FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD! *An Introductory Series

Food in all its glory has not only the capacity to nourish and comfort as its traditional role suggest but also to moderate and modulate the human body’s internal milleu like the chief conductor in the orchestra creating beautiful music.

"let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food," famous words by Hippocrates nearly 2,500 years ago, is receiving renewed interest today and in the last 2 decades.

Food is all sustaining and many foods have tremendous healing properties, provided it is cultivated and grown in the best of environments, cooked and eaten in the least damaging way at the right proportions. Therefore, when we eat food that heals us within and not only to satisfy our apetite, desires and taste buds, it is called Functional Foods.

The term functional foods, was first introduced in Japan in the mid-1980s and refers to foods containing ingredients that aid specific bodily functions in addition to being nutritious. To date, Japan is the only country that has formulated a specific regulatory

approval process for functional foods. Known as Foods for Specified Health Use (FOSHU).

Functional food as the name suggest is exactly that, food that functions, when consumed, it goes to work. It has the potential to mitigate disease, promote health, and eventually reduce health care costs. There is a plethora of biologically-active compounds that have been identified in this regard. These bioactive compounds for example are Prebiotic compounds, Sterols, Minerals, Vitamins, Anthocyanins, Caffeic acid, Dietary Fiber, Flavonoids, Lipids, Omega-3 fatty acids, Organosulfur, Phenolic acid, Polyphenol, Phytochemicals, Phytoestrogen, and many more.

Just to illustrate an example, this was taken from the journal of food science, June 2004

“Functional foods and their role in health promotion and disease prevention”

(Phenolic and polyphenolic compounds constitute an important class of secondary plant metabolites that act as free radical scavengers and inhibitors of LDL cholesterol oxidation and DNA breakage, among others. Thus, the role of food phenolics and polyphenolics in the prevention of cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancer is well recognized. In addition, certain marine foods have often been considered as “heart food” because of their omega-3 constituents which are known to lower blood triacylglycerol and, possibly, cholesterol levels. Thus, food factors from both plants and animals may be participating in human health promotion.)

It is widely thought that only plant based foods have the capacity to heal, but on the contrary, there are several animal based foods which are equally healing if the source is natural, unadulterated and unprocessed.

Examples of some plants and animal based foods that have functional healing capacity.