US EPA

7439566 

Journal Article 

Chemical Composition and Nutritional Properties of Functional Food 

Petropulos, VI; Balabanova, B; , 

2021 

311-351 

10.1007/978-3-030-66135-9_11 

http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-66135-9_11
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Functional foods and beverages provide an extra health benefit to the consumer beyond basic nutrition. Examples include foods that have been fortified with beneficial nutrients or foods that are free from certain components such as lactose or gluten-free. Also known as nutraceuticals, functional foods are highly nutritious and associated with a number of powerful health benefits, positive effect on certain functions in the body, in addition to its usual nutritional effect, in terms of promoting health and reducing the risk of disease, preventing nutrient deficiencies, and promoting proper growth and development. Most of the functional food’s products have functional properties due to the presence of one or more components (biologically active compounds), with favorable physiological effects. A biologically active compound can be a macronutrient (resistant starch or n-3 fatty acid), a micronutrient (vitamin or mineral), and a nonessential food ingredient that has a certain energy value (oligosaccharides, conjugated linoleic acid, plant sterol, lycopene). Various chemical methods are used to monitor food quality, such as liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, and atomic spectrometry, connected with various detectors. The main reasons why chemical analyses are very important today are time-savings, often greater accuracy in work, the ability to analyze very small samples, and the ability to avoid often very complicated chemical separations.