Functional Foods

A functional food is similar to conventional foods in appearance or taste, but has researched properties which, when consumed as part of a normal diet, have beneficial health effects.

Consumers are increasingly interested in having foods that not only satisfy nutritional needs but have disease prevention or health enhancing effects as well. Manufacturers are recognizing this trend and as a result, more and more functional foods can now be found in our supermarket shelves.

Obesity, blood sugar and digestive disorders, and heart related conditions are now common and consumers are looking for foods that can help provide protection or assist with these and other ailments. Therefore, many believe that this may not be a trend but in fact the future direction of foods, and that the reasons for this are thought to include; an increasing knowledge of diet affect on disease, aging population, health care costs, convenience, and contemporary lifestyle.

A balanced diet is the key to good health and functional foods should only be considered as a support to this. An advantage to functional foods is the potential reduction in healthcare costs to the community.

The Food Standards Code currently requires that if health related claims, like those on Functional Foods, are being made about a product, there must be proven research to support this claim. This requirement is currently under review and as a result may only allow specific types of claims as stated in the revised Code.

For more information about functional foods go to www.foodstandards.gov.au