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Functional foods: salient features and clinical applications
Giuseppe Riezzo1, Marisa Chiloiro, Francesco Russo
1Laboratory of Experimental Pathophysiology, Scientific Institute for Digestive Diseases S. De Bellis, Castellana Grotte (BA), Italy. giriezzo@tin.it
Current Drug Targets. Immune, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders
|September 24, 2005
Summary
Functional foods offer health benefits beyond basic nutrition, aiding in the prevention and treatment of diseases like cancer and diabetes. Scientific evidence supports their role, though research complexities exist.
Area of Science:
- Nutritional Science
- Preventive Medicine
- Food Science
Background:
- Functional foods provide physiological benefits beyond basic nutrition.
- The food industry increasingly focuses on functional foods due to growing scientific evidence.
- Diet plays a significant role in disease prevention and management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review scientific evidence for functional foods and ingredients with proven chemopreventive and therapeutic effects.
- To highlight the role of functional foods in managing chronic diseases.
Main Methods:
- Review of experimental and clinical studies on functional foods.
- Focus on foods and ingredients with established scientific evidence.
Main Results:
- Functional foods show potential in preventing and treating diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension.
- Evidence supports their role in managing osteoporosis, abnormal bowel motility, and arthritis.
- Dietary factors are estimated to influence 80% of cancer cases in the USA.
Conclusions:
- Functional foods represent a significant area for disease prevention and treatment.
- Further research is needed to address complexities in evaluating functional food efficacy.
- Clear experimental and clinical evidence supports the use of specific functional foods and ingredients.