Food has traditionally been utilized to improve health, but our understanding of health is increasingly being applied to improve food. All food is functional in the sense that it offers energy and nutrients that are required for survival. However, the word “functional food” in use today connotes health benefits that go much beyond simply survival. Food and nutrition science has progressed from the identification and correction of nutritional deficiencies to the development of foods that promote optimal health and lower illness risk.
What are functional foods?
Functional foods claim to offer a large variety of benefits, including stress reduction, anti-aging, pain alleviation, heart health, cognitive function, and increased energy. Almost any grocery store item that has more than the recommended daily amount of a nutrient can be qualified as a functional food.
In the early 1980s, Japanese academics were among the first to advocate the concept of functional foods, which they defined as having nutritional, sensory, and physiological purposes. In the United States, there is no clear definition for what a functional food is, apart from those created by industry organizations. These definitions have a common theme: a functional food delivers benefits beyond providing the fundamental nutritional needs of calories, carbs, fats, proteins, vitamins, and minerals. Bioactive components, such as nutrients or plant-based compounds, are added to functional foods to promote health, reduce disease risk, or improve illness outcomes by affecting one or more physiological activities in the body.
The rise during the pandemic
Functional foods are consumed by people of various ages for a variety of reasons. People often seek foods that will help them preserve their ability to do activities as they become older, such as improving mobility, brain function, and vitality. However, in recent years marketers opted for a naturally healthy formulation approach, not labeling specific nutrients or fortifying breakfast cereals. This approach is now backfiring.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when homebound people began cooking more frequently and seeking healthier ingredients, functional foods rose to prominence. More than half of consumers claim to be eating healthier now than they were before the outbreak.
Consumers are particularly interested in vitamins and minerals, immunity-boosting goods, pediatric health, and support for those who are at a higher risk of developing more severe COVID-19, such as those with hypertension, obesity, or diabetes. COVID-19 has emphasized the necessity of consuming certain nutrients, particularly those connected to immunity. In 2019, immunity ranked 18th among the health issues of greatest concern, but now it ranks third.
With the increased demand for functional foods two major concerns arise: do they actually work and how are they regulated?
Regulation
Food is supposed to help you achieve or maintain your best health. It’s not meant to be used to cure illnesses. Claims have to be truthful and not misleading, and they cannot be disease claims. While the FDA does not regulate functional foods separately in the United States, other countries have adopted a more focused approach to the scientific quality of the benefits mentioned on functional food labeling.
The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare established the “Foods for Specified Health Use,” or FOSHU, regulatory framework for functional foods in 1991 to assess their efficacy and safety. FOSHU also permitted statements on food labels concerning how the food affects the human body, and qualified foods could be labeled with the FOSHU logo.
In 1995, the International Life Sciences Institute launched the Functional Food Science in Europe, or FUFOSE, initiative in Europe, with the goal of developing a science-based approach for ensuring that certain nutrients and food components positively affected their desired functions in the body.
The European Union passed a law on food nutrition and health claims in 2006. The European Food Safety Authority is in responsibility of ensuring that submitted claims about general health, disease risk reduction, child development or health, and nutritional profile criteria are scientifically supported.
Green Child at the forefront of Propolis standardization in Suriname
Here at Green Child we want to introduce the world to our beautiful cultures, to our untouched nature and to the beneficial natural products produced by the Indigenous and Tribal tribes from that nature. We want to share the healing power of our rainforest as a whole and everything that lives in it with the world.
As a producer of functional foods Green Child understands the importance of regulations. It gives consumers a sense of safety and assurance. Therefore, in June 2021, we sent in a proposal to the Suriname Standards Agency (SSB) for the evaluation of the national standard for propolis and propolis tincture.
Source: Food Quality & Safety | Farm to Fork Safety Volume 28 Number 2