Guest Editorial
Food has always played a central role in health and disease. Researchers agree that there is growing evidence from epidemiological, clinical trials, and modern nutritional biochemistry that have demonstrated the link between diet and health. The targeted goals of choosing the right diet/food is to improve disease conditions, maintain optimum health, and promote longevity. A large body of evidence supports the observation that functional foods containing physiologically-active compounds, either from plant or animal sources, may enhance health. Thus, functional foods are products, that in addition to providing basic nutrients and nutritional benefits, have been scientifically proven to have special health benefits. Functional foods are defined by the Institute of Medicine's Food and Nutrition Board as “any food or food ingredient that may provide a health benefit beyond the traditional nutrients it contains.”Footnote 1 Examples of functional foods include: a large variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, oats, flax seed, soy, tea, garlic, cranberry juice, edible mushrooms, wine and grape juice, probiotic-enhanced dairy foods, and fish. Functional ingredients include carotenoids, dietary fibers, flavonoids, phytoestrogens, sulfides/thiols, phenols, prebiotics/probiotics, glucosamine, omega-3 fatty acids, and plant stanols.
The interest in functional foods is growing rapidly, driven by several factors including the rapid advances in scientific knowledge, consumer demand for healthier foods, the aging populations, the ever-increasing health-care costs, and the food industry desire to fulfill the consumer appetite for products derived from foods that could be used to promote good health.
The motivation behind this special issue was to present reviews and quantification and characterization of selected functional ingredients. This special issue includes various topics including: (i) review of selected functional ingredients with regard to their chemistry, bioavailablity, metabolism, and action to promote health and prevent diseases; (ii) extraction, purification of functional ingredients from selected foods, their stability during processing, storage, and the feasibility of their use to produce functional foods; and (iii) use of analytical techniques to identify, characterize, and quantify some food ingredients.
We would like to thank all the contributors for their hard work, which enabled us to compile such a valuable issue in this area. Special thanks due to all the referees for their time and effort in critically reviewing the manuscripts to ensure the high quality demanded of this journal. It is a real pleasure for us to present this issue, and we believe that readers will find it a valuable and definitive source of information.
Notes
1IOM/NAS. Opportunities in the Nutrition and Food Sciences. Thomas, P.R. and Earl, R., eds. National Academy Press: Washington DC, 1994; p. 109.