In recent years, the view that food has the ability to provide more than just basic nutritional needs has become popular. Many people today have found that the way to treat and prevent health conditions is through a diet of nutrient rich foods that produce an immune system boost, enabling the immune system to defeat all health threatening invaders to the body. Healing or functional foods have arisen to meet this growing need but their is much misunderstanding as to what these foods really are. The term functional food was first introduced in Japan in the 1980’s. Today it is used around the world because of its marketing potential.

There is no one correct definition for the term “functional food/s” because it is used by different parties to promote different interests. Functional foods are considered by some to be foods that have been scientifically proven to strengthen the immune system and eliminate the risk of disease. Others consider them to be those foods found in health stores and health sections of pharmacies. Still others consider them to be added ingredients in foods to promote health. Japan is the only country that regulates functional foods. In the U.S. they are not considered a legal food category. Nevertheless, health conscious baby boomers have made them the leading trend in the food industry.

It is important to distinguish between functional foods that will actually boost your immune system and those that are simply a marketing ploy to sell a product. Many leading companies make health claims about their products which may be only partially true, or not true at all, because of the existence of both healthy and unhealthy ingredients. Enriching candy bars, cereals or baked goods that are full of unhealthy fats and sugars will not make them a functional food.

In fact, the little amount of added nutrition will not have a chance at offsetting the harmful effects of all the poisonous ingredients. One claim companies like to make is that a diet low in saturated and trans-fats may reduce the risk of heart disease. If you see this claim the first thing you should check is the ingredients. Although the fat content may be low, many times these products have sugar as the third largest ingredient, and salt as the fourth, neither of which are good for heart health.

The best place to get immune boosting, functional foods is at your local natural health market. A list of some good functional foods are almonds, broccoli, blueberries, salmon, garlic, citrus fruit, yogurt, soy, spinach, cranberries, tuna, tomatoes, strawberries, walnuts, flax seed, oatmeal, avocado, whole grains, olive oil and tea. Becoming educated about natural sources of functional foods can save you a lot of money. For instance, foods cannot be patented which means that anything classified as food cannot be patented by a company and sold for profit.

In order to patent a product, a company must take an ingredient found to be effective against certain ailments and formulate it, package it and classify it as a drug. Once this is done, the product can be marketed at any price the company decides upon. The knowledgeable consumer will be aware that you can get the same health benefits offered in a patented formula from natural foods at a fraction of the price.

The best way to learn about immune boosting foods, is to study the foods themselves, rather than spending large amounts of time, reading endless claims from companies about how much their patented product will improve your particular health condition. Adding a healthy and effective supplement to a disease promoting diet will never compare to the effectiveness of eliminating the unhealthy diet and replacing it with functional foods. The best place to start with improving health should always be a healthy diet. Supplements can always be added if necessary, to make up for any lack in nutritional necessary to help improve a health condition.