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Functional foods: while the term may sound very millennium, you have
undoubtedly seen, if not tried some yourself. Functional foods are of
course still foods, but they have been designed to offer a particular
health benefit over and above the traditional nutrients they contain.
As nutrition science is moving from the concept of 'adequate nutrition'
to 'optimal nutrition', new food products, which have the potential
to improve mental and physical wellbeing and which may also reduce the
risk of diseases, are being developed.
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Examples of Functional Food Innovations
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Food
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Functional Benefit
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Live fermented milks and yoghurts with probiotic cultures
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Improve digestive functioning.
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Margarine, yoghurt, cheese spreads.
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Plant stereols and stanols reduce cholesterol and lower the risk
of heart disease.
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Eggs rich in omega-3 essential fatty acids.
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3 - 4 eggs a week would provide the same amount of n-3 fatty
acids as recommended to help reduce the risk of heart disease.
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Breakfast cereals.
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Added folic acid may help reduce the risk of babies being born
with spina bifida.
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Bread, Muesli style bars
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Added isoflavones may help reduce the risk of breast and prostate
cancers, heart disease and osteoporosis.
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All functional foods have a common denominator: they affect beneficially
one or more target functions in the body and the beneficial effect can
be expected when they are consumed as part of a normal food pattern.
Functional foods usually, look, smell and taste the same as their regular
counterparts. While the European consumer is just becoming used to such
innovative foods, in Japan, people have been choosing them for decades
and in so doing have been taking preventive health into their own hands.
Many now embrace the concept that functional foods have specific roles
to play at different times throughout life and accept that certain foods
may help for example, menopausal women reduce their risk of osteoporosis
while others could help middle age men lower the risk of developing
heart disease.
Code of Conduct
Although functional foods may indeed play such important roles, it is
crucial that their manufacturers are not allowed to make claims based
on hearsay rather than fact. In an attempt to ensure this does not occur,
the United Nations FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarus, the Council of Europe
and national regulators are drafting codes allowing only 'well-founded
and justifiable' claims to be made.
Under these Codes, any health-promoting claim on packaging must not
be misleading and must be underpinned by sound science. Ideally evidence
should show that the substance in question is absorbed or reaches its
site of action. It should be clearly shown that by eating the food in
normal quantities, it has a physiological beneficial function such as
lowering blood pressure or that a positive effect on a biochemical marker
such as cholesterol can be measured. While functional foods potentially
offer health benefits, it is important to keep these in perspective
and that they are enjoyed in the knowledge not that they offer a magic
bullet against health problems, but that they are a positive, health
enhancing addition to an overall balanced diet and active lifestyle.
Source: Eufic
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