Do nutraceuticals really work?

There is a debate over the value of nutraceuticals. But what is a nurtaceutical? Basically it is a compound that is found to have some therapeutic benefit, but often it is only a link in the causal chain of metabolism or not at all.

The example is resveratrol, which is thought to be the compound in red wine that is good for cardiovascular health. However there is no evidence of a direct benefit, as would be easy to detect if it were a true drug. In fact I believe we are getting mixed with indirect effects, which I believe is the case with the entire class of bioflavinoids, antioxidants and even pre-and pro-biotics.

In other words, we understand how certain compounds indirectly create the conditions for therapeutic activity. This is definitely the case with antioxidants, which deal effectively with the by-products of energy expenditure and metabolism.

Wat this means is that even though the conditions for optimal health/metabolism might be encouraged by nutraceutical agents, they serve no purpose if you keep abusing your body by putting bad stuff in it. If you take probiotics but continue to eat a low fiber diet. In other words, nutraceuticals are not an antidote for bad habits.