Navnidhi ChhikaraAnil PanghalGaurav Chaudhary
1
Overview of Functional Foods
Navnidhi Chhikara1 and Anil Panghal2*
1Department of Food Technology, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, India
2AICRP-PHET, Department of Food Processing & Engineering, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India
Abstract
The consumer demand has switched to food choices which besides supplying the basic nutrients also contribute towards betterment of health. Functional foods can be conventional, modified or may contain any functional ingredient. Functional foods include a huge range of foods like whole foods along with fortified, enriched or enhanced foods, probiotics and designer foods. Functional foods protect from numerous lifestyle generated disease as well as promote the growth and development. The demand and market growth of functional foods is controlled by socio-demographic characteristics, awareness, knowledge of nutritional advantages and health claims, labeling and attitude of consumers. The smart, health conscious consumer is demanding for functional foods for their overall health and wellbeing. In the current scenario, the existing functional foods in today’s markets were designed to meet the needs for particular health conditions as evident by medical and nutritional experts. Consumers are more familiar with the functional foods and thus the functional foods are now accepted by the group of consumers whose interest is in following healthy food choice and dietary benefits. Researchers from the various fields of nutrition, pharmaceutical, microbiology, dairy sciences, medical sciences and food sciences are reporting their research findings on many interesting characteristics of food components in terms of their physiological functions. This chapter summarizes the different findings from multidisciplinary fields and role of regulatory bodies for law and regulations of functional foods.
Keywords: Probiotics, bioactive compounds, nutraceuticals, supplements
1.1 Introduction
The saying: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” was embraced 2500 years ago by Hippocrates. In 21st century, more of research reports advocated the importance of healthy diet for health promotion as well as disease prevention and also treatment. This further focused on the identification and characterization of biologically active compounds from different food substrates and their contribution to various health benefits. The new sources of these compounds have been explored to meet the increasing demands. The increased awareness about health and income of the consumer has forced the researchers and industries to come up with good quality food products, which are known as: “Functional foods.”
The term ‘functional food’ was coined in Japan in the early 1980s. Although there is no universal definition of functional food, a typical and simple definition is “processed foods having disease-preventing and/or health-promoting benefits in addition to their nutritive value.” Functional foods overlap with nutraceuticals, medical foods, probiotics, designer foods, pharma-foods, and vita foods. Japan is also the first country to have formulated a specific regulatory approval process for functional foods. In 1991, the concept of foods for specified health use (FOSHU) was established [1]. Functional food might be containing one or more specific functional ingredients or be completely a natural food that promotes positively to health and well being. Importantly, functional foods do not necessarily induce a health benefit in all members of the population.
1.2 Functional Food History and Market
The demand for functional foods is exponentially increasing at a CAGR of 7.9% and is expected to reach USD 275.77 billion by the year 2025 as per survey report by Grand View Research, Inc. The functional food market is mainly led by developed countries like United States, Japan, Great Britain, Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain. The world’s largest market for the functional foods is occupied by United States ($60 billion in 2017), and steady increase of 8% per year is mainly due to demand for health drinks and dairy products [2]. The main category of functional food is dairy products (49%) followed by cereal products (30%) in European countries, whereas in United states and Japan, market is occupied by drinks (60%), cereal products (20% in US) and confectionery products (15% in Japan) [3]. Besides this there is intense demand for natural and functional additives and for health food that is also favoring this market growth. Asia Pacific has emerged as a growing market for functional foods due to a significant increase in income status and health awareness. The consumption and preference for the functional food is controlled by numerous factors like age, gender, income, health status, knowledge and availability etc. [4, 5]. The food like low fat/skimmed milk, cereals, fruit juice, and probiotics are preferred by all age groups; on the contrary, cholesterol lowering and soy based products are predominantly consumed by adults and old age people. The health issues like high blood pressure, high cholesterol level, and diabetes has led to market for cholesterol lowering foods. Instead of relying only on medication to treat diseases, functional food products are approach to deal with symptoms and disease. Different types of functional foods are commercially available in global market (Table 1.1). However, with huge opportunities, the functional food industry also has its share of challenges like product availability; health claims and cost are limiting the growth of functional food market.
1.2.1 History
To get back to the history of functional foods, one of the first examples of a functional food with a specific health claim. The earliest attempt for functional food formulation by incorporating functional ingredients was iodized salt in early 1900. Iodine was added as functional ingredient to prevent goiter, prevalent health concern of that time. Unilever designed polyunsaturated fatty acids rich spreads to deal with issue of elevated cholesterol level in late 1960s. Spreads under Becel and flora brand were launched with modified triacylglycerol profile with elevated PUFA with target patients of hypercholesterolaemic initially [6]. Following this trend, different health associations like National Heart Foundation of Australia, 1999; Health Council of the Netherlands, 2001 strongly advocated the significance of the ratio of polyunsaturated fats to saturated fats in diets at global level. Later on, such products were in category of mainstream products for all types of consumers [7]. This clearly demonstrates that the functional food can be targeted to particular group of people and simultaneously will assist in overall health improvement of public. Further research and new product developments were done in spreads by incorporating plant sterols or stanols for availing for health benefits [8]. This again demonstrates that developments in nutritional science can be incorporated successfully into functional foods, if there is sufficient consumer awareness and need. However, sound science and perceived consumer need from a public health perspective are no guarantee for the success of functional food products, as unfortunate examples of unsuccessful market introductions show. It is hard to predict the prerequisites for success of a functional food, but factors undoubtedly include consumer need and awareness; consumer acceptance of a food solution; powerful communication of health benefits to the consumer; uncompromised taste; optimal convenience; adequate retail or out-of-home availability; proven safety and efficacy; acceptable price level; assurance and support from different sources, including scientific opinion leaders; and a clear regulatory framework for making claims, providing a level playing ground for all companies.
Table 1.1 Different commercial functional foods available in the global market.
| Product type and name |
Functional component
|