7 - Medicinal Properties and Functional Components of Beverages

Abstract

Functional beverage industry is the largest functional food sector, including food, beverages, and supplement sectors. It is also the fastest growing market in the food sector. The global functional drinks market grew by 3% in 2010, and a substantial increase was observed in 2014 with a 7.8% growth. This high demand toward functional beverages is the results of convenient content, size, shape, and appearance of the containers, as well as ease of distribution and storage conditions for the refrigerated and shelf-stable products. Moreover, it is possible to incorporate desirable nutrients and bioactive compounds into functional beverages, such as antioxidants, dietary fibers, prebiotics, proteins, peptides, unsaturated fatty acids, minerals, and vitamins. This has resulted in a number of new beverages in the marketplace designed to address specific health concerns. There are several types of functional beverages, such as dairy-based beverages, probiotic drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks, meal replacers, caffeinated beverages, vegetable and fruit beverages. These functional beverages have beneficial effects on one or more functions of human body in addition to their basic nutritional values. Thus, they either improve the general physical conditions of human body or decrease the risk of disease progression. These two positive effects can also be observed together. Depending on their content and production methods, the functional beverages reduce cancer risk, boost immune system, improve physical and mental conditions, and show antistress, antiaging, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. This chapter presents an extensive review of medicinal properties and functional components of beverages with the recent developments in the field. It covers classification of functional beverages with a particular focus on fermented, dairy-based, nondairy-based, fruit-based, and herbal-based functional beverages. Furthermore, the significance of bioaccessibility of these products and their health benefits are discussed. Current in vitro and in vivo studies in the field are also covered.