Future strategies for the development of functional foods in Japan (813.12)

Abstract

Many science‐based functional food products have been developed and approved by the Japanese government as “Food for specified health use (FoSHU)” in the past two decades. However, the functions already approved are limited, and new categories of functional food are being expected by the society. Expected future FoSHU categories may include immune‐modulating food, anti‐fatigue food, skin health‐promoting food, food preventing joint ache, and so on. More studies on the molecular mechanisms for food functions, establishment of biomarkers to assess objective evaluation of food functions, and development of novel technology for functional food processing will be necessary. Social agreement on the evidence‐based functional food ‐ educating consumers how to evaluate and how to accept functional food, is also important. A huge amount of scientific data on functional food substances, in terms of their potential in disease‐prevention and health‐promotion, may be useful for many purposes from now on. Recently, new crops or agricultural products fortified with specific functional substances have been created Japan, and they are expected to supply functional substances to consumers in everyday meal, not via packaged food products.