ABSTRACT

The rapidly expanding market for foods with de ned health bene ts has resulted in extensive research worldwide to  nd new functional foods to treat chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease. The sustainable production and commercialization of functional foods and nutraceuticals is dependent on the availability and/or development of novel bioforti cation methods and processing technologies that will ensure the safe ampli cation or enhancement of bioactive components and their environmentally friendly yet cost-effective extraction from plants and other sources. A further challenge will be ensuring that bioactive components retain biological ef cacy and still be bioavailable after processing, storage, and use (Day et al., 2009). This chapter will try to address the potential of new technologies to biofortify or amplify bioactives and extract them to provide reliable and stable functional foods and nutraceuticals for a changing planet. We will examine these in the context of cardiovascular health.