Articles
Understanding Functional Foods
With the increase trend in health conscious consumers, functional foods have become a major focus of the food industry. The number of functional food products available on Australian supermarkets has grown considerably in the past few years, and the food groups included has broadened. So what is a functional food, and what benefit is it to you and your family?
Functional foods are foods that are promoted as having additional health promoting or disease preventing properties in addition to their natural amounts of nutrients, vitamins and minerals.
Functional foods may contain increased amounts of their traditional nutrients, or may contain different nutrients or other beneficial substances. The promoters of beneficial foods claim that these foods have the ability to enhance health, beyond the capability of the regular food product. They also claim that some functional foods have the ability to prevent particular diseases.
On the other hand, those cautious about functional foods claim that promotion of such foods may lead people to consume more and more functional foods and less from other food types and food groups. This would then lead to decreased variety, and potentially missing out on other important nutrients.
Embrace functional foods but do not sacrifice enjoyment for health sake. Functional foods supply additional benefit beyond basic nutrition, but can not replace a healthy, well balanced diet. You should include them as part of your diet to provide good nutrition and enjoyment. In fact, any foods are functional naturally, since they provide a number of important nutrients essential for health.
Some Examples of functional foods
Plant Sterol Margarines (Logical™ and Pro.activ™) lower cholesterol by 10% when consumed in quantities of 25 grams or more (only benefit while consuming and expensive)
Yoghurt and fermented dairy products contain probiotics such as acidophilous and bifidus that can often improve gastrointestinal health. There are also yoghurts available with added plant sterols to help reduce cholesterol.
High Maize starch is a resistant starch found in some foods as a supplement. It is a source of fibre that is broken down in the large bowel with the production of beneficial bacteria.
Black and green tea contain Catechins that are thought to reduce the risk of cancer.
Fish contains omega 3 fatty acids that are thought to reduce the risk of heart disease.
Oats and oats containing foods contain the soluble fibre, beta glucan that is thought to reduce cholesterol. This claim is now on some cereal packages.
Soy foods with soy protein reduce cholesterol and are thought to reduce the risk of Coronary Heart Disease.
Red grape juice and red wine have phenolic compounds that are antioxidants that prevent the build up of cholesterol in the arteries.
Tomatoes and tomato products have a component called Lycopene, a strong antioxidant, thought to reduce the risk of cancer. This claim is now found on canned tomatoes.
Carrots are rich in beta-carotene, a strong antioxidant thought to be of benefit in reducing the risk of cancer and heart disease.
Eggs can be modified to reduce their cholesterol by increasing their omega 3 content by the addition of fish and seed oil to their feed. (Expensive and only have benefit while consuming)
LSA: linseed, soy and almond meal is rich in omega 3 and 6 essential fatty acids and can be added to cereals and cooking. (Expensive and linseed goes rancid easily if not refrigerated)
Garlic containing sulphur that is thought to reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease.
Recipes
Lamb Shanks Provencale : This is a delicious recipe for a winter’s night.
Added to site on : Sunday, 12 December 2010