Functional food in prevention and nutrition therapy

Beyond meeting nutritional needs, diet may modulate numerous body functions and have significant role in decreasing the risk of some diseases. Functional foods (or Foods foe Special Dietary Use or Foods for Specified Health Use) are foods that are satisfactorily demonstrated to affect beneficially one or more target functions in the body, beyond adequate nutritional effects in a way which is relevant to either the state of well-being and health or the reduction of the risk of a disease. A functional component in such a food can be micro- or macronutrient non-essential nutrient, and even a substance of no nutritive value (microorganisms, phytochemicals).
Funkcionalna hrana ne predstavlja samo novu seriju prehrambenih proizvoda ili novi trend u prehrambenoj industriji već je to koncept koji obuhvata marketing proizvoda, uspostavljanje novih veza između ishrane i zdravlja mogućnost korišćenja hrane u prevenciji bolesti i smanjenju rizika od pojave pojedinih oboljenja, pa čak i u terapiji nekih bolesti. Funkcionalnom se smatra namirnica ukoliko sadrži sastojke koji povoljno deluju na ciljne funkcije organizma i to izvan okvira uobičajenih nutritivnih efekata ili namirnica iz koje je uklonjen neki potencijalno štetni sastojak.