Functional Foods and Human Health II

Dear Colleagues,

At present, it is becoming very important for people to maintain health and wellness, primarily by strengthening the immune system. This can be achieved by lifestyle changes, including a diet based on foods with a beneficial effect on health. Functional foods are food products that offer health benefits that extend beyond their nutritional value. They may protect against disease, prevent nutrient deficiencies, and promote proper growth and development. Moreover, these benefits should not only be declared, but proven in clinical trials. Although there is no official definition of a functional food, the market of so-called products currently shows the highest growth rate. The concept of functional food originated in Japan in the 1980s when government agencies started approving foods with proven benefits in an effort to better the health of the general population. Functional foods, also known as nutraceuticals, may by enriched with valuable nutrients or other bio-active substances, or the natural products may contain high levels of these (referred to as “super foods”).

Science and technology go hand in hand in the development of new types of functional foods. The most urgent goal seems to be the work on confirming the impact of bio-active substances that are or may become food ingredients, and which alone or in synergistic action with the whole matrix (i.e., the food product) will be able to strengthen the human immune system to fight pathogens and cancer and beneficially influence metabolism. This is important for every individual, as well as for public health. It requires a great deal of work and presents an opportunity for interesting and necessary research for scientists in the fields of biology, food technology, medicine, dietetics, and animal husbandry and agronomy. We expect that many interesting works will be created in this respect, the results of which will be disseminated and published in this special issue.

Prof. Dr. Wojciech Kolanowski
Guest Editor

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