Functional foods are gaining more attention, but what actually makes an ingredient ‘functional’? In this article, we explain how both health benefits and technological properties play a role, and how CarbExplore is innovating in this space.
Seemingly every year comes with a new food related trend, whether it’s the focus on proteins– wait no, it’s fibers now–probiotics, prebiotics, ketogenic, intermittent fasting, and the list goes on. One term thrown around is “functional foods” or “functional ingredients”. You may be left wondering, what makes an ingredient functional? Isn’t the function of food to be, well, food? And while that may be the case, functional foods and functional ingredients provide a benefit beyond their edibility.
One classical example of a functional food is fortified ingredients. While a complete diet may provide the complete nutrition the body needs to grow and function, access to micronutrients, especially, can sometimes be tricky. Thus, common foods and ingredients– such as flour, cereals, milk and salts– will contain added vitamins (i.e. folic acid or vitamin D) and minerals (like iron and calcium) to make sure everyone has access to these essential micronutrients. This is a strategy recommended by the world health organization (WHO) and it is an active area of research in designing more effective fortification strategies for the best reach.
While fortified foods are a class of functional foods, other functional foods have an inherent benefit beyond their nutritional value, for example, in helping boost the immune system or preventing disease. A classic example is vitamin C, boosting the immune system against respiratory disease (if taken regularly) and aiding in iron uptake. In the carbohydrate realm, dietary fibers such as inulin have been shown to boost the immune system and promote the growth of healthy gut bacteria, which have a wide array of benefits.
However, functional ingredients can mean something entirely different in the food scientist’s perspective. Functional ingredients are labelled so because of their physicochemical behavior by improving a product’s stability, texture or extending its shelf life. Such is the case of our enzymatically modified Stevia ingredient Solustia. Not only does it have an improved taste compared to the unmodified Stevia extract, with less bitterness and prolonged sweetness, it also is much more soluble and stable at a wider range of pH values, allowing for its use in low pH carbonated beverages, for example. Thus, Solustia offers broader functionalities in formulations, making it a functional ingredient.
Functionality is a broad term, and as seen here, can mean fortified or inherent health benefits, or an ingredient’s role in the stability of the final product. At CarbExplore, we keep in mind all the various definitions of functional foods, staying on top of the latest health research (and trends!) and producing novel ingredients– not only with improved health benefits, but also specific formulation advantages.
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