Medicinal Food Essay

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Functional food or medicinal food is any healthy or fictional food claimed to have a health-promoting or disease-preventing property beyond the basic function of supplying nutrients.[1] The general category of functional foods includes processed food or foods fortified with health-promoting additives, like "vitamin-enriched" products. Fermented foods with live cultures are considered as functional foods with probiotic benefits. Functional foods are an emerging field in food science due to their increasing popularity with health-conscious consumers. The term was first used in Japan in the 1980s where there is a government approval process for functional foods called Foods for Specified Health Use (FOSHU). The functional food industry, consisting of food, beverage and supplement sectors, is one of the several areas of the food industry that is experiencing fast growth in recent yearsIt is estimated by BCC Research that the global market of functional food industry will reach 176.7 billion in 2013 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.4%. Specifically, the functional food sector will experience 6.9% CAGR, the supplement sector will rise by 3.8% and the functional beverage sector will be the fastest growing segment with 10.8% CAGR.[2] This kind of growth is fueled not only by industrial innovation and development of new products that satisfy the demand of health conceious consumers but also by health claims covering a wide range of health issues.[3]Yet, consumer skepticism persists mainly due to the fact that benefits associated with consuming the products may be difficult to be detected. The industry suggests the establishment of a health claim regulating agency, which may increase consumer confidence. It should be noted that strict examination of some of the functional food claims may discourage some companies from launching their products. Ginger

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