Food has long been associated with health. Every individual requires, roughly, the right combination of foodstuffs at the right time and in the right amounts in order to maintain health and enjoy broader human flourishing.
Functional foods could potentially be used for improved health or well-being in a range of areas, including cardiovascular system, gastro-intestines, growth, metabolism, defence against free radical oxidation and to enhance psychological functions. Although safety issues are paramount in food production and nutrition, functional foods differ from more traditional products.
Plant-based products have gained increasing popularity in the last decade, and are now used by approximately 30% of the population. Functional foods are defined as “foods that provide health benefits beyond the provision of essential nutrients.” Since functional foods are a hot trend among both consumers and food producers, now is a great time for nutrition research to play a role.
Large food, beverage, and consumer packaged goods companies are looking to well-researched and validated ingredients and technology in order to incorporate plant-based alternatives in products. These same companies and organisations are finding innovative ways to replace unpopular (and in some cases unhealthy) chemical preservatives and/or emulsifiers with more naturally derived substances.
The effect of food factors on health status has been recognised since antiquity. More recently, studies have led to fundamental research for unraveling the chemistry and mechanism of action of dietary phytochemicals and bio-actives. Functional foods and natural health products encompass a wide range of food and ingredients, with a variety of bio-actives responsible for their efficacy in health promotion and disease prevention.
Phenolic and polyphenolic compounds constitute an important class of secondary plant metabolites that act as free radical scavengers and inhibitors of LDL cholesterol oxidation and DNA breakage, among others. Thus, the role of food phenolics and polyphenolics in the prevention of cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancer is well recognised. Thus, food factors from plants may be participating in human health promotion.
Overwhelming evidence from epidemiological, in vivo, in vitro, and clinical trial data indicates that plant-based diet/ functional foods can reduce the risk of chronic disease. It is now clear that there are components in a plant-based diet other than traditional nutrients that can reduce cancer risk. Researchers identified more than a dozen classes of these biologically active plant chemicals, now known as “phytochemicals.”
Tomatoes: Tomatoes have received significant attention within the last few years because of interest in lycopene, the primary carotenoid found in this fruit and its role in cancer risk reduction. Interestingly, lycopene is the most abundant carotenoid in the prostate gland. Other cancers whose risk have been inversely associated with serum or tissue levels of lycopene include breast, digestive tract, cervix, bladder, and skin and possibly lung. Proposed mechanisms by which lycopene could influence cancer risk are related to its antioxidant function. Lycopene is the most efficient quencher of singlet oxygen in biological systems.
Garlic: Garlic (Allium sativum) is likely the herb most widely quoted in the literature for medicinal properties. The purported health benefits of garlic are numerous, including cancer chemopreventive, antibiotic, anti-hypertensive, and cholesterol-lowering properties. Undisturbed bulbs of garlic contain only a few medicinally active components. The intact garlic bulb contains an odourless amino acid, alliin, which is converted enzymatically by allinase into allicin when the garlic cloves are crushed. Allicin then spontaneously decomposes to form numerous sulfur-containing compounds, some of which have been investigated for their chemopreventive activity.Garlic has also been advocated for the prevention of CVD, possibly through antihypertensive properties.
Turmeric: Curcumin is a polyphenol found in turmeric (Curcuma longa), used as a spice, in food colouring, and as a traditional herbal medicine. It has been shown that curcumin has health benefits such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer properties, improvement of brain function, and control of obesity and diabetes. Food compatible highly water-dispersible and bioavailable curcumin formulations were developed for functional foods.
Salacia: Salacia sps belong to family Celastacea have prominent place in plant-based functional food especially in Japan. It is used in management of diabetes and obesity. Salacia sps contain salacinol, katnanol, mangiferin are active principles which inhibit a-glucosidase enzyme and slow down the absorption of glucose in intestine. It is used as ingredient in functional food with availability of a range of formulation like salacia tea, salacia coffee, candy and so on owing to its safety and assured efficacy. Japanese companies also discovered that salacia has an effect of strengthening the immune system.
Mounting evidence supports the observation that functional foods containing phytochemicals from plant may enhance health. There are no “good” or “bad” foods, but there are good or bad diets. Emphasis must be placed on over-all dietary pattern — one that follows the current US Dietary Guidelines, and is plant-based, high in fibre, low in animal fat, and contains 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Moreover, diet is only one component of an overall lifestyle that can have an impact on health; other components include smoking, physical activity, and stress.
Health-conscious consumers are increasingly seeking functional foods in an effort to control their own health and well-being. The field of functional foods, however, is in its infancy. Claims about health benefits of functional foods must be based on sound scientific criteria. A number of factors complicate the establishment of a strong scientific foundation, however. These factors include the complexity of the food substance, effects on the food, compensatory metabolic changes that may occur with dietary changes, and, lack of surrogate markers of disease development. Additional research is necessary to substantiate the potential health benefits of those foods for which the diet-health relationships are not sufficiently scientifically validated.
Innovation, digitisation, and technology for food, nutrition, and wellness have intersected. Today’s food trends, and tomorrow’s new developments make it an exciting, and breakthrough time for consumers looking to have it all with their food – better phytoingredients, more functionality, with great taste.
(The author is director, Prakruti Products Pvt. Ltd. He can be reached at
shiv@prakruti.com)