Functional/Fortified Foods and Ingredients
Functional or fortified food is where a new ingredient(s) has been added to a food and the new product has an additional function (often one related to health-promotion or disease prevention).
Some Examples are:
Functional foods are part of trend in products that individuals may consume to increase their health and/or contribute to reducing disease.
Functional foods are an emerging field in food science due to their increasing popularity with health-conscious consumers and the ability of marketers to create new interest in existing products.
Studies are continuing into the benefits and risks associated with functional food. Care should be taken to not take marketed products on face value.
Lillian Cheung, Ph.D, a nutrition professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, also points out that adding nutrients to a food can encourage people to perceive it as unequivocally healthy, whether it's low-fat and fiber-rich oatmeal that's been fortified or a similarly enhanced bag of potato chips packed with fat and bereft of any naturally occurring nutrients that the oatmeal has.
"The fact that brands have gone to the trouble to add this stuff sends an implicit message that the finished product is desirable, and that's just not always the case," she says. "Sports drinks are an example. The sugar they contain is so much worse than the added vitamins. But that information gets obscured."
Boosting nutrients into such a wide variety of foods could also lead people to either over-consume vitamins and minerals that can be harmful in large amounts (too much folate, for instance, has recently been linked to some cancers), or under-consume others because they misapprehend how much of a given nutrient a food actually delivers. The over processing of foods is also believed to reduce the nutritional value for food
How might fortified foods assist or benefit people in under developed countries?
Some Examples are:
- Milk, Cheese and Yoghurts ( low fat, high calcium, cholesterol free, lactose free, iron enriched)
- Breads and Cereals ( high fibre, cholesterol reducing, vitamin and iron enriched)
- Margarine (cholesterol reducing, fat reduced, salt reduced, rich in omega 3)
- Jam, Jellies, Spreads ( Low kilojoule, fat reduced)
Functional foods are part of trend in products that individuals may consume to increase their health and/or contribute to reducing disease.
Functional foods are an emerging field in food science due to their increasing popularity with health-conscious consumers and the ability of marketers to create new interest in existing products.
Studies are continuing into the benefits and risks associated with functional food. Care should be taken to not take marketed products on face value.
Lillian Cheung, Ph.D, a nutrition professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, also points out that adding nutrients to a food can encourage people to perceive it as unequivocally healthy, whether it's low-fat and fiber-rich oatmeal that's been fortified or a similarly enhanced bag of potato chips packed with fat and bereft of any naturally occurring nutrients that the oatmeal has.
"The fact that brands have gone to the trouble to add this stuff sends an implicit message that the finished product is desirable, and that's just not always the case," she says. "Sports drinks are an example. The sugar they contain is so much worse than the added vitamins. But that information gets obscured."
Boosting nutrients into such a wide variety of foods could also lead people to either over-consume vitamins and minerals that can be harmful in large amounts (too much folate, for instance, has recently been linked to some cancers), or under-consume others because they misapprehend how much of a given nutrient a food actually delivers. The over processing of foods is also believed to reduce the nutritional value for food
How might fortified foods assist or benefit people in under developed countries?
Task: 8 Functional/Fortified Foods
Use the information above and in the online articles below to write a short newspaper article (Minimum 150 words) Outline what fortified foods are (and give examples). Explain their positive and negative health benefits.
Post the article on your website using the paragraph with picture basic element.
Wall Street Journal
Wise Geek
Post the article on your website using the paragraph with picture basic element.
Wall Street Journal
Wise Geek
Fortified Foods
Fortified foods are foods that have been altered to add another function. New ingredients are added to add health benefits or to prevent disease. These are a part of the current trend to get as much as possible out of what we consume.
There are many different ways that food are fortified. Products like bread and cereals are fortified to be high fibre, reduce cholesterol and to have extra vitamins and minerals. Other products such as milk and cheese are fortified so that they are low fat, lactose free, iron reduced, high calcium and/or cholesterol free.
These added benefits are good to boost nutrition in areas that people are lacking and they also help to prevent illness and keep the population as healthy as possible. By adding extra nutrients to different foods we are helping to contribute to the overall health of our globe.
Fortified foods have become more desirable than regular foods because you end up consuming the same amount but one has many more health benefits than the other. The market for these products has grown greatly over the last few years because of these added benefits.
There are many different ways that food are fortified. Products like bread and cereals are fortified to be high fibre, reduce cholesterol and to have extra vitamins and minerals. Other products such as milk and cheese are fortified so that they are low fat, lactose free, iron reduced, high calcium and/or cholesterol free.
These added benefits are good to boost nutrition in areas that people are lacking and they also help to prevent illness and keep the population as healthy as possible. By adding extra nutrients to different foods we are helping to contribute to the overall health of our globe.
Fortified foods have become more desirable than regular foods because you end up consuming the same amount but one has many more health benefits than the other. The market for these products has grown greatly over the last few years because of these added benefits.