Yam as functional food: bioactive properties, health benefits, and applications

Abstract The growing focus on balanced diets and health-enhancing foods has underscored the importance of functional crops like yam ( Dioscorea spp.), which serves as both a nutritional staple and a source of medicinal bioactives. Yam is consumable subterranean rhizomes or tubers, derived from plant sources in the Dioscorea genus. More than 90 of the roughly 600 yam species found in the world are found in East Asia. Additionally, yam contains bioactive compounds, which are non-nutritive components with vital health benefits, including phenolic compounds, saponins, tannins, and flavonoids, which contribute to its diverse therapeutic potential. Despite the numerous benefits inherent in yams, they also offer huge healthy perks, like antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, hypoglycemic, antimicrobial, and anti-tumor outcomes, making them important food candidates in the nutraceutical and pharma sectors. This review synthesizes current knowledge on nutritional composition, bioactive properties, extraction methods, therapeutic potentials, biological properties and administration. Strategies to enhance its utilization for greater impact are also discussed. This review highlights the potential of yam as a functional food, emphasizing its role in promoting dietary diversity and contributing to the prevention and management of non-communicable diseases, while also exploring associated challenges, emerging applications, and future research directions. Graphical Abstract