You often hear about the importance of following a healthy balanced diet, paying attention to both the quantity and the quality of food.
But what precisely means “quality food?” A nutritious food? Calorie? Tasty? Healthy?
When we talk about quality of food we do not mean something vague or uncertain; it has many as-pects and are all taken into account in order to speak of a correct way of relating to what we eat.
What is certain is that each food has to be safe for our health.
Today it is widely recognized that it is possible to reduce the risk of diseases and maintain their health and well-being with a healthy lifestyle that includes proper nutrition; so you more and more often hear about “functional foods.”
Functional foods
It is considered as functional the food that can have positive effects, focused on one or more specif-ic body functions; that is, beyond the usual nutritional effects, it can make a real contribution to the health and well-being and / or to the reduction of disease risk.
Functional foods are NOT either tablets or capsules, but foods normally eaten.
Two types of expected functions for functional foods:
• Functions related to the “improvement of a biological function”
• Functions related to the “reduction of disease risk”
Main categories of functional foods
The main active components of functional products can be divided into the following categories:
– Vitamins and minerals
– Bacterial cultures
– Fiber (inherent or added)
– Fish oil or fatty acids n-3 (intrinsic or added)
– Fat (unsaturated PUFA)
– Plant extracts
Example:
– Functional food: yogurt
– Active food component:
probiotic (food, to improve the intestinal microbial balance)
prebiotic (components which have a beneficial effect by stimulating the growth of bacteria in the colon.
-Expected function: intestinal function and intestinal microbial balance
WHO-World Health Organization- Department of Nutrition for Health and Development (NHD) (http://www.who.int/foodsafety/areas_work/food-standard/en/)