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Role of plant-based ingredients gains significant traction
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Monday, 15 December, 2025, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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P Mythili
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The role of plant-based ingredients in functional food development has gained significant traction in recent years, reflecting broader shifts in consumer preferences towards health-conscious and sustainable eating practices. As people increasingly prioritise nutrition, sustainability and ethical considerations in their food choices, plant-based ingredients have emerged as integral components in the formulation of functional foods.
These ingredients are rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phytochemicals that contribute to various health outcomes, including improved heart health, enhanced gut function and reduced inflammation. The growing recognition of the health benefits associated with plant-based diets has fuelled interest in these ingredients, prompting food manufacturers to examine their potential in product development.
Moreover, the application of novel technologies in food processing enhances the functionality of plant-based ingredients, making them suitable for a variety of applications in the food industry. The growing trend of plant-based diets, driven by both health and environmental concerns, provides a strong foundation for the expansion of plant-based functional foods.
Plant based Ingredients
Initially, it is important to identify an appropriate blend of plant-derived ingredients to produce a specific plant-based food, such as a meat, fish, egg, or milk analogue. These ingredients may be isolated nutrients (such as proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, or minerals) or complex whole materials (such as beans, peas, rice, wheat, mushrooms).
Legumes
Legumes are a generally healthier replacement for conventional meat and for improved nutritional value, they can be complemented with other plant sources such as cereals. It has also been reported that incorporating pulses into meat products reduces lipid oxidation, microbial spoilage and also enhances the functional properties in the samples such as swelling, emulsification and water/oil holding capacity. For instance, adding red lentils, green peas and grass pea flour to pasta improved its nutritional characteristics and served as a natural colour additive.
Seeds and nuts
Seeds and nuts such as flaxseed, peanuts and almonds are notably high in proteins, but are generally lacking in certain amino acids, making them insufficient in meeting amino acid needs e.g., peanuts lack valine and lysine. Others including cottonseed, sunflower seed, sesame seed, pumpkin seed, hazelnut, grape seed, walnut, canola seed, hemp seed and canola are important oilseed crops with relatively high protein meal content.
Fibres, Grains and Cereals
Dietary intake of cereals, legumes, grains, fruits and vegetables should be stimulated due to their high fibre content increases digestion, avoiding intestinal carcinogen accumulations. Fibre fermentation products also induce death of intestinal oncogenic cells, decreasing the risk of gastro intestinal tumours, colon cancers. Fibre intake has been also associated with lowered risk of stomach adenocarcinoma, an effect mediated by increased faecal bulk transit time as well as inhibition of toxic biliary acid synthesis. A diet poor in fat from calories and rich in fibre and whole grains also decreases the risk of endometrial cancers.
Soy isoflavones
Soy isoflavones (daidzin, genistin and glycetin) are the phytoesterogens that are derived from the protein fraction of the soybean and its food products (e.g., soy milk, soy flour, tofu, miso, soy dahi, soy yoghurt) include genistein and daidzein, and possess estrogenic properties because of the similarities of their chemical structures to estrogenic compounds. Clinical trials identified the potential efficacy of soy isoflavones in the prevention of heart disease, osteoporosis, breast and prostate cancer, post-menopausal disorders.
Garlic (Allium Sativum)
Garlic has been shown to have a modest blood pressure lowering effects in clinical studies, while the epidemiological data suggests an inverse relationship between garlic consumption and certain types of cancer, particularly of the stomach. The latter may be due to garlic’s ability to inhibit the activity of Helicobacter pylori (the bacterium that causes ulcers). The best documented clinical effect of garlic is its ability to reduce blood cholesterol level. A metanalysis of 13 placebo controlled double blind trials indicated that garlic consumption (10 mg steam distilled oil or 600–900 mg standardised garlic powder) significantly reduced total cholesterol compared with placebo by 4–6%.
Applications of Functional Plant based Food Ingredients
Types of Functional Ingredients
Physiologically active components in foods from both plants, animals and micro-organism (known as Phytochemicals & Microbial metabolites respectively) that potentially have beneficial effects against different chronic diseases.
Phytochemicals
These are the physiologically active compounds present in plant sources like flavonoids, carotenoids, sterols and stanols, isothiocynates, phenolic acid and dietary fibres. Health benefits of phytochemicals can be achieved in food by incorporation of food material or their extraction either in crude or pure form. Phytochemicals used in foods are: ß glucan, ascorbic acid, cellulose, lutein, gallic acid, pectin, daidzein, glutathione, allicin, lycopene, hemicellulose, lignin, a-tocopherol, ß-carotene.
Microbial metabolites
These metabolites are produced during their growth in a fermentation study which improves the product texture, flavour and also confer health benefits. The well-known microbial metabolites are vitamins, different organic acids (acetate, lactate, citrate), glucosamine, amino acids, enzymes (lipase, protease, lactase from lactic acid bacteria), pigments, exo-polysaccharides, bio-flavours (diacetyl in dahi), bio-fuels (ethanol from whey), bacteriocins, antibiotics.
Fucoidans
Marine resources have been recognised as rich sources of structurally diverse biologically active compounds with great application potential in marine functional foods. Among them, fucoidans have been found to possess various bioactivities including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiallergic, anti-tumour, anti-obesity, anti-coagulant, anti-viral, anti-hepatopathy, anti-uropathy, and anti-renalpathy effects. Thus, the extensive studies of fucoidans will discover novel biological properties as well as novel functional applications in pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, and functional foods (Vo and Kim, 2013).
Plant-based food ingredients now have much more attention for their functional activities beyond their common nutrition. The role of plant-based ingredients in functional food development is multifaceted, driven by evolving consumer preferences for health, sustainability and ethical eating. With advancements in food technology and a commitment to transparency, the potential for innovative plant-based functional foods is vast, promising to shape the future of nutrition and health in a meaningful way. This direction highlights the importance of developing products that not only nourish but also align with the values and aspirations of today's consumers.
(The author is assistant professor at KSR College of Arts & Science for Women, Tiruchengode)
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