Introduction to Functional Foods
Given that health awareness is gaining prominence in society, individuals strive to search for ways on how they could improve their health on the most basic aspect, food. The new concept of “Functional Foods” has come into limelight in recent years with expectations of not only to having nutritional but also health supportive values.
It becomes important to understand what functional foods are and the benefits of the food. They will be able to define this kind of foods, the positive effects to the body, how to include them in your daily diet and how they differ from nutritional supplements.
What are Functional Foods?
Functional foods are food items that beyond the provision of nutrients have other health benefits to the consumer. These include phytocompounds with disease prevention, better health or nutrition, and improved health quality virtues. Such foods can be eaten raw or raw foods that assess prepared as a component of a daily diet or has undergone a process of fortification.
According to Jackson, the idea of functional foods was first coined in the 1980’s in Japan and has now extended to other regions. They were introduced due to growing cases of chronic diseases coupled with a move from a curative to a preventive healthcare system. These can be bioactive or enriched with more nutrients in order to have a healthy positive effect on the body.
Examples of functional foods include:
- Fruits and vegetables: Contains Vitamin and minerals; antioxidants and fibers thus help in preventing chronic diseases.
- Olive oil: Contains monounsaturated fats and antioxidants that cause health benefits related to the heart.
- Fermented foods: Include yogurt, kefir and kimchi; they aid in digestion due to their probiotic properties.
- Supplemented food: Such as a cereal or grain products with added vitamins and minerals including a drink with added omega 3 fatty acids.
Key Benefits of Functional Foods
When defining functional foods, the primary consideration is given to the notion that such products deliver much more than basic nutrition. The following are some of the benefits;
Disease Prevention
The first and obvious advantage of functional foods is that they can reduce the likelihood of diseases afflicting human beings. For instance, the vitamins and other natural chemicals contained in berries and other green leaves have the ability to fight free radicals and refrain inflammation that is common in disease such as heart disease, cancer among others.
Improved Digestive Health
Examples of keel functional foods include yogurt, sauerkraut, and other fermented foods that have experts’ friendly bacteria for a healthy stomach. Proper reinforcement of gut microbiota generally involves breakdown of food, immune response, and even disposition.
Enhanced Heart Health
The DASH dietary plan also incorporates nuts, seeds, and fatty fish that are rich sources of omega-3 fatty acids that help in reducing the levels of triglycerides, lowering high blood pressure and decreasing inflammatory conditions in the body.
Better Brain Function
Some types of foods have been reported to have a positive impact on the cognitive ability and mental state of people. For instance, foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids including salmon and walnut, have been identified with preventing radical deterioration of the mind and enhancement of mood.
Weight Management
A source such as oats or legumes which is known as functional Foods are very rich in fiber which makes them assist in weight control through decreasing the overall food intake. Similarly, for maintaining muscles and metabolism, it’s better to adopt sources of protein such as lean meats and eggs in the diet.
Enhanced Immune Function
Some of the functional foods contain vitamin and minerals that help to boost the immune system of the body. For instance, oranges, lemons are examples of products containing vitamin C that is associated with boosting the immune system.
Easy Ways to Add Functional Foods into Your Daily Diet
As you approach the problem choosing functional foods you do not need to complicate anything. Some other valuable tips that will assist you in addressing this problem include:
Start Your Day with a Nutrient-Packed Breakfast
Get breakfast from foods in the whole grain group – oatmeal, whole grain toast and add FUFS foods such as a sprinkle of chia seeds, flax seed or nuts to get omega 3’s and fiber. That is why a simple fruit, bulk of the green leaves, and a scoop to the protein ready-to-drink can be taken as a smoothie as well.
Make Smart Snacking Choices
Choose those with some added health benefits like almonds, dark chocolate or greek yogurt, among others. These snacks offer good fats, anti-inflammatory compounds and good bacteria respectively.
Incorporate More Fruits and Vegetables
Ideally, you should try and ensure that when taking your meals, you ensure that for every meal you should have half of your plate comprised of fruits and vegetables. It is rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that have a lot of benefits to the body.
Choose Whole Grains
Replace such foods with complex grains some of which include quinoa, brown rice and whole wheat pasta. Refined grains lack these important nutrients that whole grains, in fact, are rich in.
Include Protein-Rich Foods
Make positive alterations of changing foods that are high in fat or excess and replace them with lean protein like fish, poultry, beans, tofu among others. These foods contain proteins, and all the essential amino-acids and they can also be sources of omega-3 fatty-acids and other functional compounds.
Experiment with Fermented Foods
ap.at least, you should include yogurt, kefir, kimchi, and miso in your diet since they contain natural probiotics.
Use Healthy Fats
High quality fat is also recommended so you can make your foods with olive oil or avocado oil and foods containing healthy fats such as avocados, nuts and seeds. These fats are expected to have several positive effects on enhance heart health amongst other benefits.
Functional Foods vs. Supplements
Functional foods and dietary supplements are both a functional concept that targets the improvement of health but developed with some variation as follows:
Source
The foods are produced from whole foods and can be ingested in their raw form as a meal plan. While supplements are individual nutrients in the form of a pill, capsule or a powder and consumed independently of food.
Bioavailability
They contain nutrients that may be better absorbed by the human body compared to the regular foods as the nutrients found in them are more available to the human body. This is so because it comes with other nutrients and compounds necessary for absorption into the human body.
Whole Food Benefits
Functional foods are rich source of element that works cohesively to provide a number of nutrients and Phyto chemicals that are beneficial to health. The fruits and other supplements usually contain single nutrients and might not provide these benefits.
Risk of Overconsumption
This implies that supplements may cause an overload in the consumption of certain nutrients accruing to side effects. Moderation of the functional foods therefore considerably reduces this risk.
Regulation
The necessary regulation of such diets is lesser compared to the food products mostly due to the nature of their regulatory nature. This is an indication that the quality and effectiveness of the supplements differ from one company or product to another.
Cost
It is for this reason that functional foods may prove to be more economical in the long haul as they can be consumed routinely with the rest of the food. This can be costly, more so if they are taken for a long time or on a daily basis as most supplements are recommended to be taken.
Conclusion
Functional foods are now considered as one of the tools that shall be used to enhance health and fight diseases due to diet. It is advisable to include many of these foods in your daily diet as they help in preventing diseases, improving digestion, heart and brain health, and the immune system. Despite the usefulness of supplements, the use of functional food may be advantageous as they drop supplements which may not be healthy for the body in cases of overtaking.
In the process of changing your diet, number of functional foods that can be used and how they can be incorporated into meals should be part of your thinking process. It can involve eating the right meals at the right time such as taking healthy breakfast, taking healthy snacks, taking fermented foods and many other minor changes that greatly improve health. These are therefore some of the benefits that you are able to realize when you make functional foods your priority towards achieving a healthier and active lifestyle.
