Functional Foods

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Functional Foods

• The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension
  Service

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Functional Foods Outline

• What are functional foods?
• What do we get from them?
• Which foods are functional foods?
• How to use them

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Functional Foods

• Foods that provide health benefits beyond basic
  nutrition.

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Functional foods may be

• Whole Foods
• Enriched Foods
• Fortified Foods
• Enhanced Foods

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In Whole Foods
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Enriched Foods

• Enriched foods have nutrients added back.
• Grain enrichment nutrients include
• Iron
• Thiamin
• Riboflavin
• Niacin
• Folate

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Fortified Foods

• Fortified foods have nutrients added that may
  not have been present in the original food.
• Examples
• Milk margarine vitamin A
• Orange Juice calcium
• Some breakfast cereals

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Enhanced Foods

• Foods that have ingredients added that are not
  vitamins and minerals
• Examples
• Soup and teas with added herbs
• Cereal with added psyllium
• Margarine with added plant sterol/stanol esters

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Supplementary Products

• These can be
• Milk or juice based drinks
• Fortified desserts
• Energy and/or protein supplements
• Vitamin or mineral supplements

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FDA Approved Food Claims

• Calcium and osteoporosis
• Sodium and high blood pressure
• Saturated fat and cholesterol and cardiovascular
  disease

• Fiber in grains, fruits and vegetables and heart
  disease and cancer
• Fruits and vegetables and cancer
• Folate and neural tube defects in babies

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Industry Requested Food Claims

• Sugar alcohols and dental decay
• Oats and heart disease
• Foods containing psyllium fiber and heart disease

• Soy protein and heart disease
• Plant sterol/stanol esters and heart disease

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Not all claims are approved by the FDA

• May just describe a function or structure of a
  food or an ingredient Vitamin E is an
  antioxidant.
• Cannot make a claim about preventing or
  controlling a disease
• On label, will say not approved by FDA.

Caution!
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Functional Foods are Not Magic

• Can even be dangerous
• Cause allergies
• Drug interactions
• Drowsiness
• Unknown amount and effect
• Not a substitute for real food
• Not superior to a balanced diet or regular
  medical treatment

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Summary

• Functional foods are simply foods that have added
  nutritional benefits.
• To be safe, only use function foods that have FDA
  approved claims.
• Do not use functional foods to replace a balanced
  diet or regular medical treatment.

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True or False?

• All functional foods are approved by the FDA.
• Functional foods can be natural and fortified
  foods.
• It is OK to replace prescribed medicines with
  functional foods.