Functional nutrition is a holistic approach to a diet that takes into consideration a person’s lifestyle which affects their food choices, such as activity levels, environment, or the presence of chronic disease.
It also focuses on foods that work with your body to enhance its function and promote health.
Functional nutrition can treat many chronic conditions such as digestive disturbances, autoimmune disorders, skin problems such as acne and rosacea, cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels, and even cancer.
The functional approach uses dietary recommendations based upon multiple criteria, such as:
Metabolic state. Example being insulin-resistant or insulin-sensitive and function need, like athletic vs. sedentary lifestyle and life issues, such as food allergies or cultural dietary preferences.
Functional nutrition for cancer is a growing field; functional foods and dietary strategies can modulate systemic inflammation, oxidative stress, and the immune system. Functional food science evolves as we learn more about how food affects gene expression that influences the risk of disease.
Functional nutrition focuses on using food as medicine, functional foods as nutraceuticals, and functional food science in nutritional supplement design. Supplementation with functional foods is a promising area of study for functional medicine practitioners. Functional nutrition focuses on proper diet and nutrition to promote total body health.