Interest and involvement in nutraceutical research is beginning to grow globally, as more and more scientists begin to recognize and appreciate the true potential of nutraceuticals (whether native plants or of animal origin). and their health benefits. The term nutraceutical is a hybrid of the words nutrition and pharmaceuticals. It appears that Dr. DeFelice and the Foundation of Innovation Medicine, Crawford, NJ, coined the term in 1989. (Wildman, et.al, 2007). These indigenous chemical compounds from animal and plant products can be said to have the potential to improve health. which can be directly linked to the health benefits offered by various small molecule pharmaceutical compounds. Foods enriched with these nutraceuticals from various food and plant sources are often classified as "functional foods", that is, foods that now have the ability to provide some sort of health-promoting function to promote well-being. According to the International Food Information Council (IFIC), functional foods are “foods or dietary components that may provide a health benefit beyond basic nutrition” (IFIC, 2011; Wildman et.al, 2007 )2.0 Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA)Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) is a mixture of geometric and positional isomers of linoleic acid or more commonly known as omega-6 fatty acid. These are long-chain fatty acids (C18) with two C=C double bonds most often located at C9 (-cis type) and C11 (-trans type) or C10 (-trans type) C12 (-cis type) ( See Figure 1). These two omega-6 (CLA) isomers are most commonly found in nature. CLA is an essential fatty acid for humans. (Cheridan, 2006)Figure 1: Chemical structures of conjugated linoleic acid (Ω-6) (above) and its two ...... middle of paper ...... to increase the rate of fat metabolism and increase muscle mass during heavy weight training, CLA has other health benefits. These include: 4.1 Role of CLA and cancer prevention: Some scientists suggest that CLA has sufficient bioactive potential to prevent the occurrence of cancer cell developments. CLA exhibits inhibitory effects against multistage carcinogenesis with relatively low dietary requirements. Several in vitro studies have been carried out to investigate the potential of CLA against the malignant proliferation of breast, lung, colon and liver carcinomas. In vivo experiments revealed that one gram per 100 g of dietary CLA reduced the proliferation of terminal bud and lobulo-alveolar bud structures, the sites at which tumors form in both breast cancers rat and in humans in mouse models. Additionally, CLA can reduce arachidonate-derived eicosanoids such as prostaglandin-E2, PGF2