Abstract
The NEODIET concerted action, funded under the EU FAIR programme, has focussed for the past two years on evaluating the strategies for the improvement of the nutritional quality of plant foods. These strategies involve the enhancement of key metabolites through the application of conventional plant breeding and genetic engineering, as well as the application of newer approaches to food processing. This paper focuses on the benefits of improving the nutritional quality of plants by the enhancement of the beneficial phytochemicals directly in the plant rather than by the addition of essential nutrients to processed foods as has been conventionally undertaken. Examples of the disadvantages of fortifying plant foods are given. The role of food technology in improving the bioavailability of some nutritional constituents, and thereby improving the overall quality of the food, is illustrated with reference to the carotenoids. The importance of structure of the plant metabolite in determining nutritional quality is also illustrated with reference to the effects of structure on the bioavailability and biological effectiveness of plant flavonoids.
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