Functional food

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Fermented vegetables: Kimchi contains probiotics and vitamin B.

Functional food (also nutraceutical - from English nutrition ' nutrition ' and pharmaceutical ' pharmaceutical ' ), German functional foods , are foods that are enriched with additional ingredients and advertised as having a positive effect on health. However, special effects on health are not sufficiently scientifically proven.

Vitamins , minerals , bacterial cultures and unsaturated fatty acids in particular are added . There is currently no legal definition for these products in Europe. Therefore, they can be used as food for general consumption, e.g. B. probiotic yogurt or as a dietetic food , such as. B. with plant sterols enriched margarine as well as wellness products, z. B. beverages or dairy products with herbal extracts of ginseng , aloe vera , ginkgo or isomaltulose can be found on the German market.

Functional foods must be clearly differentiated from dietary supplements , such as B. vitamin or mineral supplements, which are offered in concentrated and dosed form, such as tablets or powders.

History and precursor

Functional food originated in Japan . Since 1985, appropriately fortified foods have been marketed there under the name tokutei hokenyou shokuhin , or tokuho for short (English Food for specific health use (FOSHU); in German: food for specific health use). In Japan there is a precise definition for these products, and they can also be advertised with statements about health promotion and disease prevention. In order for a product to receive the official Tokuho label, it must not be offered in capsule or powder form ( dietary supplement ). It must be a food that is part of the normal diet and is fortified with an active ingredient whose health-promoting effects have been scientifically proven.

The range of these fortified foods has also grown rapidly in Europe in recent years. Forerunners of functional food came onto the market in Germany and Austria at the end of the 19th century. Examples are Johann Hoff'sche products ( malt extract health beer, malt chocolate or malt sweets), Ovomaltine , the products of the German Tropon-Werke or Somatose food.

Examples

The best-known functional food products are yogurts with bacterial cultures, which are sold with the addition “probiotic”. For example, fruit juices are enriched with vitamins A, C and E, bread with omega-3 fatty acids and iodine , margarine with vegetable sterols . The health-promoting effect of most additives has so far only been proven in laboratory tests or in theory; scientific studies on this have so far been pending in most cases. The question of whether there is an undersupply of vitamins in large parts of the population at all, so that supplementation makes sense is also controversial. Another example are products from the Evolus brand based on fermented milk , which have been shown to have a slight antihypertensive effect in clinical studies.

In Japan and the USA, functional food products are also offered, which are either intended to increase intellectual capacity (“brain food”) or to make it more beautiful (“beauty food”).

The most common additives in functional food

criticism

  • The health benefits of many additives have not yet been proven, no scientific studies are available.
  • The dosage of added minerals and vitamins can hardly be controlled by the consumer; In the case of fat-soluble vitamins , there could be a harmful overdosage due to the consumption of several functional food products.
  • Vitamins and minerals are also added to sweets and confectionery , so that the impression is given that consuming them is good for health despite their high sugar content .
  • The German Society for Nutrition is critical of functional food. In a statement it says: “ Functional food is fundamentally no guarantee of a needs-based and balanced diet. Nutritional errors cannot be eliminated even by eating functional foods. "

To the legal situation

In Germany, there is a ban on “disease-related” advertising for food. For example, it is not allowed to advertise that a food protects children from osteoporosis in old age. Many advertising statements on functional food such as “supports the immune system” are in a legal gray area, but are still considered permissible.

The Bavarian State Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Forestry sets various requirements that functional food products should meet:

  1. Functional foods should only be common foods as part of daily meals, not dietary supplements, for example.
  2. Functional foods should have a modification compared to conventional foods that can also be identified in the end product.
  3. The modification must offer a specific, demonstrable benefit for the consumer beyond the usual (basic) nutrient supply.

Using these requirements, it is possible to identify products as functional and to differentiate them from “normal” products.

Apart from that, the term functional food has not yet appeared in any legal norm . The corresponding products fall under general food law or under the framework guidelines for dietetic foods . The Novel Food Ordinance of May 12, 1997 applies to nutrients or foods that have so far been consumed to a small extent in the EU .

With regard to the promotion of additional health benefits, the so-called Health Claims Regulation of the European Union has been in force since July 2007 . This is intended to severely restrict the possibility of advertising with unproven health effects.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Georg Etscheit: Groceries with instruction leaflet . Süddeutsche Zeitung, No. 192, 22./23. August, p. 192.
  2. ↑ a b Functional foods. Retrieved November 3, 2016 .
  3. ↑ tokutei hokenyou shokuhin. ( Memento of the original from April 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. MHLW  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mhlw.go.jp
  4. ↑ L. Seppo, T. Jauhiainen, T. Poussa, R. Korpela: A fermented milk high in bioactive peptides has a blood pressure-lowering effect in hypertensive subjects . In: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition . 77/2003. American Society of Clinical Nutrition, pp. 326-330.
  5. ↑ DGE: Functional Food - Health to Eat? (2002) .

See also

Web links