Functional foods provide health benefits in chronic diseases such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease, in addition to nutrition. The metabolic syndrome includes central obesity, insulin resistance, elevated blood pressure, impaired glucose tolerance, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and dyslipidaemia; these signs are due to chronic low-grade inflammation combined with oxidative stress. We have shown that a diet high in fructose and saturated/trans fats induces these cardiovascular, liver and metabolic signs in rats. Further, components of foods can reverse all these symptoms in diet-induced obese, hypertensive and insulin-resistant rats. In particular, tocotrienols from palm oil, dietary fibre from tropical seaweeds, anthocyanins from tropic Australian native fruits such as Davidson’s plums, and polyphenols from tropical Garcinia fruits such as achacha lowered blood pressure, prevented inflammatory cell infiltration into the heart, liver and fat pads, improved plasma lipid profiles and decreased plasma inflammatory biomarkers. All these interventions, especially tropical fruits and seaweeds, could be produced commercially, sustainably and cost-effectively in many tropical countries, with the aim of reducing the incidence of metabolic syndrome, and decreasing the risk of costly cardiovascular and metabolic disorders.