ABSTRACT

The development of functional foods, and nutraceuticals, can be viewed as an extension of supplementation and fortification strategies. It also represents a complement to the removal of unhealthy ingredients and a trend toward the addition to or generation of healthy properties in products. Many definitions of functional foods have been proposed in the literature, including a European Concerted Action Project’s recent suggestion (Diplock et al. 1999):

A food can be regarded as “functional” if it is satisfactorily demonstrated to affect beneficially 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.