Phytochemicals are present in a variety of plants consumed as important

component of both human and animal diets, which include fruits, seeds, herbs and
vegetables. Phytochemicals show a wide range of biological effects as a result of
their antioxidant properties. For example, polyphenols show anti-carcinogenic where
it might interfere in several steps that lead to development of malignant tumors (D.
E. Okwu.2005. Phytochemicals,vitamins, and mineral contents of two Nigerian
medicinal plants. International journal of molecular medicine and advance sciences
1 (4). 375-381).
Drugs which originated from natural resources are important part of the
pharmaceutical market compared as synthesized compounds. Drug development
program is to design selective ligands that act on single disease target to achieve
highly useful and safe drugs with low side effects. However, this design failed to
achieve the target due to the fact that pathogenesis of many diseases is multifactorial in nature and not to single cause. Phytotherapy with biological defence
function, act by targeting and disrupting the cell membrane, by binding and
inhibiting specific proteins into RNA or DNA.
Phytotherapeutics may show pharmacological effects by aggressive interactions of
many phytochemicals. Bioavailability, interference with cellular transport processes,
activation of pro-drugs or deactivation of active compounds to inactive metabolites,
action of synergistic partners at different points of the same signailing cascade
(multi-target effects) or inhibition of binding to target proteins are some of
aggressive interaction of many phytochemicals.