Health Benefits Over and Above Essential Nutrients

If you’ve been at all concerned about good nutrition, you have likely come across words like nutraceuticals, functional foods and bioactive compounds and have the impression that these foods may have advantages for your own health.  But do you know the differences between these food constituents? What improvements can they make to your well-being and how efficient are they at doing that? How can you include them in your own healthy diet? A systematic review published in June of 2025 gives us a place to start in answering these questions. (1)

 

Functional Foods (1,3)

Functional foods offer health benefits over and above their basic nutritional components. They are foods which contain essential vitamins, minerals, bioactive compounds and other elements that can enhance health and reduce the risk of chronic diseases. Traditional whole foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, herbs and spices contain natural bioactive elements and are one type of functional food.

Foods can also be modified through the addition of healthy ingredients to create “fortified functional foods”.  Examples include beverages enhanced with vitamins or prebiotics; cereals with added vitamins and/or minerals; and eggs supplemented with omega-3 fatty acids through specialized growing conditions or genetic manipulation.

Fortified functional foods can fit into a balanced diet and improve it by helping to prevent dietary deficiencies such as the lack of certain vitamins or minerals and by supporting overall health.

 

Nutraceuticals (1):

Nutraceuticals are also elements that offer health benefits beyond basic nutrition but they  have been extracted from a food source. They can be found as dietary supplements, herbal products or isolated nutrients and are usually sold in capsule, tablet, powder, or liquid forms.

Under Canadian law, the terms “nutraceutical” and “functional food” have no legal distinction. But Canada’s Bureau of Nutritional Sciences has proposed the following definition for nutraceuticals;   ”A nutraceutical is a product isolated or purified from foods that is generally sold in medicinal forms not usually associated with food. A nutraceutical is demonstrated to have a physiological benefit or provide protection against chronic disease.” (6)

Unfortunately, nutraceuticals are not strictly regulated and vary greatly in quality and activity. In addition, they may interact with prescription medications.  Consequently, they should be used with caution.

 

Should I be Looking for Functional Foods or Nutraceuticals to Optimize my Health?

Definitions of functional foods and nutraceuticals are unclear and cover such a wide variety of differing foods and other products that the whole picture becomes confused. There are better ways of evaluating the foods you are eating. Leaving functional foods and nutraceuticals behind and homing in on their active components, natural bioactive compounds, is one of them.

Bioactive compounds are not vital for life and our bodies can function without them. However, they have the ability to modify biological processes to positively enhance many aspects of human health and wellness. The majority of natural bioactive compounds are found in whole foods like plants, fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, herbs and spices.  Here are some examples of their bioactive ingredients (1,2,4).

• Curcumin from turmeric
• Resveratrol from grapes, berries and peanuts
• Epicallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and other catechins from green tea
• Polyphenols from fruits, berries, vegetables, beans, tea, nuts, herbs and spices
• Isothiocyanates from cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and kale
• Carotenoids from vibrant yellow, orange and red vegetables and fruits like carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, tomatoes, green leafy vegetables, bell peppers, oranges, mangos, papaya, cantaloupe and watermelon
• Organosulfur compounds and flavanoids from Allium vegetables including garlic, onion, leek, and chives
• Genistein and daidzein from soy

Natural bioactive compounds include a vast array of molecules derived from plants, fungi, bacteria, microorganisms residing within plant tissues and, more recently, marine organisms such as algae and marine invertebrates like sponges, mollusks and crustaceans. These compounds have complex and wide-ranging biological activities and their intricate chemical structures enable them to target specific disease pathways. Moreover, the plants and other organisms in which natural bioactive compounds exist often hold multiple different bioactive compounds which allows them to collaborate, enhancing their actions and increasing their therapeutic efficacy. Ongoing research on natural bioactive compounds continues to reveal their substantial benefits for human health along with very low toxicity. (5,2)

Natural bioactive compounds have been shown to improve a wide spectrum of health conditions including chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease; metabolic disorders like diabetes; inflammatory diseases such as arthritis and autoimmune disorders; neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s; cancer; and infectious diseases.  Here are some of their known contributions to health (2,5,7).

• Antioxidant properties – Reduce oxidative stress which is implicated in the onset of numerous chronic diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disorders, arthritis and neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease
• Anti-inflammatory properties – Control immune responses and suppress chronic inflammation that is associated with the development of diseases such as arthritis; cardiovascular diseases; autoimmunse diseases; and neurodegenerative disorders
• Antimicrobial properties – Have broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against bacteria, fungi and viruses and provide alternate treatment strategies against drug-resistant pathogens
• Anti-cancer properties – Reduce the multiplication of tumour cells, slow the proliferation of blood vessels needed to feed a tumour, and decrease the spread of tumours. In addition, they can do this with fewer side effects than conventional chemotherapy agents.
• Cardiovascular efffects –Promote the health of blood vessels and improve the metabolism of lipids to help to prevent and slow the progression of cardiac diseases

 

Putting this all Together

Don’t worry about trying to identify functional foods or nutraceuticals.  Go right to the source of potential health benefits, nutrient-dense foods that naturally contain bioactive compounds.  (5)

Consider this.  You have decided to eat as healthfully as you can so that you are getting most of your food from plant sources.  You’ve either eliminated animal-sourced foods from your diet or severely limited them. With the making of this decision you have opened up the world of bioactive compounds that exist within the foods that you are eating every day.  You’re getting their benefits without any planning or purchases required.

 

Wrapping it up  

• Flood your plate with whole foods including fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, herbs, spices and healthy fats.
• Curtail your intake of foods from animal sources such as meats, eggs and dairy. There is only so much room in your stomach for each meal.  Fill it with the healthiest nutrients you can find.
• Regularly include the following foods in your meals;
  • Cruciferous vegetables – broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, bok choy, Brussels sprouts, arugula, mustard greens, collard greens, Swiss chard
  • Brightly coloured fruits – berries of all kinds, citrus fruits, apples, grapes, avocado, bananas, cantaloupe, mangos, papaya, peaches, pineapple, cherries, watermelon
  • Brightly coloured vegetables – bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, asparagus, leafy greens, squash, zucchini, corn
  • Allium vegetables – onions, garlic, leeks, chives
  • Whole grains – whole wheat, rye, barley and spelt; flaked oats; brown rice; quinoa; whole-grain breads; whole-grain pastas
  • Healthy fats – nuts, seeds, nut butters iincluding peanut butter, hummus, tahini

 

SOURCES:

 1   Shirodkar, S., Khanchey, F., Babre, N. Role of functional foods and nutraceuticals in nutrition and health. Academia Nutrition and Dietetics 2025;2.   https://doi.org/10.20935/AcadNutr7676

2  Ali, S., Khalil, A.A.K., Akhtar, M.S., Amin, A., Zaman, W. Comprehensive Insights into Natural Bioactive Compounds: From Chemical Diversity and Mechanisms to Biotechnological Innovations and Applications.  ChemistryOpen 2025, 0, e202500469. https://doi.org/10.1002/open.202500469

3  Hossain, S., Wazed, A., Shuvo, S.D., Sultana, Z., Preya, S.A., Khanom, SH., Asha, S., Kamal, M., Mondal, B.Z.,Ahmad,T. Fortified and functional foods: Trends, innovations, and their public health impact for future nutrient enrichment. Journal of Agriculture and Food Research, Volume 23, 2025; 102275; ISSN 2666-1543; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafr.2025.102275.

4  Fatima, Z., Itrat, N., Israr, B., & Ahmad, A. M. R. (2025). Therapeutic Efficacy of Soy-Derived Bioactives: A Systematic Review of Nutritional Potency, Bioactive Therapeutics, and Clinical Biomarker Modulation. Foods, 14(19), 3447. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14193447.

5  Narayanankutt,y A., Famurewa, A.C., Oprea, E. Natural Bioactive Compounds and Human Health. Molecules. 2024 Jul 18;29(14):3372.Doi: 10.3390/molecules29143372. PMID: 39064950; PMCID: PMC11279386.

6  https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/food-labelling/health-claims/nutraceuticals-functional-foods-health-claims-foods-policy-paper.html#1

7 Kapil, A., Chandel, K., Sharma, A., Garud, N., Pandey, A., Jain, S.  The Role of Bioactive Nutrients in Autoimmune Disease: A Review on Nutraceutical Therapeutics.  September 15, 2025;Article ID: e26659786402482; DOI: 10.2174/0126659786402482250905115640.