, lipids, antioxidants, and minerals are required for the normal physiological functioning of the body parts. In the modern era of the 21st century, the lifestyle and eating habits of people have been changed drastically. The change in eating habits and unhealthy diet leads to the emergence of modern diseases such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, allergies, and cardiovascular diseases throughout the world. In view of the increase in life expectancy, side effects of modern-day drugs during their prolonged uses, the use of functional and nutraceutical food as a preventive step to control such diseases would be preferred. The present chapter highlights the role of foods and their bioactive components in human health, associated challenges, and future research perspectives. In addition, the role of science and technological applications especially waste-recycling approaches, nanotechnology, bioinformatics, toxicity prediction tools for the sustainable uses of functional and nutraceutical food, and the need for coordinated regulatory framework are discussed. � 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.BioinformaticsFunctional and nutraceutical foodNanotechnologyRegulatory frameworkToxicity prediction toolsWaste-recycling approachesBook chapterhttps://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-824369-5.00006-3