FUNCTIONAL FOODS AND NUTRACEUTICALS AS AN ALTERNATIVE IN THE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF OBESITY

Abstract

Obesity is a chronic metabolic and inflammatory condition, defined by the excess of body adipose tissue at levels that compromise the health of the individual, currently, it is one of the main challenges of Public Health, In this study, a literature review was carried out to investigate the effects of functional foods and nutraceuticals as adjuvants in the treatment of obesity. The research was based on scientific articles available on PubMed, Scielo, and Google Scholar platforms, using keywords such as obesity, functional foods, nutraceuticals, and obesity treatment. Globalization has deeply impacted the socioeconomic structure of society, interfering with their eating habits and consequently, their quality of life, as a result, an unbalanced eating pattern has emerged, often combined with a lack of physical activity. With advances in food engineering, new natural and attractive alternatives have emerged to understand the relationship between nutrition and health, especially at the molecular level of bioactive compounds in food. In this context, phytotherapy and diet therapy stand out, both based on the use of plants and their derivatives. However, it is common for mistakes to occur in the definitions of these practices. Analyses carried out in this study corroborated the idea that the use of these products can contribute to the improvement of health. It was possible to observe positive results in the use of functional foods and nutraceuticals in the treatment of obesity, highlighting improvements in the lipid profile and inflammatory markers.