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Functional foods

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The traditional concept of nutrition provides that the function of the diet is to provide the nutrients necessary for the proper functioning of the body. This concept, which corresponds to the adequate nutrition, being replaced by the optimal nutrition that also includes the possibility of some foods to improve our health and help prevent disease. From this concept, they begin to appear (AF) functional foods whose development is based on the relationship between diet and health.

A food can be considered as functional if it is proven that it provides a beneficial effect on one or more functions of the body, in addition to the usual nutritional effects,improving health and reducing the risk of disease.





Functional foods must have certain characteristics:
  • Food handling to get some added benefit, either by addition, deletion or reduction of any of its components.
  • "Classic" food that incorporates some other component, food or non-food, which have clearly beneficial health effect.
  • Complete nutritive function and prevention of diseases within a balanced diet.
  • The presentation has to be as the of a food, never in the form of capsules or tablets.
An example of AF are probiotics and Prebiotics. Probiotics are foods containing live bacteria that remain active in the intestine and beneficially affect one or more functions of the organism, as for example the yogurt. Probiotics are defined as non digestible food ingredients that beneficially affect the body by selectively stimulating the growth and activity of any of the species already established in the colon, as for example the fiber. Both probiotics and Prebiotics promote the smooth functioning of the flora of the colon.

We can also consider as AF natural foods which, by their very nature, have specific beneficial health effects. For example shown that intake of olive oil reduces the risk of coronary heart disease and high blood pressure. There is also scientific evidence that the consumption of fruit and vegetables in adequate amounts (5 or more servings per day) is associated with reduced risk of cancer and cardiovascular diseases.