Functional foods as self‐care and complementary medicine

Considerable efforts have been exercised to influence the intestinal microbiota by dietary means in such a way that the health of host is beneficially affected. Consumer's belief that certain foods can exhibit health benefits has resulted in the coining of the term functional foods. Functional foods exist at the interface between food and drugs, therefore offers great potential for health improvement and prevention of diseases when ingested as part of a balanced diet. The purpose of this paper is to examine functional foods as self‐care and complementary medicine.

The paper explores various aspects of functional foods such as the reasons for consumer's inclination, health claims, formulation, regulation, and labeling.

Any food can be regarded as functional if it can be demonstrated to affect beneficially one or more target functions in the body or reduce disease risk besides basic nutrition. Health beneficial properties of functional foods suggest their application as self‐care and complementary medicine.

Ingestion of functional food may help in maintaining the intestinal microbiota and prevent disease risk beyond their basic nutritional needs.