Ensuring the Future of Functional Foods

Consumption of functional foods suggests a strategy to reduce the incidence of chronic health disorders. This message has resonated with consumers and driven market growth. Functional food research has significantly increased over the last decade but few studies have addressed the bioavailability of active ingredients for clinical efficacy. Baked goods such as bread, biscuits and cake are popular categories for innovation due to their widespread consumption. These new developments have often impacted on organoleptic properties of the finished products and thus consumer acceptance. Blending of bioactive ingredients may overcome this deficit. However, an understanding of the role of the microbiome in health has indicated that the efficacy of functional foods is unlikely to be uniform within the population. Further growth in the functional foods market, is likely to require greater evidence of the bioavailability of active ingredients, clinical effect and support for health claims by regulators especially in the EU.