Abstract
Food and health surveys of consumer attitudes toward functional foods
conducted by the International Food Information Council reveal that today’s
consumers are primed for information about food that provides benefits
beyond basic nutrition and how to incorporate these foods into their diets
(IFICF 2007). It also implies
a consumer willingness to make changes in order to improve the healthfulness
of their diets in an effort to reduce risk of disease. The surveys also
suggest that heart disease, weight maintenance, and cancer are the top
health concerns of Americans and populations of other Western (or developed)
countries. Functional foods, include a wide variety of foods and food
components that are believed to improve overall health and well-being,
reduce the risk of specific diseases, or minimize the effects of other
health concerns (Anderson and Milner
2005). For example, the American Dietetic Association recommends
that the public should consume adequate amounts of dietary fiber from a
variety of plant foods because populations that consume more dietary fiber
have less chronic disease and better heath. In addition, intake of dietary
fiber has beneficial effects on risk factors for developing several chronic
diseases (Slavin 2008).
Therefore, dietary fiber is a good example of a functional food
component.