The Rise of Functional Foods

Functional foods are eaten by people of all ages for different reasons. People tend to look for foods that will help them maintain the ability to do things as they age, including enhancing mobility, mental function, immunity, and energy, says Catherine Adams Hutt, PhD, chief science and regulatory officer at Sloan Trends. Both older and younger people want to protect themselves from aging poorly. “Young people really are concerned about having the energy to do what they need to do,” Dr. Hutt says. They also are concerned about stress, sleep, and digestion. She says that protein is used in a lot of functional foods because it can increase lean body muscle.

Sustainably produced functional foods also are in big demand, Dr. Johnson says. That includes foods produced with less of an environmental footprint, which includes growing and packaging the food. Clamshell packages that are fully recyclable have become popular, she says. One food she studies is microgreens, small edible greens that take less space to grow and are growing in popularity.

CBD

One area getting a lot of attention is cannabis-derived cannabidiol (CBD), which claims to offer relaxation and pain reduction, among other benefits. While FDA acknowledges there are products on the market that contain CBD, it is still illegal at the federal level to infuse it into food and beverages. FDA says CBD products may put the health and safety of consumers at risk because its effects and safe dosage still are not known. However, FDA currently is “taking steps to improve the efficiency of regulatory pathways for the lawful marketing of appropriate cannabis and cannabis-derived products,” according to its website. That’s good news to those making and wanting to consume the products. “Many food companies, large and small, are sitting with products at the ready, hoping FDA will take such an action,” Dr. Hutt says.

FDA Regulation

FDA oversees misbranding of food that might claim medical benefits. There are specific rules for health claims on food packages or in advertising, Dr. Hutt says. Claims have to be truthful and not misleading, and they cannot be disease claims.

In a well-publicized effort to clamp down on what it saw as misbranding, FDA, in May 2009, issued a warning to General Mills about claims for its Cheerios cereal at the time. The agency said that language on the cereal’s label, including a claim that the cereal is clinically proven to lower cholesterol, made the cereal sound like a drug that could prevent, mitigate, and treat high cholesterol and heart disease, according to WebMD. “Food is supposed to support optimal health or maintain health,” Dr. Hutt says. “It is not intended to treat diseases. She says consumers should be able to trust what they see on products as health claims.

Measuring Results

One of the first steps in creating a functional food is making sure people will consume it, Dr. Johnson says. It has to taste good, because even if it has healthful ingredients, consumers won’t buy it if it tastes bad. Another important aspect is making sure the product is not just trendy, with an ingredient that consumers link with improved health, but that it contains enough of the ingredient to provide a benefit.

It can be difficult for consumers to measure results from a functional food, but there are some functional ingredients that are easier to gauge. For a functional food aimed at boosting iron, a blood test three to six weeks into eating it will show whether or not it is effective, says Kantha Shelke, PhD, principal at Corvus Blue, a Chicago-based food science and nutrition research firm.