Functional Ingredients for specialized Foods: Issues to be Addressed

Abstract

Review was carried out using the RSCI, Google Scholar, Pubmed, and ReserchGate databases. When biologically active substances (BAS) are used as functional ingredients in the composition of specialized food products (SPP) of dietary therapeutic and dietary preventive nutrition, the problems of choosing their dose arise. There are epidemiological data on the level of consumption of BAS with food, an associative relationship between the level of consumption of biologically active substances and the risk of diseases, as well as the results of assessing clinical efficacy are described. The content of BAS is regulated by regulatory documents that establish an adequate and upper permissible level of consumption as part of the SPP.The purpose of the review is to assess the level of dietary intake of curcumin, carotenoids, β-glucans, and taurine, and to compare the doses allowed for use as part of the SPP with doses that provide a clinical effect. An analysis of literature data showed that the consumption of taurine with a normaldiet is 50–400 mg, curcumin – 10–1500 mg, β-carotene – 0.8–10 mg, lycopene – 5–10.5 mg, lutein – 1–3 mg, zeaxanthin – 0.1–0.6 mg, cereal β-glucans – 0.7–2.8 g, mushroom β-glucans – 0.9–1.8 g. With the exception of β-glucans, especially cereals, these values do not exceed the current upper allowable consumption level as part of the SPP. The results of clinical trials have shown that effective daily doses for lutein are 15 mg, taurine are 1.5–3 g, curcumin are 300–1600 mg, cereal β-glucans are 3–8 g, mushroom and yeast β-glucans are about 1 g. These data indicate the need to increase the amount of BAS as part of the SPP of dietary therapeutic nutrition to clinically justified values. At the same time, the given data indicate the expediency of differentiating the SPP, depending on the doses of BAS, into 2 categories: SPP for preventive and SPP for therapeutic action. SPP for dietary preventive nutrition is necessary to compensate the insufficient intake of essential micronutrients and achieve an adequate level of consumption of BAS, which will reduce the risk of alimentary-dependent diseases. In order to provide a clinical effect in pathological conditions, dietary therapeutic SPP should contain higher doses of biologically active substances that exceed the adequate intake level, but do not reach the upper safe intake level.