Do you still associate a healthy diet with the tedious process of planning and balancing meals? Or maybe you are wondering if there are any secret, exceptionally nutritious products that make the process of composing a menu much more enjoyable ? Especially for you, today we will delve into the secrets of functional food.
What is functional food?
The maze of rules and concepts related to healthy eating can be endless. Don't be afraid, fortunately, we have covered this extensive journey for you, so today we will try to present only the most important essence of the issue, which is functional food. That phrase… sounds a bit vague, doesn't it? Or, horror of horrors, a bit too scientific. Ok, jokes aside and welcome to another diet journey.
First, a little history. The origin of functional food is closely related to the culture of the East, which is based on the belief that certain foods have a health-promoting and healing effect. Already in the late 1990s, products from this category began to gain popularity also in European countries due to their extensive effects on alleviating the symptoms of certain ailments. Functional food is therefore an excellent alternative for all people who value natural methods of treatment or health prevention. Therefore, if, like us, you prefer to avoid unnecessary worries in the future, it is worth taking better care of your body now, and you can do it with nothing else than diet.
What counts as this type of food? The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) defines functional food as food of natural origin that, in addition to nutrients, contains other ingredients that may be beneficial to health.
Within this concept, we distinguish two basic types of food:
- conventional – based on a naturally high content of ingredients such as fiber, B vitamins, antioxidants and phytoestrogens
- and fortified - products of natural origin, which have been additionally enriched with valuable nutrients through specific biotechnological modifications.
We hope that we have already managed to arouse your interest and we can now smoothly move on to the topic that everyone has been waiting for. So let's find out how functional food affects our health and diseases. There is really something to talk about, because this particular type of product is characterized by the highest content of valuable nutrients .
Functional food and its impact on diseases
Without a doubt, functional food has already stolen our hearts, and there were certainly several reasons why we became interested in it. That's why today we do not regret a single minute spent searching for information and acquiring new knowledge in the field of nutrition. However, let's not stray from the topic - the presence of functional products in the diet helps to reduce the risk of some lifestyle diseases. This mainly concerns such ailments as:
- circulatory system diseases,
- osteoporosis,
- coronary artery disease,
- atherosclerosis,
- caries,
- cancer
- and diabetes.
As you surely remember, functional food contains huge amounts of health-promoting substances, which makes it great in the fight against various deficiencies. What else do we love about this particular type of food? Of course, slowing down the aging process is also important, especially if, like us, you always feel young at heart.
Functional food and improving well-being
In our opinion, healthy and nutritious meals based on highly nutritious ingredients are also the key to well-being. However, many people still do not realize how important a role their diet plays in their mood. Are you counting on specifics? Then we are very happy that we have a similar approach - we are already rushing with examples.
You have probably heard that when we eat, we not only take in a dose of energy, but also support the body by keeping its processes in balance. Let's consider this with the example of the nervous system. In this case, the appropriate level of B vitamins stored in the body is particularly important. Any deviations from the norm, assuming small resources including nutrients and active substances, can significantly lower our mood, making us start to feel irritated, sad or stressed. Fortunately, functional food comes to the rescue and allows for a relatively quick regeneration process of the body. As a result, we can supplement the deficiencies and thus improve our well-being.
Now you know that a healthy diet really has a lot of power, and with it comes a lot of joy, vitality and energy. Moreover, functional products do not cause any problems in the digestion process, and their body-regulating properties will also help you, among others: lower the level of cholesterol in the body.
Functional food – examples of healthy products
Do you feel that functional food is a much closer issue to you than before, but you still have a few questions? So let's answer the next questions, namely - what are examples of this type of products? We have highlighted the answer below:
- margarines and oils enriched with calcium, vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids
- fermented milk products, e.g. kefir and yogurt, with additional bacterial strains with probiotic properties, which help maintain a healthy intestine or improve immune functions
- eggs enriched with omega-3 acids,
- bread with dietary fiber,
- breakfast cereals supplemented with folic acid.
- berries containing health-beneficial anthocyanins
- tea that protects against obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, circulatory system diseases primarily due to the content of catechins
Of course, these are just some of the noteworthy suggestions for functional products that you can adapt to your diet or even your child's menu. When browsing store shelves and websites, you will certainly find numerous products that support the digestive system. What's even better - basic knowledge of the topic of designed food (another term for functional food) will help you make more conscious food purchases that will enrich your daily diet.
Please pay attention and drum roll - now we will move on to one of the most important examples of functional food, which (we admit) has become the main point of reference in our work. We are, of course, talking about sprouts. Why do we think they are so special? The huge amounts of vitamins and bioactive ingredients they contain make this product an excellent choice for lovers of healthy eating . Sprouts are the seeds of a plant that comes to life and in this phase accumulates health-promoting substances that are used for rapid growth, and which are invaluable also for us. Exactly for this reason, sprouts fermented by a strain of lactic acid bacteria selected by us and unfermented sprouts have become the basic ingredient of our ALFA9 mixture. It is a valuable source of building blocks of proteins and digestive enzymes. However, its broad anti-stress, nutritional and blood sugar stabilizing effect can also be successfully tested by vegans - due to the plant recipe .
You may have heard another phrase used in the context of healthy eating, specifically - superfoods - examples of this type of food are characterized by a high content of natural active substances. Therefore, alfalfa sprouts can easily be considered a superfood .
Designed food – meal suggestions
Our primary mission is to make it easier for you to implement a healthy diet. Therefore, it is time for one more step - let us now propose some meal suggestions using functional products, thanks to which you will save valuable time in composing your future menu.
The first idea is very simple, but who among us doesn't like to make our lives easier? If you decide to prepare a meal with vitaminized margarine, you can choose even more nutritious and tasty sandwiches. Remember that we all eat with our eyes, especially children, so it is worth decorating slices of bread with increased fiber content with many types of colorful vegetables together with the youngest family members. You can choose lettuce, tomatoes, beets, onions or peppers to better ensure proper diversity of the meal in terms of nutrition and taste. Thanks to a dinner or breakfast prepared this way, your taste buds will certainly be satisfied.
A good idea to increase the nutritional value of your meal is to use breakfast cereals enriched with folic acid. This particular substance is particularly important for pregnant women, who are recommended to additionally supplement this ingredient for the proper development of the child. Remember that you can ensure the presence of folates in your diet at every stage of life, because they are responsible for the proper functioning of the nervous, hematopoietic and cardiovascular systems .
If you have a little less free time, functional and easy-to-prepare food comes to the rescue in the form of ALFA9. With just one sachet of this health-promoting and completely natural mixture of nutritional substances, you will take better care of your body. A special advantage of the product is the ability to add the ALFA9 vegetable version to yogurt, kefir, cocktail vegetable, cottage cheese, dip or sauce vinaigrette. In turn, the fruit mixture tastes best with yogurt, including vegan yogurt, kefir, cottage cheese, and creamy milk dessert . So you have plenty of options and you don't have to change your usual diet to make sure that the enormous health benefits of functional food help your body work more efficiently.
Time for a few more words of summary. We would like to emphasize that natural designed products are suitable for many people with different needs and lifestyles . Functional food for athletes can contribute to an increase in their energy, which will certainly be useful during training. However, the same products consumed by children, adults and seniors will also support many important processes occurring in the body on a daily basis. Therefore, we wholeheartedly recommend you to include functional products in your diet now.
Bibliography:
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37970422/
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10408398.2023.2279696
- https://www.mp.pl/pacjent/dieta/zasady/65766,zywnosc-funlna
- https://www.vetpol.org.pl/dmdocuments/ZW%202010_11%20%2005.pdf
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9559824/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6789755/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8398379/