63 Defence Life Science Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1, January 2020, pp. 63-70, DOI : 10.14429/dlsj.5.14341  2020, DESIDOC 1. IntroductIon The food and its components which provide health benefts beyond basic nutrition and foster an additional function of providing essential nutrients are termed as ‘Functional Food’. Commercially these are also categorised under ‘Health and wellness products’. According to the American Dietetic Association (ADA) functional food is ‘any potential heath food or food ingredient that may provide a health beneft beyond the traditional nutrients it contains 1 . The term functional food was frst put forwarded in Japan during 1980s. Japanese composed the term ‘FOSHU’ which stands for Foods for Specifed Health Use, to which a functional ingredient is being added for benefting health. Japanese ministry of health and welfare has approved ‘FOSHU’. India has recently passed the Food Safety and Standard Act (FSSA) 2006, a modern integrated food law to serve as a single reference point in relation to regulation of food products including nutraceutical, dietary supplements and functional food and as per FSSAI the functional food are described as “Foods which provides benefts beyond basic nutrition and may play a role in reducing or minimising the risk of certain diseases and other health conditions (Fig. 1).” Nutritionally adequate ration packs had become the integral part of Armed Forces diet management system to maintain passable nutritional and physiological health. This also ensures balanced energy and specifc nutrient level required for their operation specifc tasks. For satisfactory nutrient deliverance functional foods must be integrated with normal ration packs which often are defcient in such functional entities. Functional foods help in maintaining sound health with proper growth of a consumer. These fractions take care about various life style diseases including obesity, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular malfunctions along with digestive system. It is now being recommended by various experts of this domain to include certain functional elements in the diet rather only focusing on basic nutrition viz. protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals. Similar to functional foods the term ‘Nutraceutical’ is an amalgamation of two techno-scientifc terms ‘Nutrition’ ‘Foodoceuticals’- Ensuring Improved Well Being Beyond basic nutrition Dev Kumar Yadav, Gopal Kumar Sharma * , and Anil Dutt Semwal DRDO-Defence Food Research Laboratory, Mysuru - 570 011, India * E-mail: gksh60@gmail.com ABStrAct Adequate nutrition is very essential for Armed Forces in terms of maintaining the nutritional status. In the present review it was complied about dietary habit and required diet for Service personnel to become ft and control the life style disease such as diabetes, obesity, cancer, hypertension and cardiovascular disease etc. It also focuses on functional foods rather than normal diet which are recommended as ration pack for armed forces. Functional foods enrich and improve the quality of dietary intake. It also represents promising avenues of nutritional in recent days of global dietetics. Functional ingredients such as essential fatty acids, antioxidants, dietary fbre, isofavones, β-carotene etc are included in ration pack. It also provide large varieties of functional foods are made available to the consumers with the intension to provide dietary management of life style diseases while enhancing our overall well being conversely. It must be understood that these foods and ingredients are not instant medicine or ultimate remedies for imbalance dietary habits as proper diet management. It also provides comprehensive approach for good physical and mental health. Keywords: Functional food; Health beneft; Dietary management; Nutrition; Obesity Received : 25 March 2019, Revised : 13 November 2019 Accepted : 17 December 2019, Online published : 19 February 2020 REvIEw papER Figure 1. diagrammatic representation of mechanism of functional foods.