Ernaehrung gesundheit vitamin mineralOn paper, functional food makes normal food look pretty old. Food that is more than just food: Who wouldn't want to eat something like that rather than just banal food? Eating is normally about supplying the body with nutrients, inducing a feeling of satiety, and enjoyment. Functional food meets the same criteria. And it can do much more: it is also said to increase well-being, have a health-promoting effect, have a positive influence on behavior and mood, and even improve mental and physical performance.
The best-known representatives: probiotic yogurts with living bacteria, vitamin-enriched fruit juices, omega-3 products or cholesterol-lowering margarine varieties with vegetable additives. Achieving a certain effect with the ingestion of a certain food – this is what the industry wants to achieve with the "magic ingredients". What sounds good, can only often hardly be proven with serious studies.
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Functional Food: Healthy or just expensive?
The nutritional trend Functional Food originally comes from Japan. And from there quickly spread around the world. However, the number of definitions is just as large as the popularity of the term.
The factors that must be present in order for a food to be considered functional are not really uniformly defined. The only thing that is identical in the descriptions is that it is about normal foods that are either enriched with functional substances such as fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber and plant substances. Or which are free of undesirable components, such as lactose-, gluten- or sugar-free products. The crucial difference to dietary supplements (NEM) is that they are only available in concentrated and isolated form – for example as capsules, powder or tablets.
Health-promoting effect of functional food
Regardless of whether an ingredient is added or subtracted: Functional food is supposed to promote health and prevent long-term health risks such as cardiovascular disease or even cancer, strengthen the immune system or stimulate digestion. This means that functional foods with their special ingredients are supposed to do more than conventional foods. What can only be proven in a few cases.
Some studies confirm, for example, that foods with added plant sterols can have a cholesterol-lowering effect. In about 70 percent of the population, LDL cholesterol levels could be reduced by up to 12.5 percent after two to three weeks. The natural components of plant cells have a very similar structure to human cholesterol. Thus they can interfere with the absorption of cholesterol. Reduce cholesterol levels at the same time.
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Functional food: First contact your family doctor
Before consuming functional food on a regular basis or in large quantities, it is advisable to clarify with your family doctor whether it is necessary or compatible – even with medications. If, for example, a healthy person without elevated cholesterol levels consumes products that lower cholesterol levels, this can also have a negative effect. However, this does not stop the food industry from aggressively advertising with health promises that are not relevant for everyone.
The high performance food business is just too interesting: the products are expensive, the target group and the profit margins are huge. The German Nutrition Society (DGE) recommends: many functional foods cannot compensate for nutritional deficiencies and should therefore only be used as a supplement to a varied diet with regular fruit, vegetables and whole grain cereals.
"Functional food is above all a very functional business for producers: the products are expensive, the target group and theprofit margins are huge."
Advertising slogans
One of the best-known representatives of functional food is probably probiotics, i.e. yogurts, cheeses or even sourdough bread with living lactic acid bacteria. To great fame came the germ "L" contained in a yogurt drink. casei defensive". The manufacturer's advertising said that the product activates defenses. Only this promise has been completely exaggerated. The drink could not provide protection against colds, nor is supporting the immune system with functional yogurt anything special – natural yogurt has the same effect. Also due to this case, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) had the statements of food advertising with health reference ("Health Claims") examined.
statements about inulin or oligofructose were also examined in the process. Here, promises such as "supports healthy intestinal flora" or "improves digestive function" were readily used. The result: Many manufacturers have not been able to prove the advertised positive effects of their products on health. For some years such advertising slogans are therefore forbidden.
On the other hand, it has been proven that probiotics have a positive effect on diarrhea caused by rotavirus infections and can alleviate diarrhea caused by antibiotic therapies. If you want to do something good for your intestinal flora or support your immune system, normal sour milk products from the refrigerated section can be just as helpful. Here yogurt, kefir or soured milk is recommended. Alternatively, fermented beans, carrots or sauerkraut also support intestinal work.
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The ABC of vitamins
It is now quite normal for foods to be "spiced up" with a wide variety of vitamins in order to provide an additional benefit for health. Actually vitamins are indispensable for humans. The body cannot produce them itself, but needs them to be able to utilize proteins, carbohydrates or minerals. Fruit and vegetables, meat and fish are particularly good sources of vitamins. If one eats normally, the household should be saturated. Now, however, more and more often products are fortified with vitamins that actually contain none of these organic compounds at all. The body can thus be burdened with quantities that are no longer good for it.
In the case of vitamin C, for example: Anything of it that cannot be processed is excreted again. The situation is critical in the case of vitamins A, D and E. There is a risk of overdose here, which can lead to cell damage.
There's one more point in favor of being cautious about products that are fortified with vitamins: positive effects are more likely to be achieved if vitamins are ingested through normal food. And not in the form of copies in artificially fortified foods.
Vitamins are not always good for your health
This was found in numerous studies, for example at the University of Michigan and at the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Potsdam-Rehbrucke. In the studies conducted there, it was found that vitamin E that enters the body through food is twice as potent as the industrial version.
It is also important to note that vitamins are not always good for your health: According to Uppsala University, an overdose of vitamin A, for example, reduces bone density, especially in women. Vitamins C, E, B1 and beta-carotene are of particular interest to cyclists. The reason: deficiency symptoms can occur here with a permanently increased physical load. A vitamin D deficiency is widespread in this country, especially in the winter months.
Order the current ie in the store now! The cyclist's favorite food is – according to the cliche – vitamin C. Often also in reality – pasta dishes. The pasta can be used to replenish carbohydrate stores after exercise. Everybody knows that. What is new, however, is that pasta is also supposed to be good for losing weight. Thanks to a miracle noodle from Japan called "konjac", also known as shirataki noodle – Japanese for "white waterfall". Their profile reads as follows: almost free of calories, free of gluten, free of fat, free of carbohydrates. Main ingredient: Glucomannan – a dietary fiber.
What sounds at first like the creation of a hip noodle manufacturer is in fact a food that has been part of Japanese cooking culture for centuries. Until now, konjac noodles were mainly used as an ingredient in soups – and not as a dish in their own right. What is changing now. The "diet noodle" consists of konjac flour, which can bind 50 times the amount of water of its own mass. The result: the stomach is quickly full, hunger quickly gone. And the feeling of satiety lasts even longer. But: unlike regular pasta, low-carb pasta provides little to no "energy".
"Pasta to help lose weight and be low carb:This pasta is made from konjac flour, which can bind 50 times the amount of water of its own bulk."
Less carbohydrates?
The noodles are made from glucomannan: This dietary fiber is extracted from the bulb of the devil's tongue. Because Shirataki noodles are digested only slowly due to this dietary fiber, they provide long-lasting satiety. The konjac noodles are therefore well suited if you want to work on your weight. But: These "Miracle Noodles", as they are marketed in the USA, have hardly any taste of their own.
In addition, the following applies in general: Functional food should be questioned critically. Especially the advertising messages of the food industry.
What influence does functional food have on regeneration??
The good news is: there are also products that offer added value. Functional food can help especially with regeneration. Examples: Recovery shakes, cereal mixes, or even ice cream with high-quality proteins. Such products can partially support regeneration or promote muscle growth during rest periods.
Good news: one of the most effective drinks for cyclists is beer. Of course in the alcohol-free variant. It is isotonic and can be quite effective after intense sessions.
The "standard functional food" that populates supermarket shelves often has added protein: from protein milk drink to protein yogurt to protein bread. More protein usually means less carbohydrates as well. This corresponds to what is probably currently the most significant nutrition trend, especially among athletes: Low Carb. The omission of carbohydrates. The principle is becoming more and more widespread, especially in cycling.
Among the pioneers are the riders of Team Ineos. For example, five-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome has been eating a low-carb diet for years: In certain phases, he takes in around 25 percent of his daily energy from protein and 65 percent from fat.
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More endurance
On intense days, he consumes between six and ten grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight – but still around three grams of protein per kilogram. The effects of "ketonic" training include an increased formation of new mitochondria, the power plants of the cells. Probably the easiest to implement here is the so-called "sleep-low" variant. An example: One exercises in the evening. Depletes its glycogen stores in the process. Then eating a diet high in protein and fat and low in carbohydrates. The next morning you train sober, that is, before breakfast, in the basic area.
The effects of this strategy were examined in a study. The test subjects, trained endurance athletes, adhered to this "sleep-low" strategy on three days or nights of the week. Result: Compared to "normal" eating-. training behavior, their average endurance performance increased by three percent.
Risks of the consistent low carb diet
However, the consistent low-carb diet also carries risks. This is how nutrition expert Jurg Hosli identified athletes as a – self-inflicted – risk group in the RennRad interview. The reason: their often permanently low-carbohydrate diet. "The strict low-carb diet of less than 80 to 120 grams of carbohydrates is also one reason why many athletes think they have a gluten intolerance. If someone trains a lot and intensively and eats few carbohydrates, the system overreacts. Then digestive problems can occur. A competitive athlete with several hours of intensive training per day quickly has a carbohydrate requirement of over 500 grams. Who claims now, it would go also with much less, makes the athlete broken."
Superfoods?
In addition to functional foods, the so-called "superfoods" are also becoming more and more widespread. Noni juice, goji or acai berries, aloe vera elixir – the main thing is exotic. The term itself is not protected. Wikipedia writes: "Superfood is a marketing term used to describe foods with purported health benefits." This corresponds to the state of science. For: most publications on the individual superfoods. Their beneficial effects come from commercial suppliers. But as a rule, the products are superior to domestic foods – real superfoods such as flaxseed, oatmeal, berries – only in one thing: the amount of the price. According to this, the price-performance ratio is usually much better for "normal" fruit. Vegetables usually much better.
The fact is: the way to health and performance is a balanced diet: fresh, unprocessed, home cooked, regional. Or as nutritionist Hans Braun of the German Sport University in Cologne put it: "In a normal diet, the 'normal' foods provide all the nutrients you need. Healthy recreational athletes do not need more for sports and everyday life, not even dietary supplements.
