FUNCTIONAL FOODS

At the forefront of healthful nutrition is the identification and development of foods intended to affect a particular health problem or to improve the functional capability of the body.  Functional foods contain not only recognized nutrients but also new or enhanced elements that impart medicine-like properties to the food.  Alternative labels also exist for various sub classes of functional foods, such as nutraceuticals or food elements that may be packaged in forms appearing more like medications (for example, pills or capsules), and probiotics or foods that improve the microbial flora that reside within the human digestive tract.

Examples of functional foods include garlic (believed to lower cholesterol), olive oil (thought to prevent heart disease), foods high in dietary fiber (which prevent constipation and lower cholesterol), and foods rich in calcium (which prevent osteoporosis).  In addition, foods that contain high levels of vitamins A, C, and E – primarily fruits and vegetables and provide the body with natural sources of antioxidants are functional foods.

Other functional foods are those that contain or are enriched with folic acid.  These vitamin B- family foods aid in the prevention of spina bifida and other neural tube defects and the prevention of heart disease.  Foods that are rich in selenium are sometimes categorized as functional foods because of selenium’s potential as an agent in cancer prevention.  Most recently, the FDA has approved a “health claims on the basis of current criteria.

One category of functional foods being researched is vegetables that are genetically engineered to produce a specific biological element that is important to human health.  An example is tomatoes that are in lycopene.  Another example, as described earlier, is a new type of margarine that can lower the level of and change the properties of blood cholesterol.  Food technologists are interested in expanding the functional food family to include a greater array of health-enhancing food items.