According to an article published in the Journal of Nutrition 2002, “Functional foods represent one of the most intensively investigated and widely promoted areas in the food and nutrition sciences today.”
The benefits of a diet that includes plenty of functional foods is that it protects against common chronic diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes and stroke.
Functional foods can occur naturally as seen in some fruits and vegetables or they can be bred or enhanced as seen in the yellow cassava, orange fleshed potatoes and purple potatoes.
Foods can also be processed with other ingredients referred to as fortified to make it functional such as cereals fortified with vitamins and minerals.
Functional foods are referred to as power / super foods based on the health benefits they provide and wellness they promote.Functional foods help fight diseases/ prevent diseases and boost immunity utilizing different methods depending on the nutrients it contain.
Functional foods benefits: 1) promotes gut health and enhance immune system. Garri as a functional food promotes gut health because of its fiber content, which also helps it absorb toxins from the digestive tract. Garri is a prebiotic, the fiber resists digestion but goes to the lower digestive tract and acts as food for probiotics thus promoting gut health.
2) Disease prevention : fiber in garri helps to add bulk to stool thus preventing constipation which when prolonged and severe can lead to hemorrhoids. High fiber diets help lower risks of obesity and cardiovascular disease .
3) Garri is gluten free, thus helping to prevent chronic inflammation, promotes weight loss and prevents bowel disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease.
4) Garri can be fortified or enriched with other functional foods to increase the benefits. Peanuts is also a functional food which when combined with garri triples the health and wellness benefits. The yellow garri is rich in vitamin A is a ready source to prevent Vitamin A deficiency in children.
Echbee foods uses yellow garri that is rich in vitamin A with peanuts to make nutritious snacks and meals.
