If you want to improve your heart’s wellness, you might want to add functional foods to your diet in order to do it. Functional foods are any foods that boost your wellbeing beyond basic nutrition. Though every health expert will tell you the sentiment of registered dietician Susan Moores, ‘The most important message is: first lay the foundation of a healthy diet with whole foods, then weave in functional foods’, and not every functional food is backed by scientific evidence, 6 have come out on top.
Firstly, calcium is instrumental in helping maintain healthy blood pressure levels, helping with regular heart beat and maintaining strong bones. You need 700mg daily, alongside vitamin D for efficient absorption of calcium, and alongside the regular choices of dairy products, there are functional food options such as dark, leafy greens, fortified orange or other juices, breads and soya milk.
You can gain vitamin D through 10 to 15 minutes of sunshine several times a week. However, your body’s ability to make vitamin D may be limited by dark skin, culture and religion, season or geography but you can find vitamin D in functional foods such as milk, yoghurt and fruit juices, and you need to get 5mcg a day, whilst it’s recommended that the elderly, and pregnant and breastfeeding women, consider taking a supplement of 10mcg of vitamin D.
The third functional food is fibre, which is important for aiding digestion, and maintaining healthy cholesterol levels and heart health. Functional foods such as breads, cereals, soya milk and yoghurts can fill in gaps after the prime sources of produce and wholegrains. Most of us get 12g daily, but the NHS advises that you get at least 18g to fight disease and aid digestion.
The NHS also recommends you get plenty of omega-3 fatty acids as they ‘can help maintain a healthy heart and reduce risk of heart disease’ as well as lower cholesterol. Salmon, walnuts and linseeds are good whole-food sources, and you can get extra functional foods sources such as omega-3-rich eggs, breads, milk, soya milk and cereal. The British Heart Foundation suggests that everyone eats at least two portions of fish a week, one portion being of oily fish.
The 2 Ps round off the list: Plant sterols and stanols, and Probiotics. Plant sterols and stanols aid cholesterol, reduce your risk of coronary artery disease, and can be found in spreads and yoghurts, as well as the small amounts naturally occurring in grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts and seeds. Finally, probiotics live micro-organisms very similar to the beneficial ones you’ve already got living inside your gut, and early evidence suggests that probiotics may benefit those on antibiotics, with some bowel disorders, diarrhoea or certain infections. Look for them in yoghurt, juices and soya drinks, if you think probiotics may fit into your diet, remembering to talk to your doctor and read labels carefully.
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