The importance of functional food in human nutrition and comparison with conventional products

Abstract

The functional food is a modern concept in human nutrition, considering the fact that this type of food contains ingredients which have useful effects on one or more purpose functions in the organism and contribute to the general medical health and/or decrease the risk of some diseases. The ingredients of functional food are: macronutritients with special physiological treatment (polysaccharides, omega-3 fatty acids, etc.), essential micronutritients (folic acid, vitamin B6, B12), nonessential ingredients (some of oligosaccharides), biologically active phytonutritients (carotenoides, flavons, catechins, etc.), friendly bacteria - probiotics. Modern research indicates expansive development and production of functional food around the world. That requires appropriate legislation which defines the field of functional food production. The objectives of this study are to emphasize the importance of functional food in daily nutrition. Furthermore, using sensory analysis for three different product types with functional characteristics, it was proved that the food with functional characteristics does not differ in total values from the similar conventional products.