{{Short description|Food modified for a presumed health benefit}} {{Use American English|date=April 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}} {{cs1 config|name-list-style=vanc|display-authors=3}}
A '''functional food''' or '''designer food''', also called fortified food,<ref name="endc-2026" /> is a food claimed to have an additional benefit beyond just nutrition (often one related to health promotion or disease prevention) by modifying the cultivation of the native food or by adding ingredients during manufacturing.<ref name="sloan">{{cite magazine|date=4 April 2025|magazine=Food Technology Magazine, Institute of Food Technology|author=Sloan AE|title=The Top 10 Functional Food Trends|access-date=18 April 2025|url=https://www.ift.org/news-and-publications/food-technology-magazine/issues/2025/april/features/the--top-10-functional-food--trends}}</ref>
The term applies to traits purposely bred into existing edible plants, such as purple or gold potatoes having increased anthocyanin or carotenoid contents, respectively.<ref name="usda">{{cite web | url=https://agresearchmag.ars.usda.gov/2014/nov/potatoes | title=Delicious, Nutritious, and a Colorful Dish for the Holidays! | publisher=US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, AgResearch Magazine | date=November 2014 | access-date=11 October 2016}}</ref> Functional food manufacturing has the intent "to have physiological benefits and/or reduce the risk of chronic disease beyond basic nutritional functions, and may be similar in appearance to conventional food and consumed as part of a regular diet".<ref>{{cite web|title=Basics about Functional Food|publisher=US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service|url=https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/00000000/NPS/FinalFunctionalFoodsPDFReadVersion6-25-10.pdf|date=July 2010}}</ref>
The term also applies to food processing practices which include ingredients purposely added with the intent to improve the food health value and for marketing to specific consumer groups.<ref name=sloan/>
The term was first used in the 1980s in Japan, where a government approval process for functional foods called ''Foods for Specified Health Use'' (FOSHU) exists.<ref>{{cite web | title=FOSHU, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Japan | agency= Government of Japan | url=http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/topics/foodsafety/fhc/02.html}}</ref>
In the European Union, functional foods are conceptual rather than designated as a specific food category. The European Commission’s initiatives, such as the Concerted Action on Functional Food Science in Europe (FUFOSE) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), define functional foods as those that beneficially impact body functions beyond nutrition, contributing to improved health or disease risk reduction <ref>Vlaicu, P.A.; Untea, A.E.; Varzaru, I.; Saracila, M.; Oancea, A.G. Designing Nutrition for Health—Incorporating Dietary By-Products into Poultry Feeds to Create Functional Foods with Insights into Health Benefits, Risks, Bioactive Compounds, Food Component Functionality and Safety Regulations. Foods 2023, 12, 4001. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12214001</ref>
== Definition == In 1998, the European Commission’s ''Concerted Action on Functional Food Science in Europe'' proposed in a European consensus document a working definition of functional food:<ref name="roberfroid-2000">Marcel B. Roberfroid, [https://www.farm.ucl.ac.be/Full-texts-FARM/Roberfroid-2000-3.pdf A European Consensus of Scientific Concepts of Functional Foods.] Nutrition Volume 16, Numbers 7/8, 2000</ref> {{quote|"A food can be regarded as functional if it is satisfactorily demonstrated to affect beneficially one or more target functions in the body, beyond adequate nutritional effects, in a way that is relevant to either improved stage of health and well-being and/or reduction of risk of disease. A functional food must remain food and it must demonstrate its effects in amounts that can normally be expected to be consumed in the diet: it is not a pill or a capsule, but part of the normal food pattern."}}
The concept includes the following unique features of a functional food: * being a conventional or everyday food, * being consumed as part of the normal/usual diet, * composed of naturally occurring (as opposed to synthetic) components, perhaps in unnatural concentration or present in foods that would not normally supply them, * having a positive effect on target function(s) beyond nutritive value/basic nutrition, * may enhance well-being and health and/or reduce the risk of disease or provide health benefit so as to improve the quality of life, including physical, psychologic, and behavioral performances, * having authorized and scientifically based claims.
A functional food can be:<ref name="roberfroid-2000" /> * a natural food, * a food to which a component has been added, * a food from which a component has been removed, * a food where the nature of one or more components has been modified, * a food in which the bioavailability of one or more components has been modified, or * any combination of these possibilities.
The 33rd European Nutrition and Dietetics Conference in July 2026 simply uses the definition "food that's designed to possess some health advantages apart from its traditional nutritional value".<ref name="endc-2026">[https://www.nutritionalconference.com/europe/events-list/designer-foods 33rd European Nutrition and Dietetics Conference], July 20-21, 2026. Accessed May 2026</ref>
==Ingredients and market trends==
Common ingredients intended to be functional when added to foods include polyunsaturated fatty acids, probiotics, prebiotics, vitamins with antioxidant properties, and protein.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Granato |first=Daniel |last2=Barba |first2=Francisco J. |last3=Kovačević |first3=Danijela Bursać |last4=Lorenzo |first4=José M. |last5=Cruz |first5=Adriano G. |last6=Putnik |first6=Predrag |date=2020-03-25 |title=Functional Foods: Product Development, Technological Trends, Efficacy Testing, and Safety |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-food-032519-051708 |journal=Annual Review of Food Science and Technology |language=en |volume=11|pages=93–118 |doi=10.1146/annurev-food-032519-051708 |issn=1941-1413|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="mell">{{cite web |author1=Mellentin J |title=Key Trends in Functional Foods for 2025 |url=https://www.nutraceuticalsworld.com/key-trends-in-functional-foods-for-2025/ |publisher=Nutraceuticals World |access-date=18 April 2025 |date=7 October 2024}}</ref>
As of 2025, leading product trends and motivations for choosing functional foods are for energy drinks, healthy aging, active living, and weight loss, among several others.<ref name=sloan/>
==Health claim status== Presumed benefits of making foods more ''functional'' or healthful have not been scientifically established, and specific statements of health claims are regulated on food labels in the European Union, United States and Canada.<ref name="gonz">{{cite journal |vauthors=González-Díaz C, Gil-González D, Álvarez-Dardet C |title=Scientific Evidence on Functional Food and Its Commercial Communication: A Review of Legislation in Europe and the USA |journal=Journal of Food Science |volume=83 |issue=11 |pages=2710–2717 |date=November 2018 |pmid=30339738 |doi=10.1111/1750-3841.14359 |url=https://ift.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1750-3841.14359|hdl=10045/83410 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref name="hc">{{cite web |title=Health claims on food labels |url=https://inspection.canada.ca/en/food-labels/labelling/industry/health-claims |publisher=Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Health Canada |access-date=18 April 2025 |date=23 January 2025}}</ref> Studies have shown that certain functional foods provide health benefits and prevent diseases. However, safety considerations should be paramount. Safety concerns have been raised on the addition of certain botanicals to food like beverages, cereals and soups some of which pose adverse health risks to consumers.<ref name="auto">{{Cite journal |last=Hasler |first=Clare M. |date=2002-12-01 |title=Functional Foods: Benefits, Concerns and Challenges—A Position Paper from the American Council on Science and Health |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022316622150078 |journal=The Journal of Nutrition |volume=132 |issue=12 |pages=3772–3781 |doi=10.1093/jn/132.12.3772 |issn=0022-3166|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
In 2001, the FDA issued letters warning the food industry concerning the use of certain "novel ingredients" in conventional foods.<ref name="auto"/>
==Industry== In the United States in 2024, retail sales of functional food and beverage products totaled $320 billion, with estimates for growth to $384 billion by 2028.<ref name=sloan/>
==See also== {{Portal|Food}} * Food fortification * Novel food * Functional beverage * Medical food, specially formulated foods to treat diseases with distinctive nutritional needs
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.cspinet.org/reports/functional_foods/ Functional Foods: Public Health Boon or 21st Century Quackery?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041213230019/http://www.cspinet.org/reports/functional_foods/ |date=2004-12-13 }}, a review of regulations and demand for functional foods in Japan, the U.S. and the UK (March 1999)
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Category:Functional food
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