ABSTRACT

At present, there are several critical criteria involved in the evaluation of a particular functional food. As well as its value as a functional food, and based on science and technology, this evaluation should focus on biochemical, physiological, molecular and cell biological data, and take into account other modern biosciences. Functional foods and nutraceuticals have been identi ed which play an signi cant role in human health and disease. An important approach to the development of a functional food is the identi cation and validation of relevant markers, including biomarkers, which can predict potential bene ts related to a target function in vivo. Moreover, micro-RNAs (miRNAs) as a kind of biomarker have been con rmed and are closely correlated not only with human health, but also with human disease research. Therefore, miRNAs are considered as useful biomarkers and are widely applied in functional foods and nutraceuticals.