Functional food in pregnancy
AbstractThe current state of the functional food usage in clinical guidance of pregnant females with the alimentary deficiency of essential nutrients was conducted in the review. The clinical effects of the use of various functional food products were discussed. The instances of the additive interaction of nutrients used for food fortification were depicted. The issues of the methodology of selecting food products for the diet correction were reviewed. The international experience of the development of fortification schemes for basic food products was analyzed. The especial attention was dedicated to the problem of iron deficiency in pregnant females. There were urged the issues of clinical epidemiology of iron deficiency states amongst females offertile age, the pathophysiology of sideropenic syndrome, its associations with other nosologies. There was demonstrated that the correction of iron deficiency amongst pregnant females suffering from iron deficiency anemia should be differentiated accordingly to the anemia severity. For mild severity of iron deficiency the diet correction of iron consumption should be conducted with the administration of vitamin-mineral complexes containing not less than 60 mg organic salts of bivalent iron and other antianemic biologically active nutrients in the physiological dosages for pregnancy. The issues of the usage of food fortified with probiotics, food fiber, calcium, iodine and prebiotics were discussed. There were conversed the safety issues of the usage of functional food in pregnant females. There was argued that the practical application of the concept of functional food could be helpful for the correction of the present alimentary deficiency since early terms of gestation as well as reduce the risk of pregnancy and childbirth complications significantly. The selection of the optimal strategies of diet correction depends on the clinical epidemiology of alimentary deficiency and could be realized at the individual as well as at the population level.
Keywords:functional food, nutrients, micronutrients, pregnancy