BENEFITS OF CONSUMING FUNCTIONAL FOODS



Good health is a great attraction in human beings and many people seek these benefits either by exercising and improving their diet including natural products in their diet and reducing food intake. Other people have opted for the consumption of what is called functional foods for the same purpose.



Recently, it has been described that the consumption of functional foods allows not only to improve physical appearance, but also prevents and increases health status. Such effects present in functional foods are associated with compounds called flavonoids, It is important to mention that many of the flavonoids are obtained from plant extracts.


How can these substances generate beneficial effects on health?

Due to the fact that vegetables have active molecules called secondary metabolites originating from the various metabolic routes of the plant, whose composition and structure can generate a positive effect on the human body, such is the case of Flavonoids are constituent metabolites of one of the natural polyphenol subfamilies to which the scientific community has devoted more attention in recent years. Their multiple experimentally determined biological properties and their abundance in the diet, together with their presence in numerous traditional medicine remedies, make them possible candidates to explain the association between the consumption of certain products of plant origin and the decrease in the risk of developing certain chronic non-communicable diseases.


sedentary lifestyle, stress, among others. For a long time, such factors result in an increase in the individual's body fat and with it the possibility of suffering from chronic-degenerative diseases such as metabolic syndrome, diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure and cardiovascular problems. Such diseases can be improved or prevented by choosing a good diet coupled with a healthier lifestyle.


Functional foods, consumed routinely and in adequate portions, provide vitamins, minerals and proteins that together help strengthen the immune system, improve the functioning of the nervous system and allow the correct development of the organism, they also help in the prevention of diseases and improve health.Among the diets that provide nutrients and are rich in flavonoids and other metabolites, are vegan and vegetarian. The vegan diet is very strict, since the diet must be free of products of animal origin and/or its derivatives such as milk and eggs, only 100% natural foods such as fruits, vegetables, seeds and grains are consumed. In the vegetarian diet, no type of meat is consumed (including poultry, fish and shellfish) but foods derived from animals such as milk and eggs are consumed; People who follow this type of diet are also called lacto-vegetarians and other.

Flavonoids are natural pigments present in plants, they are responsible for giving color to fruits and vegetables and help protect the body from various conditions; These metabolites respond to light by controlling the levels of auxins (plant hormone) and help the development of plant species.


It is important to mention that flavonoids are not classified as vitamins, but are part of the group of essential nutrients due to their protective action.  Flavonoids are made up of six subclasses, which are represented in Table 1.



Conclusions


Functional foods have beneficial properties for health due to the rich content of flavonoids. That is why it is important to include foods rich in these compounds in our diet and combine them with foods of animal origin or their derivatives to obtain the necessary amount of nutrients and with it.