The functional foods concept started in Japan in the early 1980s with the launch of three large-scale government-funded research programs on systematic analyses and development of functional foods, analyses of physiological regulation of the functional food and analyses of functional foods and molecular design (Ashwell 2002; Pravst et al. 2010). In 1991, in an effort to reduce the escalating co...

The primary role of foods is to satisfy hunger and provide people with necessary nutrients, while today more and more foods or phytochemical compounds from edible plants are used to prevent nutrition-related diseases and to increase physical and mental well-being of people. These products are called functional foods, which were introduced first in Japan in the early 1980s. In the last decades, ...

One of the greatest challenges food research is facing in this century lies in maintaining sustainable food production and at the same time delivering high quality food products with an added functionality to prevent life-style related diseases such as, cancer, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, stroke. Functional foods that contain bioactive components may provide desirable health benefits beyo...

Diversification of local food production can streamline supply chains, and ultimately increase security. Research often focuses on improving existing crops by selection agro-technology rather than searching for novel crops. Plants that are traditionally eaten interesting candidates adaptation to commercialised agriculture. In this research, two Malvaceae species were explored as potential crops...

The food system is the transformation of raw materials into healthy food products within biophysical and socio-cultural contexts which results in production, processing, distribution, preparation and consumption of food. Food systems include components of food availability, access and utilization which underpin food security (Gregory et al., 2005). The expanding world population has resulted to...

Food-derived bioactive peptides represent a source of health enhancing components that may be incorporated in functional foods and in pharmaceutical preparations. These peptides are potential modulators of various regulatory processes in the body. Milk proteins are precursors of many different biologically active peptides, e.g. peptides having opioid, hypotensive (angiotensin-converting enzymei...

The science of food has evolved significantly over the last two decades with numerous specialized journals available to promote scientific communication. While most journals continue to push for cutting-edge technologies in order to boost their impact factor, it is important to point out that the full impact of research conducted in food science and nutrition cannot simply be represented by a c...

T hegenerally accepted definition of a functional food or beverage is a product that has an ‘‘added physiological benefit above and beyond its naturally occurring benefits.’’ So for instance, orange juice with nothing added is a regular beverage, whereas orange juice with added plant sterols is a functional beverage because the plant sterols are added for a physiological benefit, to help reduce...