FUNCTIONAL FOODS, DO THEY PROMISE TO BE THE ALTERNATIVE FOR FUTURE FOOD AND HEALTH?

Abstract

In recent years, the growing consumption of processed foods and fast food has had an impact on human health, triggering diseases such as diabetes, cancer, heart failure, allergies, and obesity; in developing countries, these diseases have a profound impact due to economic constraints. The term “functional food” was coined in Japan in the 1980s, where the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare defined a set of rules to name a special category of foods called FOSHU (foods for specific health uses) and defined as those that contain ingredients with healthy functions that promote one or more physiological functions, improve physical fitness and/or reduce the risk of harm. the risk of disease. As far as industry is concerned, great strides have been made in R & D departments, where every day they seek to create new foods that provide benefits and meet the ever-increasing expectations of a health-based diet.