Current Trends and Future Perspectives on Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals

Abstract

The rising awareness of consumers toward the health benefits of foods and their nutritional benefits for potential disease prevention and health enhancement is the driving force of the global functional food and nutraceutical market. Functional foods are the medicinal foods that provide health benefits beyond energy and essential nutrients. Many studies, including several European Commission (EC) funded projects, have led to the understanding of the potential mechanisms of biologically active components in food, which could improve health and probably reduce the risk of disease while enhancing our overall well-being. Functional foods and nutraceutical products are helping to improve health, reducing the healthcare costs, and supporting the economic development in rural areas. Growing demand for functional foods is also helping the producers to diversify their agriculture and marine-based crops and promoting research and innovation. There is growing demand for functional foods, especially in developed economies due to increasing awareness toward health benefits of functional foods and an increase in disposable income. The USA is the world's largest market for functional foods and is expected to witness 21 % growth in the coming years owing to the growing demand for functional foods and expected to reach the value of USD 8.62 billion by 2015. This growth is mainly driven by the continuously growing demand for energy drinks and fortified dairy products. Meanwhile, country-specific regulations and health claim substantiation are some of the challenges the functional food and nutraceutical market continues to face. This chapter gives an overview of the functional food and nutraceutical market, motivations, challenges, and future perspectives of the market.