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Functional Foods: A pathway for healthy life
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Friday, 11 December, 2020, 14 : 00 PM [IST]
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Akshay R Patil, Bhavana A & Deepak
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Diets have a effect on the health of the gut. Difficulties in the gut, containing ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease and celiac disease, irritable bowel syndrome, arise from overgrowth and intestinal microbial flora imbalance, which is related to one's food. The gastrointestinal tract, notably, at birth, it is sterile; after birth, intestinal microflora grows with the colonisation rate varying according to factors such as the mode of birth, infant nutrition, antibiotic use, diet and age. Gut health determines an individual’s overall health.
A functional food or designer foods is a typical food that has specific nutrients added to it, like vitamins or minerals, fiber, or probiotics or prebiotics. In general, this includes anything added for a specific functional purpose.
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics define functional foods as ‘whole foods along with fortified, enriched or enhanced foods that have a potentially beneficial effect on health when consumed as part of a varied diet on regular basis at effective levels based on significant standards of evidence'.
Basically, functional foods are foods that provide a health benefit in addition to macro and micronutrients. These foods are vital in disease prevention and include fortified foods, phyto nutrient-containing fruits and vegetables, fermented foods, fish and chocolate.
The functional foods of plant or animal origin according to their action can be categorised as:
? Vitamins and minerals fortification (e.g., vit C, folic acid, calcium, iron).
? Cholesterol reduction (e.g., omega-3 fatty acids, phytosterols).
? Dietary fiber (e.g. non digestible carbohydrates and lignin).
? Probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics (e.g., yoghourt, kefir, fruits, vegetables).
? Phytochemicals (e.g., phenolic compounds, carotenoids, lycopene)
Functional foods can be in many forms. Some may be conventional foods with bio-active components that can now be identified and linked to positive health effects. Some may be fortified or enhanced foods, specifically formulated to reduce disease risk. Consumers can already choose from a wide variety of foods that contain functional components either inherently (e.g., soy protein, fish, olive oil) or through fortification (e.g., folate-fortified milk). As additional bio-active components are identified, the opportunities for developing functional foods will be broad. Foods that naturally provide a bio-active substance may be enhanced to increase the level present in the food (e.g., eggs with increased levels of omega-3 fatty acids). On the other side, foods that do not naturally contain a bio-active substance can be fortified (e.g., calcium-fortified orange juice).
Specialised foods with plant bio-active
Nutritional implication of plant molecules is well accepted and increasing cases of cancers, coronary heart diseases, diabetes and many other chronic diseases, have been attributed to under intake of fruits and vegetables in our diet. Beyond these known nutrients i.e. vitamins, fibres, plants have clearly more to offer and scientists are scurrying to discover exactly which plant mechanisms strength fend off specific diseases. The number of identified physiologically has augmented intensely in the last decades and irresistible evidence from epidemiological, in vivo, in vitro and clinical trial indicate that plant rich diet can reduce the risk of certain chronic diseases. Health professionals are gradually recognising the role of phytochemicals in health improvement. The major mechanism associated with therapeutic aspects of plant bio-active is their ability to act as antioxidants.
There are certain other compounds present in plant foods, with significant health promoting effect include plant fatty acids, phenolic derivatives and dietary fibres etc. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which is one of the most significant structural component of brain and retina, and de-novo synthesis of this compound, is very rare. The decline in DHA intake could have serious implications for public health, since low plasma, DHA considerations have been correlated with increased incidence of number of important chronic diseases such as depression, attention deficit disorders and Alzheimer’s dementia. Crypthecodinium cohmii strain of marine algae is used for the commercial production of DHA rich oil. Spirulina, termed as wonder alga is one of riches source of omega-3-fatty acids, quality protein and many other therapeutic molecules.
Milk proteins and peptides based nutraceuticals
Dietary proteins hold nutritional, functional and biological properties, and the technological developments used in food manufacture and processing often affect these properties. The role of proteins as physiologically active components in the diet has been progressively accepted in recent years. Such proteins or their precursors may occur naturally in raw food materials, exerting their functional action directly or upon enzymatic hydrolysis in vitro or in vivo. Numerous dietary proteins, can act as a source of biologically active peptides. These peptides inactive inside remain the parent protein, and released during gastrointestinal digestion or food processing. Once liberated, the bioactive peptides may provide altered functions in vitro or in vivo.
Bioactive peptides have to be released from the parent protein by enzymatic hydrolysis. This can be achieved by the use of isolated enzymes, as well by microbial fermentation. Biologically active peptides are of particular interest for pharma industry because they have been shown to play different physiological roles, including opioid like activity, antimicrobial, immunomodulatory and antihypertensive. Such peptides can be released during hydrolysis by digestive or microbial enzymes. Microbial enzymes from lactic acid bacteria have demonstrated to be able to liberate theses peptides from milk proteins, in various fermented milk products.
Upon oral administration bioactive peptides may affect the major body systems- namely the cardiovascular, digestive, immune and nervous systems. For this reason, the potential of certain peptides sequences to reduce the risk of chronic diseases or boost natural immune protection has aroused a lot of scientific interest over the past few years. These beneficial health effects may be attributed to known peptide sequences exhibiting, e.g., antimicrobial, antioxidative, antithrombotic, antihypertensive and immunomodulatory activities. Milk proteins are considered the most important source of bioactive peptides and an increasing number of bioactive peptides have been identified in milk protein hydrolysates and fermented dairy products.
Over the previous few years a number of surveys have been carried out across the world to explain the bioactivity of milk proteins and derivatives. These components may be either serve as functional ingredients in development of functional foods or can be utilised by pharma industry as nutraceuticals. Most of the claimed physiological properties of milk proteins and derivatives have been carried out in in-vitro or animal models, these hypothesised properties remain to be proven in humans. Whey proteins are becoming an important constituent in the recipe of wide range of functional and health foods because of the unique amino acid composition and bio-activity. Whey proteins based commercially available food products include sports supplements, low fat dairy desserts, medical foods, infant formulations and geriatric foods. Anti-hypertensive bio-active peptides may be utilised in development of mood drinks and also foods for cardiac patients.
Other prospective designer foods
Beverages are another range of products that offer tremendous market potential for Indian food industry because of being nutritionally-rich. Similarly, minor cereals and millets based milk beverages seem to be lucrative products for school feeding programmes. Liquid milk fortification with vitamins A and D is mandatory in several countries. However, the milk fortification usually impaired its sensory and processing quality characteristics. Moreover, bio-availability of fortified nutrients is another major concern. Recent investigations suggested possibilities of fortification of liquid milk with calcium and iron. Beverages and soups based on whey continue to receive a considerable amount of attention nowadays. These indicate the growing awareness among consumers and manufacturers alike for the enormous potential these offered for diversifying product profile. Other designer foods include low calories or low fat variants, low sodium foods and fun foods etc.
Conclusion
Consumer awareness in the connection between diet and health has improved the demand for information on functional foods. Quick developments in science and technology, increasing health care costs, changes in food laws affecting label and product claims, an aging population, and rising interest in attaining wellness through diet are among the factors that interest in functional foods. Reliable scientific research indicates many potential health benefits from milk components.
(Akshay R Patil is a research scholar, Department of Food Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Food Processing and Technology, Thanjavur.
Bhavana A is a Scientist (Home Science), ICAR - Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Chintamani.
Deepak is a research scholar, Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore)
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