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Nutritional and functional science perspective and strategic planning.

Amanda Wright

Recent research supports the concept that, in addition to providing nutritional demands, food may influence many bodily systems and play harmful or positive roles in specific disorders. Nutritional concepts are shifting away from an emphasis on survival, hunger fulfilment, and avoiding negative impacts and toward an emphasis on the utilisation of foods to create a state of well-being and greater health and to assist lower the risk of illness. Many nations, particularly Japan and the United States, are doing research on functional foods to determine the physiologic impacts and health advantages of foods and dietary components in order to authorise specific health claims. The positive effects of a functional food can be either maintaining a state of wellbeing and health or reducing the risk of pathologic consequences. Among the most promising targets for functional food science are gastrointestinal functions, redox and antioxidant systems, and metabolism of macronutrients. Ongoing research into functional foods will allow the establishment of health claims that can be translated into messages for consumers that will refer to either enhanced function or reduction of disease risk. Only a rigorous scientific approach that produces highly significant results will guarantee the success of this new discipline of nutrition. This presents a challenge for the scientific community, health authorities, and the food industry