Food for thought, health, repair... it's functional food
Tips for healthy eating, new diet fads, cookery shows, eating disorders and diseases... it seems the appetite for food-related news is insatiable. Now, a new publication by the European Commission is at hand to help the public better understand what 'functional food' means, and to learn more about EU research initiatives in the field. Food is life. So it is not surprising, as consumers, that we can't get enough information about healthy eating options. But one area of the 'food industry' - the so-called functional foods - remains something of an enigma. Scientific evidence supports the idea that some foods and ingredients can have positive effects on our health and well-being, beyond the provision of basic nutritional requirements. The new publication out this month by the Commission's Research DG, aptly named 'Functional Foods', offers valuable insights into this fast-evolving field, including a reliable definition, a review of the health benefits of functional foods, and how to assess the scientific evidence for functional foods. According to the Commission's 'Concerted action on functional food science in Europe' (FUFOSE), a functional food is: '[A] food that beneficially affects one or more target functions in the body beyond adequate nutritional effects in a way that is relevant to either an improved state of health and well-being and/or reduction of risk of disease. It is consumed as part of a normal food pattern. It is not a pill, a capsule or any form of dietary supplement.' Many such functional foods are already on the market, including vitamin-enriched spreads and probiotic drinks. As consumer interest deepens for these products, more will be developed and more again will claim health benefits which do not stand up to scientific scrutiny. Research in this field helps to balance diverse interests. 'There is a strong body of science underpinning health benefits from foods. Our challenge, therefore, is to develop effective synergies between science and food product development for the benefit of the consumer,' wrote the authors. New technologies and methods are being used to study in detail the health benefits of functional foods in connection to diet-related medical and social challenges, such as obesity, diabetes, allergies, cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and even mental health. 'Some functional foods could potentially promote optimal mental state and mental performance and influence behaviour,' notes the booklet. For example, the European project Nutrimenthe is studying the effect of diet on the mental performance of children. Using such tools as metabolomics (metabolic profiling), researchers are also able to merge information about the physiological responses to food with individual genetic information to design personalised food and diets. According to the new booklet, 47 projects related to this area have received some EUR 150 million in funding spread across a decade of research in consecutive EU Framework Programmes (FP5, FP6 and FP7). These research projects bring together hundreds of partners from research institutes, academia, industry and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The booklet gives an overview of many of these interesting projects financed under different research sub-programmes. The focus, according to the authors, 'is not on individual success stories, but rather on the approach of a programme and its instruments to contribute to achieving the aims of the European Research Area.'