What is a functional food?
Functional food is the term provided to food that can have specific health benefits. Such foods are still "food", but labels can be filed according to US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which require certain health benefits in food food. These labels in the US can be qualified depending on how much research it supports a certain claim. The Japanese were the predecessors of the functional food movement and began to call food especially good for health at the age of 80; Such food was referred to as Foshu or Foods for Certified Health. Functional food
can also be "common" foods to which certain "nutritional" elements are added, providing a certain advantage for health. Foods supplemented with other elements can also be called nutraceuticals, a combination of nutrition and drug words. Breakfast cereals could be made with another fiber so that the label can claim it as a functional meal, as in the example "x brand cereal contains25% of daily recommendations for DieThree fiber. “Such food, because the fiber is associated with better cardiovascular health, can also have a label that“ supports heart health ”. nutrition
problems with these labels and advertising campaigns are that they can sometimes mislead the customer to think that functional food is really the best choice of food. For example, Cheerios contains a lot of corn syrup with a high content of fructose, which has shown to have an adverse effect on weight. So while this functional meal can be good to reduce cholesterol, excess WOSM gain is not good for overall heart health. By defining only one food function by marking and advertising, consumers can forget that other ingredients can cause less functional food.
The same can be said of any type of oatmeal. If you buy pre -billed types with lots of sugar or corn syrup added, you can still haveToo many unnecessary calories. Even if you prepare ordinary oatmeal and then cover it with butter and brown sugar, adjust how effectively oat bran reduces cholesterol.
Currently, the FDA has four different labels that can be connected to functional foods since 2003. It can be said that food has "significant scientific" support for health claim. It can be said that he has inconclusive scientific evidence to support the claim, as in the statement "can reduce cholesterol", unlike "cholesterol". Food can only be marked as a possibility to have a health advantage, or it can finally say that little evidence points to the health benefits. When it comes to marketing functional food, people naturally do not want this last label to attach to their food.
other governments have different ways of regulating nutraceutics. It is only important for consumers to realize that we already know that food has many functions. Can provide you with energy, maybe promote health when you choose fromPredatory food, and also cause you to gain weight if you eat too much. Sensitive access to food shopping and pay attention to all ingredients contained in food can give you a better idea of how well your choice will serve your health.