Functional Components of Foods.

• Author(s): Guiné, Raquel ; Lima, Maria João ; Barroca, Maria João
• Date: 2010
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.19/1296
• Origin: Repositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico de Viseu
• Subject(s): Functional food
• Document Type: Part of book or chapter of book
• Language: English

Description

The primary role of diet is to provide sufficient nutrients to meet the nutritional requirements of an individual. However, many professionals recognise that health promoting foods have a major role in health enhancement, which justifies the focus on research on the identification of biologically active components in foods that have the potential to optimise physical and mental well being and which may also reduce the risk of disease. Recent increases on research also aimed the identification of new functional foods and nutraceuticals as well as the establishment of scientific basis to support and validate the benefits of a particular food or component. Many traditional food products, including fruits, vegetables, soya, whole grains and milk, have been found to contain components with potential health benefits. In addition to these, new foods are being developed to enhance or incorporate these beneficial components to increase their health benefits or desirable physiological effects. The demand from consumers for healthful food has initiated a surge of research and product development in the food industry. In order to adapt to these consumer drivers, the food industry is reformulating food products to enhance the physiological functionality of inherent nutrients or by adding bioactives with largely clinically proven physiological function. In the present work, the characteristics of these “bioactive molecules” allied to their ability to prevent or cure certain diseases will be object of study.