The Complete Patient

The concept of "functional food" is generating lots of excitement in the scientific community...and on Wall Street. There are various definitions of functional food, but generally it refers to food enhanced with vitamins and other types of nutrients. Thus, you might have fruit juice containing glucosmine and chondoitin to relieve arthritis. It's become a hot subject because the components of various plants, like soy, tomatoes, and broccoli, have been associated with health benefits.

Functional food has been around a long time, as in "Wonder Bread builds strong bodies in 12 ways." Not too many nutritional experts will advise eating Wonder Bread, and that's the potential problem here. Just as the corporate food giants (Kraft, Frito Lay, Coca Cola) have given us "natural" and "low-fat" foods (often high in sugar, trans fats), I fear what their marketing people will devise in the area of functional foods. "Energy" drinks, based on caffeine and sugar, are already in their arsenals. You can be sure they will come up with any number of "magic bullets" of questionable nutritional value.

The magazine, "Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals", contains an article in its current issue pointing out that an index of natural and organic food companies (i.e. Lifeway, Hansen, Whole Foods, The Hain Celestial Group and Spectrum Organic Products) has grown 229% over the last three years.  There's lots of money to be made appealing to health benefits, and the corporate food giants know it. Expect lots of claims, counter-claims, and in general the fog of confusion.

Here is a note of rationality to consider, from a recent report on functional foods from the Institute of Food Technologists:  "It should be stressed, however, that functional foods are not a magic bullet or universal panacea for poor health habits. There are no "good" or "bad" foods, but there are good or bad diets."