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Nutrient-rich Ayurveda-powered functional foods for therapeutic effect
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Saturday, 04 May, 2019, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Ameve Sharma
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The frantic pace of everyday life has made it almost impossible to stick to a healthy lifestyle. Long hours, longer commutes and demanding work schedules, lead us to compromising and consuming packaged and refined food. Thanks to the growing popularity of online food delivery services, it is fast becoming extremely important to add back functional foods in our diets – as a potent antidote to fortify our systems with nutrition too.
Perhaps, the oldest and most authentic form of functional food, is ghar ka khana (homemade food) or maa ke haath ka khana (food cooked by mother). Food made at home, not only brims with the warmth of motherly affection but also offers nutrient-rich benefits that have been passed on over generations.
By definition, functional food is something which is fortified with extra nutrients which improve the value proposition of the food or beverage; for instance, milk with Vitamin D, yogurt with beneficial probiotics – good for the gut, orange juice with Omega 3 or calcium fortified orange juice. These functional foods offer additional physiological benefits beyond basic nutrition. The functional food movement, which took shape in the form of Foods for Specified Health Use (FOSHU) in Japan in 1991 has become a major dietary trend worldwide. The key triggers of the movement are - craving for an improved quality of life. Quality food is basically at the heart of quality of life. However, as a healthy lifestyle takes a backseat, it consequently affects the quality of food. Packaged and processed products are increasingly being used in the everyday making of homemade food, because of the convenience factor. For example - rice is brown in colour in its original form which is full of vitamins, fibre and nutrients. However, the polished rice which we regularly buy from the market is processed, devoid of any vitamins and nutrition, just carbohydrates. However, consumers are waking up to this fact and the awareness of a healthy lifestyle is increasingly growing across the world. According to a Nielsen survey published in 2015, consumers aspire for better health and nutritious food, and are even ready to pay a premium to buy foods with assured health benefits.
India, being the land of Ayurveda, holds a definite advantage when it comes to presenting a more indigenous and homegrown version of the functional food concept. In fact, Ayurveda has the ability to bridge the gap between diet and lifestyle. Just like functional food, Ayurveda also advocates the idea of preventive health measures – the idea of being healthy every day.
One can draw a parallel to functional foods and Ayurveda. Similar to functional foods, Ayurveda does not propose the addition of new foods to the existing dietary regime. Instead, it offers people better and naturally fortified alternatives to their existing foods which are as simple as:
1. Swapping mass produced honey (tons of added sugar) with small batch wild flower honey. 2. Using plant-based remedies like Neem and Ashwagandha to increase overall immunity.
The growth opportunities for the Ayurveda-functional foods sector are huge thanks to the growing awareness. The Indian food sector was worth $193 billion in 2016 and is projected to cross $540 billion by 2020. The market has been growing at a rate of 12% annually. And, just 1% of the entire food market is functional. The market will open up if both Ayurveda and functional foods join hands to reach out to a larger share of the population that is waking up to the fact that better quality nutrition, leads to a healthier life. Although ghar ka khana may not be readily available thanks to the migratory and nuclear way of life, Ayurveda-powered functional foods can offer people the nutrient-rich therapeutic effect of maa ke haath ka khana anytime, anywhere. (The author is founder, Kapiva Ayurveda)
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