Food Components in a Healthy Diet

Description

Introduction

This book has been written to disseminate the current knowledge in mutritional sciences. A diet-disease relationship has prompted many to look closely into their food habits and dietary patterns. Changes in the environment and life styles in the modern world have about changes in diet. We may ask a number of questions in this context.

How do I know whether the foods I eat will help me reduce the risk of diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer?

Do foods have a healing effect on our bodies?

Can I choose my foods to maintain good health and longevity?

Are foods linked to health status, performance and well-being?

In the early part of the last century, the concept of a balanced diet was introduced to provide us good nutrition. A balanced diet, if consumed, would prevent deficiency diseases and promote growth and maintenance. It contains all nutrients adequately, to meet the biochemical requirements of the body, according to age, gender, size and physical activity. The six main nutrients were carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals and water.

In the 21 st century, nutritional sciences made great strides posing a challenge to the people not only to understand the basic nutrients but also to encompass the idea of “optimal nutrition”. The quality of the food is optimized in terms of nutrients, non-nutrients and other properties that favour the maintenance of health, leading to longevity and improved life-styles. The Japanese who introduced this concept referred to these food components as “Functional Foods”

Today, the concept of functional foods has spread worldwide-mainly to European countries and the US. However, Asians still argue that most of these foods and their healing strengths were known through age-old cultural beliefs. New scientific evidence and theories developed in the last three decades have precisely identified nutrients and ingredients with specific effects on health that are more acceptable to the modern world. The food industry too has expanded rapidly, to market these foods and components as health foods, diet foods and neutraceuticals.

The purpose of this book is to give you an insight into the latest scientific developments in the field of food and nutrition with a visionary thinking of promoting healthy living among our population. It explores the knowledge in leading scientific journals with a balanced discussion on each of the chosen subjects. This book is meant for educated intelligentsia, health conscious individuals, medical practitioners, teachers of biological sciences at secondary and tertiary level and medically qualified teachers. The book guides you how to select your own food combinations from foods grown and available in our country. The book gives definitions of new terminology and suggests dietary tips that will help to modify your daily diet for healthy living.