Functional food for health

No one needs convincing that a healthy lifestyle through rational nutrition has a beneficial impact on our bodies. Often, the terms "organic" and "functional" food are confused.

Organic food is a label for food produced using organic farming methods with the aim of eliminating the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Organic food production methods are intended to ensure the protection of public health and the environment, forming an ecologically sustainable system that does not burden the environment more than natural ecosystems, being economically independent to a large extent from external inputs, and socially enabling the preservation and development of rural areas and agriculture. Producers of organic food are obliged to label their products with certifications.

Functional food refers to food that, in addition to its basic function of nourishment, is attributed with a psychological and/or physiological impact on the human body; it may, for example, lower cholesterol levels, strengthen the immune system, restore the microbiological balance of the digestive system, support the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome, or have anti-inflammatory effects.

Functional food is considered to be food that is part of a daily diet and suitable for general consumption. Functional food does not include any tablets, nutritional supplements, or other pharmaceutical products. It must be a product obtained from natural ingredients and clinically documented to have a positive health effect.

The idea of functional food is connected with the philosophical tradition of the East, where there is no clear distinction between food and medicine. Recently, functional food has also achieved significant success in the USA, Japan, and other economically developed countries, including Europe. As a result, the functional food market is developing much more dynamically than other sectors of the food market. According to some authors, by 2010, functional food is expected to constitute 20 percent of food products in Europe.

In modern society, there is also an increasing interest in nutrition as a way to ensure health. Several elements contribute to this, such as an aging population and the associated rising costs of basic health care, increased consumer awareness of the links between good health and nutrition, and an increased risk of lifestyle diseases. These relationships are reflected in the data from Table 1. In response to this market demand, producers will increasingly equip their products with added value and offer new products or improve existing ones.

Functional food includes foods and beverages with scientifically proven beneficial health effects. There are many different definitions of functional food in the literature; therefore, to standardize this term in Europe, the European Commission has initiated the FUFOSE (Functional Food Science in Europe) research program, funded by the European Commission. The program aims to develop a scientific basis for the concept of functional food in the EU, indicating criteria and directions for the development and implementation of functional food products in the European market. Food can be considered functional if its beneficial effects on one or more body functions go beyond nutritional effects, resulting in improved health and well-being and/or reduced disease risk. Functional food must resemble conventional food in appearance and show a beneficial effect on the body in quantities expected to be consumed as part of a normal diet - these are not tablets, capsules, or drops, but a component of a proper diet.

The concept of functional food is very broad, and due to the adopted criteria, its classification varies. In classifications found in world literature, which take into account specific compositions, functional food categories include enriched, low-energy, high-fiber, probiotic, low-sodium, and products with reduced cholesterol content, as well as energizing foods.

Depending on the type of nutritional needs addressed, functional food can be distinguished in various ways, such as food that reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases, reduces the risk of cancer, reduces the risk of osteoporosis, is designed for stressed individuals, slows down the aging process, is suitable for people with metabolic and digestive disorders, is designed for athletes, is intended for the elderly, is intended for pregnant and lactating women, is designed for infants, is designed for youth in the phase of intensive growth, and influences mood and psycho-physical performance.

The following substances are considered key to achieving the preventive and therapeutic effects of functional food: dietary fiber, oligosaccharides, polyhydroxy alcohols, phospholipids, polyphenols, proteins and peptides, polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamins and minerals, probiotics, and phytochemicals. In the USA and the UK, these substances isolated from food and concentrated in the form of capsules or tablets are often referred to as nutraceuticals.

Currently, functional food includes products and food preparations obtained by adding biologically active substances to commonly consumed food products, designing new chemical compositions for food products, such as margarines containing stanols and sterols that inhibit the absorption of cholesterol from the gastrointestinal tract, producing preparations containing biologically active substances obtained from natural plant and animal raw materials, e.g., oil extracts from red grapefruit seeds, dried extracts from red grape pomace, using probiotics - living microorganisms that improve the composition of the intestinal microflora and enhance the body's natural immunity - and applying prebiotics, i.e., substances providing a substrate, thus stimulating the development of beneficial intestinal microflora, reducing the energy value of food products by limiting the content of fats and sucrose, replacing fats and sugar with substances with lower energy value that induce similar sensory impressions and possibly a feeling of satiety, and completely eliminating fat and sugar from the product and replacing them with substances that are not digested and absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract.

It is evident that the first stage of preventing civilization diseases is to adopt a well-balanced and sustainable diet with a high proportion of vegetables, fruits, whole grain products, meat, and fish. Only in the case of existing disorders or specific physiological conditions is it recommended to supplement the diet with products specially designed for this purpose. Since many diseases can be prevented and even effectively treated with the help of functional food, questions are beginning to arise about the need and necessity of using pharmacotherapy.