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What is a functional food?
What is it exactly?
The term functional food (functional food in English) is now unanimous, after several years of waltz-hesitation. He supplanted the word ” alically “, Which was used in particular in France, and the English terms designer food, pharmafood, medifood et vitafood. As for the term “nutraceutical” (nutraceutical), still according to Health Canada’s definition, it does not designate a food, but rather a substance extracted from a food and sold as a supplement (see opposite).
According to Health Canada, a product nutraceutical is made from food, but sold as pills or powders, or in other medicinal forms not usually associated with food, and has been shown to have a physiological beneficial effect or to provide protection against chronic diseases. For example, lycopene supplements from tomato or isoflavones from soy are nutraceuticals. To learn more about these types of supplements, see our Natural health products section. |
What makes a functional food special is its health aspect. There are several definitions of this term around the world. The one that Health Canada has chosen is as follows: “Food similar in appearance to a conventional food or a conventional food. It is part of the normal diet and has been shown to provide, beyond basic nutritional functions, physiological benefits specified by scientific documentation and to reduce the risk of chronic diseases ”.
Broccoli, onion, olive oil and oily fish, for example, are therefore functional foods, because they contain several compounds beneficial to health, such as sulforafans, flavonoids or omega-3. We can call them “ functional foods by nature »Or intrinsic functional foods. However, this dossier is rather devoted to “ functional foods by addition (Or extrinsic functional foods), that is, an ingredient has been added to them that provides an additional health benefit. (See our Nutrition section to learn more about the beneficial compounds naturally found in foods.)
It is questionable whether systematically fortified foods, such as flour or pasta, are functional foods. Well no, because they have been enriched to prevent a potential deficiency in these nutrients (often lost in refining) rather than to provide additional health benefit or prevent disease. This is also the case for salt fortified with iodine and milk fortified with vitamins D and A.
As for foods enriched with folic acid (vitamin B9), they constitute a special case. In Canada and the United States, since 1998, as part of a public health strategy, white flour, cornmeal and pasta have been systematically fortified with folic acid. This practice aims to improve the dietary folate intake of pregnant women in order to reduce the rate of neural tube defects in newborns. Functional food or not? It depends on how you interpret the definition of this concept.
Moreover, the compulsory nature of these fortifications places these foods in a separate category.
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A fairly broad concept
A functional chewing gum? Yes, if it contains xilitol or another polyalcohol in sufficient quantity. Sugar alcohols are a family of substances whose preventive effects on tooth decay have been scientifically demonstrated. In Canada, and in many other countries, chewing gum, hard candy and breath fresheners may have the following claim: Reduces the risk of tooth decay. |
The definition adopted by Health Canada covers a very broad concept, which can take many concrete forms. The working definition proposed by the European Functional Foods Body (FUFOSE) is similar, but includes the notion of improving health and well-being, in addition to reducing the risk of disease. It also incorporates foods that are not unanimously considered to be functional. Thus, according to FUFOSE, a functional food can be1 :
- A natural food in which one of the components has been naturally increased through cultivation techniques. For example, a variety of strawberries richer in antioxidants was created in Quebec. The omega-3 eggs also fall into this category, since it is through the feeding of chickens that their omega-3 content is increased.
- A food to which a beneficial compound has been added. The Juice enriched with calcium and milks enriched with omega-3 fall into this category.
- A food from which a compound has been removed in order to reduce its harmful effects on health. Crackers and cookies trans fat free are of this type.
- A food in which a compound has been chemically modified to improve health. For example, thehydrolysation of the protein in infant formulas helps reduce their allergenic potential.
- A food in which the bioavailability of one or more ingredients has been increased in order to improve the absorption of a beneficial compound.
- Any combination of the above possibilities.
This is what makes many foods “functional”! After all, we started reducing the salt, fat and sugar content in foods about 40 years ago. And we have been finding lactose-reduced milk or margarines made from non-hydrogenated oils for several years in our grocery stores.
According to Raija Tahvonen, professor at the Forum on Functional Foods at the University of Turku in Finland, these are first generation functional foods. “Foods enriched with sterols, probiotics, peptides or omega-3s are more like second-generation functional foods,” she said during a symposium held in October 2005 in Quebec City.2.
In Finland, the first functional food approved by the authorities was an oat and oat bran product fermented with specific lactic acid bacteria. Its beneficial effects on intestinal flora and regularity have been demonstrated. A health claim was therefore allowed, ”she said.
Thousands of products around the world
Questionable ideas What to think of a drink sold in Japan that contains curcumin to relieve hangovers8? Or a Japanese candy designed to clean babies’ teeth16â € ¦ The German brewery Neuzeller Kloster even launched in 2005 an anti-aging beer enriched with iron, vitamin A and D and added with a seaweed rich in proteins.9. |
In Canada, the range of functional foods by addition is quite limited at the moment. Elsewhere in the world, the situation is very different: you can find everything and even more …
In the United States, and around the world, you can buy margarines, dairy products and snack bars fortified with plant sterols and stanols, substances that lower cholesterol. In Europe, individual dose dairy products display in large letters that they can help control blood pressure thanks to the dairy “peptides” they contain.3. Some European companies market milk naturally enriched with melatonin to promote sleep: it is the way the cows are raised that increases the content of their milk in this substance and not an addition, after the fact.4.
Recently, in Spain, bread has been enriched with hydroxytyrosol, a by-product of the manufacture of olive oil. It is a polyphenol considered one of the key ingredients of the Mediterranean diet3,6. Also in Europe, Danone markets Zen®, a fermented milk enriched with magnesium to promote relaxation.6. In Sweden, a yogurt (Primaliv®), which contains 4g of beta-glucan, targets the diabetic market with an approved claim that it helps control blood sugar and lower cholesterol levels7.