Functional foods: some relevant considerations?

Abstract

An unambiguous and agreed definition of what a functional food is does not exist. However, broadly speaking, a food is said to be functional if it contains a food component which affects one or more targeted functions of the body in a positive way. Functional foods often fall into the grey area between foods and medicine, but from a regulatory standpoint they are foods and consequently subject to food regulations. According to the food labelling directive, it is not permitted to label a food in such a way that, first, it will attribute the property of preventing, treating and curing human disease, or refer to such properties, and second, that it can mislead the consumer. The first aspect refers to the claims a food product may carry and specifically prohibits health claims – even if scientifically valid. It is argued that a claim on a food is a health claim if the consumer perceives it as such. The second aspect states that a given claim must be validated by sufficient scientific evidence, and far too often associations between food intake and disease risk have been misinterpreted as causal relations.

The effect of perceived carrier-ingredient fit on purchase intention of functional food moderated by nutrition knowledge and health claim

“…yogurt) enriched or fortified with one or more functional ingredients (e.g. vitamin) (Doyon and Labrecque, 2008;Ovesen, 1999), thus some research suggest that consumers' acceptance of a functional food critically depends on the intrinsic characteristics of the carrier and/or functional ingredient. Another line of research focussed on nutrition knowledge (Ares et al, 2008;Wansink et al, 2005) and health claim (Kozup et al, 2003;van Kleef et al, 2005;Roe et al, 1999) suggest that functional food, as a healthier modification to conventional foods, is more likely to be accepted if the information about the health benefits of the product is readily available (health claim made by manufacture) or has already been understood by consumers (prior knowledge) (Urala and Lähteenmäki, 2004;Balasubramanian and Cole, 2002;Brečić et al, 2014;Rezai et al, 2014).…”

Food and Health: Expanding the Agenda for Health Psychology

“…Another illustration of the changing nature of food can be seen from the number of different flavouring compounds used in food, which has expanded from around 100 in 1900 to around 500 in the 1960s to more than 4500 today (Millstone & Lang, 2003). Designed food is widely available and developing further every day, with the most recent innovation being 'techno-foods' (Nestle, 2002) or 'functional foods'-foods that have been modified by the addition of health-promoting components (see Heasman & Mellentin, 2001;Ovesen, 1999). More current technological change involves the genetic modification of food, a process that has been especially controversial (e.g.…”

Factor analysis of young academician consumption behaviors toward organic food and it’s obstacles

“…Brands, ingredients of food, vitamins, minerals, specific logos claims like environmentally friendly, health claims, and the use of a healthy diet should be provided in the information (Hingginson et al, 2002). The case for using health claims is that it is the most cognitive part of informing product benefits to consumers (Oversen, 1999).…”