Functional food: healthy or pointless?
Functional Food is fashionable right now. Supermarkets are full of yoghurts with extra vitamins, protein bars, superfood powders, and functional drinks. They promise more energy, a strengthened immune system, or improved digestion without you having to go to a whole lot of effort. But do these products actually deliver what they promise or is it all just a good marketing strategy? In this article, find out what functional food actually is, examples of functional food, and what makes functional food different to normal food.
The key points
- Fortified food with additional health benefits
- Practical for increased nutritional needs, but not necessary
- Normal food rather than food supplements
- Often more expensive than standard products with limited additional benefit
- Subject to criticism relating to marketing, health claims, and potential overdoses
Functional food – list of contents
What is functional food?
Functional foods are fortified foods that claim to provide additional health benefits beyond normal nutrition.
Functional foods are completely normal foods that have had particular nutrients specifically added to them. The aim is to not only make you feel full or provide energy, but to actively boost your health. Nutrients that are often added include vitamins, minerals, fibre, omega-3 fatty acids, folic acid and secondary metabolites.
Typical functional food products include:
- Bread with additional fibre
- Margarine with plant sterols
- Probiotic yoghurts
- Cereals with added vitamins
- Vitamin water and other functional beverages
- Food aimed at children and sweets with nutritional supplements
It is important to note that functional foods are not nutritional supplements. Capsules and powders are highly-concentrated preparations, whereas functional foods are still food that you eat every day. Super food trends such as chia seeds and goji berries are also frequently mistaken for functional food. However, these are not fortified and only contain their natural nutrients.
One key issue is the alleged health claims: the statements about health on the packaging. These are strictly regulated in the EU but can give the impression that a product is automatically healthy. It’s always worth taking a look at the list of ingredients.
Functional food can be a good idea, but doesn’t replace a balanced diet containing fresh, unprocessed food.
Why should you buy functional food?
Functional food can fill specific gaps and is practical, but you don’t need it to eat healthily.
The biggest advantage of functional food is its everyday convenience. People who need more nutrients can benefit, such as those who are pregnant (folic acid),older people (vitamin D, calcium), and people who are very active or play sport (protein). Instead of combining multiple products, functional food directly supplies the specific nutrient.
Key benefits to functional food items include how easy they are to integrate into everyday life, how they provide specific support for an increased requirement, how they often taste better than supplements, and how they have a clear dosage thanks to regulated health claims.
Functional food can be a convenient solution, especially for people who have limited time. But remember, people who base their nutritional intake on the 10 guidelines of the German Nutrition Society (DGE) and eat a varied and balanced diet, can usually cover their needs without fortified products.
You should certainly cast a critical eye on the price. Many consumers wonder whether functional food is healthy or just expensive? Fortified products do often cost significantly more than the normal variants. The health benefit is not always proportional to the extra cost.
Functional food can be used to address a specific deficiency in your diet, for example using margarine with omega-3 if you don’t eat much fish, but otherwise fresh food is usually more than enough.
Why has functional food faced criticism?
Functional food has faced criticism for its higher prices, potential overdoses, and misleading health claims.
The criticism of functional food is primarily aimed at marketing and pricing. Many products base their advertising heavily around health, but at the same time contain a lot of sugar, fat, and artificial additives. A vitamin yoghurt is still a sweetened dessert.
Another criticism is related to over consumption. If you combine multiple fortified products you can quickly end up with an overdose of vitamins or minerals, especially fat-soluble vitamins such as A and D. The risk is low for healthy adults, but cannot be ruled out completely.
The price is also a major factor, because functional food is often significantly more expensive than the comparable standard products. The actual benefit for healthy people is usually quite low if they are already eating a balanced diet
Disadvantages of functional food that crop up often are a high price with no guaranteed additional benefits, potentially misleading health claims, a focus on individual substances instead of overall nutrition, and the risk of thinking that unhealthy products are healthy.
Functional foods can make sense, but you need to think critically about them. Read labels, compare prices, and look to have a balanced basic diet. Functional food can supplement a healthily lifestyle, but it should never form the basis of one.
