Functional Food for Easing Your Period Cramps

Every woman menstruates and has to go through the pain of period cramps. Although the whole process is rather painful, regular intake of functional foods can relieve the discomfort to some extent. 

Today in this article, we'll talk about what functional food is and how it can help you with your menstrual cramps.  

What is Functional food? 

The concept of functional food originated in the 1980's in Japan, where the world's healthiest people live. Later in 1994, the USA passed a bill called the "Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act '', shortly DSHEA, which included a functional food section. The Functional Food Center In the USA stated that any food or ingredients with the necessary bioactive compounds are considered a functional food. 

How Does Functional Food Help with Period cramps?

Functional foods can be fortified with additional ingredients like- vitamins, minerals, probiotics, or fiber. It helps by increasing the food’s health benefits. These foods reduce inflammation, enhance immune function, and improve heart health. 

Functional food helps women with their pain during the menstruation cycle. During one's period, the estrogen levels in a woman's body change. Higher estrogen levels in the body cause more pain. Nutrients filled with ingredients like functional food can lower the estrogen level and eliminate fats from the body. That way, the hormones responsible for all the pain are in control, and it's easier during your period. 

Functional food and Bangladesh

It is rather unfortunate that the concept of functional food and its benefits is unknown in this country. However, many universities and companies like Organic Nutrition BD Ltd. are trying their best to put light on this concept and raise awareness among the citizens.

Functional food has the power to lead people to live healthier lives. Especially in a country like Bangladesh, where contaminated food stands as a significant threat to our society and its health, functional food can play the role of a game-changer. 

Functional food for PMS 

PMS stands for premenstrual syndrome. PMS includes mood swings, acne, sugar cravings, irritability, exhaustion, bloating, low self-esteem, and anxiety. The list goes on and gets more and more exhaustive. Every woman experiences PMS, and the experiences are different from one another. 

The constant physical and mental pain we have to go through during our menstruation week is energy draining. The hormonal changes cause various issues like anxiety, panic attacks, mood swings, and so on and so forth. 

One of the best things you can do is find out the essential micronutrients that may have been compromised from years of hormone disruption. After that, find the proper foods that contain these micronutrients to help your body replenish. 

Ingredients of Functional food and their positive effects

Bioactive food components like amino acids, peptides,and structured lipids are said to be actively present in functional foods. For example, turmeric contains ‘curcumin’ which is an effective bioactive food component. Studies show that this "curcumin" component in turmeric has many health benefits such as- antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, enhanced brain function, and better control over obesity and diabetes. Yogurt contains "prebiotics" which is a non-digestible component that affects the growth of bacteria in the colon. 

Functional food can affect your health positively. One of the many bright sides is maintaining a well fed body which also reduces the risk of pathological consequences.

Gastrointestinal functions, redox and antioxidant systems, metabolism of macronutrients are the most promising factors of functional food science. The research on functional food is still ongoing and it will allow further information regarding how much they can enhance bodily functions and reduce risk of diseases.  

Yogurt, margarine, omega-3, fatty acids, and enriched eggs are some of the best examples of functional food. These foods have great potential to improve one's health and prevent risks of diseases if they're made a part of a day to day balanced diet.

The above list of functional foods can be overwhelming. But you can always start somewhere. Try collecting some of these foods and consuming them regularly. If you already consume some of them, then try timing your intake of these foods. 

Everyone wants to be the owner of a robust and healthy body for an extended period of time. Functional food can help you go a long way in order to fulfill that want. Menstrual cramps can be very exhausting, and sometimes, the mental effect the hormonal changes throws at us is just inevitable. Consumption of functional food can help a lot by keeping your hormonal changes at bay.

In this article, we tried to explain what functional food is and how it can help you during your menstrual cycle. We hope this article is informative enough for you and comes in handy. Happy reading!