Therapeutic and Preventive Potential of Functional Food and Cancer

Functional foods with intrinsic mixture of bioactive anti-cancer compounds could be very effective medium to contain menace caused by cancer. The health promoting effect of fruits and vegetable is indisputable. The primary role of diet is to provide sufficient nutrients to meet the nutritional requirements of an individual. There is now increasing scientific evidence to support the hypothesis that some foods and food components have beneficial physiological and psychological effects over and above the provision of the basic nutrients. Functional foods are foods that have a potentially positive effect on health beyond basic nutrition. Proponents of functional foods say they promote optimal health and help reduce the risk of disease. The concept of Foods for Specified Health Use (FOSHU) was established in Japan in 1919. Foods identified as FOSHU must be approved by the Minister of Health and Welfare after the submission of comprehensive science-based evidence to support the claim for the foods when they are consumed as part of an ordinary diet. In the United States the functional foods are not officially recognized as a regulatory category by the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The European Commission Concerted Action on Functional Food Science in Europe (FUFOSE) regards a food as functional if it is satisfactorily demonstrated to affect beneficially one or more target functions of the body, in a way that it is relevant to an improved state of health and well-being and/or a reduction of disease risk, beyond adequate nutritional effects.