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Developed in conjunction with The American Academy of Family
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Dairy Council Digest Archives
Functional Foods: An Overview
Summary
Health-conscious consumers are seeking out functional foods (designer foods and sometimes considered as nutraceuticals) to control their own health and well-being. There is no legal definition specific for functional foods. However, these foods are considered to elicit benefits to health and well-being or to have disease-preventing properties beyond their inherent nutritional value.
Recent growth in the functional foods market stems from a variety of factors. These include identification of physiologically active components in foods (e.g., phytochemicals, omega-3-fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid, probiotic bacteria cultures), as well as an aging population and rising health care costs which are leading consumers to take more responsibility for their own health. Some functional foods are targeted to specific health problems such as osteoporosis, cancer, heart disease, a compromised immune system, and lack of mental acuity.
Dairy foods can be included in the functional food category because of their calcium content which can help to reduce the risk of osteoporosis, hypertension, and possibly colon cancer, among other diseases. Health-promoting effects have been described for other dairy food components including protein (e.g., bioactive peptides) and milk fat (e.g., conjugated linoleic acid, sphingolipids, butyric acid). Dairy foods are also excellent carriers for probiotic cultures. Probiotic dairy foods containing health-promoting bacteria are an important segment of the functional foods market. A variety of health benefits has been attributed to specific strains of lactic acid bacteria (e.g., Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium) or foods containing these probiotic cultures. Potential benefits include alleviation of symptoms of lactose maldigestion, shortened duration of antibiotic associated diarrhea, maintenance of a healthy intestinal flora, decreased risk of some cancers and heart disease, and stimulation of host immune systems. For many of these conditions, well-controlled human intervention studies are needed to substantiate the alleged benefits. Additionally, individual strains of the same bacterial species often differ in their physiological properties and effects. In recent years, considerable interest has also focused on the health benefits of prebiotics (i.e., non-digestible food ingredients that benefit the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of probiotic bacteria residing in the gastrointestinal tract) and synbiotics (i.e., a combination of prebiotics and probiotic cultures).
Although the future for functional foods appears promising, it ultimately depends on scientific evidence of their efficacy, safety, and organoleptic quality. Biomarkers are needed to adequately assess the physiological impact of functional foods. Importantly, consumers must become aware of the beneficial health effects of functional foods. Because our knowledge of functional foods is in its infancy, it is especially important that these foods be considered in the context of an overall healthful diet and lifestyle and not as a "magic bullet" to improve health and prevent disease.
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