- Email: [email protected]
Guide to Functional Food Ingredients
Book Review
Trends in Food Science & Technology 12 (2001) 302–303
Guide to Functional Food Ingredients Edited by John Young, Leatherhead Food Research Association, Randalls Road, Leatherhead, Surrey KT22 7RY, UK, published by Leatherhead Publishing, Surrey, UK, First edition 2001. £85 ISBN 0 905748 28 X The Guide to Functional Food Ingredients is a new addition to the growing family of books pertaining to the functional foods/nutraceutical area. The very appearance of the book is misleading with regard to its contents. My first impression was that this is just another glossary edition, but I was totally surprised when I started to read through the book. Whatever has been presented, is presented extremely well. This is by no means an exhaustive survey of the functional food ingredients; it is rather, an authoritative presentation of certain selected areas. Functional foods and nutraceuticals are the newest additions to the food-health twilight zone. In many ancient civilizations, food is regarded as medicine and the healing properties of food have widely been recognized. The reincarnation of these concepts in the Western world in the form of functional foods and nutraceuticals has undoubtedly necessitated the requirement of instructional materials. The University education has started giving attention to the functional foods and nutraceutical area, developing course materials and awarding specialized degrees. However, most of us in the present system grew up with the idea of Food Science being the Science of Food and Medicine as the Science of Healing. We could not have imagined the development of a transition area into a full-fledged discipline. In my opinion, this book will be most beneficial to those of us who are specialists in one area of the functional foods and are nearly ignorant about other sectors. Even though the treatment of the subject is by no means exhaustive, it provides a clear, up to date presentation of facts. Needless to say, this book will also be extremely useful for instruction at Undergraduate and Graduate level courses. The first two chapters deal with the areas of Prebiotics and Probiotics, which have tremendous implications to the food industry in terms of consumer preference and acceptance, economy, and the volume of production worldwide. The importance of prebiotics and probiotics in the diet and the strategy for enhancing health through the introduction of either of these independently, or in combination have been clearly explained. The characteristics, uses and health benefits of several Prebiotics, that currently include several non-digestible oligosaccharides such as inulin, fructooligosaccharides, galacto-oligo-
sacharides, lactulose and soya bean oligosaccharides, have been presented in an interesting manner. Especially noteworthy is the introductory part wherein the authors clearly depict the importance and distinctions of prebiotics and probiotics, which I believe is extremely useful to those unfamiliar with the area. The second chapter is a logical continuation of the first and deals with the beneficial microorganisms such as lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus sp) and bifidobacteria (Bifidobacterium sp). The beneficial effects of ingestion of these microorganisms on lactose digestion, intestinal microbial balance, cure of diarrhoeal diseases caused by rotavirus infection, modulation of immune system and function without causing inflammatory systemic effects, prevention of hypersensitivity and allergy in children, anticarcinogenic and hypocholesterolaemic effects, have been systematically presented. The information presented in this chapter is a clear example of how functional foods, consumed on a daily basis by the population, can have such a positive impact on health. The authors also discuss the potential safety issues involved in the introduction of microorganisms as human probiotics through food. The discussions and concerns raised by industry foundations such as the California Dairy Research Foundation and the Lactic Acid Bacteria Industrial Platform (LABIP, a European Organization) have been addressed. The final part of this chapter includes a detailed discussion of the industrial applications of probiotic bacteria, including technical issues and processing aspects. I found the first two chapters that cover nearly twenty percent of the book especially stimulating and informative. The third chapter is a compilation of relevant data on vitamins. The essential role of vitamins has been discussed in relation to the benefits it offers to various risk groups that include the elderly, pregnant and lactating women, athletes, vegetarians, smokers, etc. The beneficial effects of vitamin/mineral-/ functional food ingredient-supplementation on cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, cataract, xerophthalmia, neural tube defects, etc., and the various commercially available forms of these compounds have been presented. Even though the functional food ingredients (nutraceuticals) are gen-
0924-2244/00/$ - see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 92 4 - 2 24 4 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 09 2 - 9
erally treated as a separate class than the vitamins, combining and discussing the effects of these components together, brings out the potential interactive roles of the traditional vitamins and the functional food ingredients in a new light. The fourth chapter deals with phytoestrogens and phytochemicals. This is only a tip of the iceberg, as the literature on these classes of compounds is voluminous. The discussion has been limited to isoflavones and lignans, which have been shown to reduce the risk of development of breast and prostate cancer, coronary heart disease, menopause and osteoporosis. The information provided is very practical, listing human clinical trials using various soy products, various types of food ingredients including proteins currently available, and the commercial products currently in the market. This part is followed by, a brief section on lignans and glucosinolates, their availability and health-beneficial action. Dietary fibres that comprise various cell wall-localized carbohydrate polymers are very important ingredients of human diet. Based on their solubility properties in water, these are categorized into insoluble, (cellulose), and soluble (pectin) fibres. Chapter five deals with various aspects of soluble fibres such as pectin, gums, inulin, oligofructose, etc. Various commercially available forms of fibres and their food applications have been listed. The health-beneficial aspects of fibreintake have been briefly discussed. Chapter six is a comprehensive but informative section on the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), their health-regulatory roles, food-fortification methods using polyunsaturated fatty acids, and the isolation and processing of fish oils for food uses. After a section dealing with the classification and structure of common PUFAs, which is quite useful considering all the terminologies involved, the biological effects of PUFAs in terms of structural roles, membrane metabolism and gene expression have been discussed. The protective effects of PUFAs from cardiovascular diseases that include coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, thrombosis, blood pressure and blood rheology, cardiac function, etc., are highly relevant to the literature requirement of today. This chapter also cites beneficial examples of PUFAs on inflammatory and immune system disorders and early childhood development. The chapter concludes with a concise section on processing fish oils, production of microbial oils and several methods of stabilizing and fortifying food preparations. Chapter seven is a well-balanced presentation of mineral requirements and their
Book Review / Trends in Food Science & Technology 12 (2001) 302–303 health implications. The availability from food, daily requirements, fortification of food, health-regulatory roles, etc., of calcium, iron, magnesium and zinc have been discussed. Chapters eight and nine are devoted to structural components, proteins, peptides, amino acids, as well as phospholipids. The stress is on food fortification with these components, specifically to enhance the health value. Several proteins such as whey proteins, immunoglobulins in milk, lactoferrin, soya proteins and egg proteins have been described. A highly interesting aspect of this chapter is the description of bioactive peptides, which are specific sequences within a protein and exhibit biological activity after digestion. These include casein phosphopeptides (CPP), the phos-
phoserine- rich amino acid sequences in alpha- and beta- casein, which are believed to play a crucial role in the protection of milk gland against calcification. CPPs are resistant to digestion and may serve as a tool for mineral absorption. The other interesting group is the glycomacropeptide (GMP), a 64 amino acid long C-terminal residue of kappa-casein. GMP may have a regulatory role in eating behavior through the release of cholecystokinin. Other potential peptides released from casein, those generated by microbial fermentation from milk, and other sources including fish and plant proteins, may have regulatory roles at the level of angiotensin-converting enzyme in regulating blood pressure. Chapter nine briefly summarizes the beneficial
303
effects of phospholipid supplementation on health. Altogether, this book is very informative and an excellent addition to the literature pertaining to functional foods and nutraceuticals. What is missing? Potentially, the inclusion of a chapter on flavonoids, terpenes and lycopene would have been ideal, since this is an important area and its absence really stands out. Even then, I am sure that this book will be very useful to the public, academia and industry professionals alike. G. Paliyath Department of Food Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada N1G 2W1 e-mail: [email protected]
Any Suggestions? Articles published in TIFS are usually specially invited by the Editors, with assistance from our International Advisory Editorial Board. However, we welcome ideas from readers for articles on exciting new and developing areas of food research. A brief synopsis of the proposal should first be sent to the Editors, who can provide detailed guidelines on manuscript preparation. Mini-reviews focus on promising areas of food research that are advancing rapidly, or are in need of re-review in the light of recent advances or changing priorities within the food industry. Thus they are shorter than conventional reviews, focusing on the latest developments and discussing likely future applications and research needs. Features are similar in style to mini-reviews, highlighting specific topics of broad appeal to the food science community. The Viewpoint section provides a forum to express personal options, observations or hypotheses, to present new perspectives, and to help advance understanding of controversial issues by provoking debate and comment. Conference Reports highlight and assess important developments presented at relevent conferences worldwide. TIFS also welcomes Letters to the Editor concerned with issues raised by published articles or by recent developments in the food sciences. All Review-style articles are subject to editorial and independent peer review by international experts in the appropriate field.
Trends in Food Science & Technology 12 (2001) 302–303
Guide to Functional Food Ingredients Edited by John Young, Leatherhead Food Research Association, Randalls Road, Leatherhead, Surrey KT22 7RY, UK, published by Leatherhead Publishing, Surrey, UK, First edition 2001. £85 ISBN 0 905748 28 X The Guide to Functional Food Ingredients is a new addition to the growing family of books pertaining to the functional foods/nutraceutical area. The very appearance of the book is misleading with regard to its contents. My first impression was that this is just another glossary edition, but I was totally surprised when I started to read through the book. Whatever has been presented, is presented extremely well. This is by no means an exhaustive survey of the functional food ingredients; it is rather, an authoritative presentation of certain selected areas. Functional foods and nutraceuticals are the newest additions to the food-health twilight zone. In many ancient civilizations, food is regarded as medicine and the healing properties of food have widely been recognized. The reincarnation of these concepts in the Western world in the form of functional foods and nutraceuticals has undoubtedly necessitated the requirement of instructional materials. The University education has started giving attention to the functional foods and nutraceutical area, developing course materials and awarding specialized degrees. However, most of us in the present system grew up with the idea of Food Science being the Science of Food and Medicine as the Science of Healing. We could not have imagined the development of a transition area into a full-fledged discipline. In my opinion, this book will be most beneficial to those of us who are specialists in one area of the functional foods and are nearly ignorant about other sectors. Even though the treatment of the subject is by no means exhaustive, it provides a clear, up to date presentation of facts. Needless to say, this book will also be extremely useful for instruction at Undergraduate and Graduate level courses. The first two chapters deal with the areas of Prebiotics and Probiotics, which have tremendous implications to the food industry in terms of consumer preference and acceptance, economy, and the volume of production worldwide. The importance of prebiotics and probiotics in the diet and the strategy for enhancing health through the introduction of either of these independently, or in combination have been clearly explained. The characteristics, uses and health benefits of several Prebiotics, that currently include several non-digestible oligosaccharides such as inulin, fructooligosaccharides, galacto-oligo-
sacharides, lactulose and soya bean oligosaccharides, have been presented in an interesting manner. Especially noteworthy is the introductory part wherein the authors clearly depict the importance and distinctions of prebiotics and probiotics, which I believe is extremely useful to those unfamiliar with the area. The second chapter is a logical continuation of the first and deals with the beneficial microorganisms such as lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus sp) and bifidobacteria (Bifidobacterium sp). The beneficial effects of ingestion of these microorganisms on lactose digestion, intestinal microbial balance, cure of diarrhoeal diseases caused by rotavirus infection, modulation of immune system and function without causing inflammatory systemic effects, prevention of hypersensitivity and allergy in children, anticarcinogenic and hypocholesterolaemic effects, have been systematically presented. The information presented in this chapter is a clear example of how functional foods, consumed on a daily basis by the population, can have such a positive impact on health. The authors also discuss the potential safety issues involved in the introduction of microorganisms as human probiotics through food. The discussions and concerns raised by industry foundations such as the California Dairy Research Foundation and the Lactic Acid Bacteria Industrial Platform (LABIP, a European Organization) have been addressed. The final part of this chapter includes a detailed discussion of the industrial applications of probiotic bacteria, including technical issues and processing aspects. I found the first two chapters that cover nearly twenty percent of the book especially stimulating and informative. The third chapter is a compilation of relevant data on vitamins. The essential role of vitamins has been discussed in relation to the benefits it offers to various risk groups that include the elderly, pregnant and lactating women, athletes, vegetarians, smokers, etc. The beneficial effects of vitamin/mineral-/ functional food ingredient-supplementation on cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, cataract, xerophthalmia, neural tube defects, etc., and the various commercially available forms of these compounds have been presented. Even though the functional food ingredients (nutraceuticals) are gen-
0924-2244/00/$ - see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 92 4 - 2 24 4 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 09 2 - 9
erally treated as a separate class than the vitamins, combining and discussing the effects of these components together, brings out the potential interactive roles of the traditional vitamins and the functional food ingredients in a new light. The fourth chapter deals with phytoestrogens and phytochemicals. This is only a tip of the iceberg, as the literature on these classes of compounds is voluminous. The discussion has been limited to isoflavones and lignans, which have been shown to reduce the risk of development of breast and prostate cancer, coronary heart disease, menopause and osteoporosis. The information provided is very practical, listing human clinical trials using various soy products, various types of food ingredients including proteins currently available, and the commercial products currently in the market. This part is followed by, a brief section on lignans and glucosinolates, their availability and health-beneficial action. Dietary fibres that comprise various cell wall-localized carbohydrate polymers are very important ingredients of human diet. Based on their solubility properties in water, these are categorized into insoluble, (cellulose), and soluble (pectin) fibres. Chapter five deals with various aspects of soluble fibres such as pectin, gums, inulin, oligofructose, etc. Various commercially available forms of fibres and their food applications have been listed. The health-beneficial aspects of fibreintake have been briefly discussed. Chapter six is a comprehensive but informative section on the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), their health-regulatory roles, food-fortification methods using polyunsaturated fatty acids, and the isolation and processing of fish oils for food uses. After a section dealing with the classification and structure of common PUFAs, which is quite useful considering all the terminologies involved, the biological effects of PUFAs in terms of structural roles, membrane metabolism and gene expression have been discussed. The protective effects of PUFAs from cardiovascular diseases that include coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, thrombosis, blood pressure and blood rheology, cardiac function, etc., are highly relevant to the literature requirement of today. This chapter also cites beneficial examples of PUFAs on inflammatory and immune system disorders and early childhood development. The chapter concludes with a concise section on processing fish oils, production of microbial oils and several methods of stabilizing and fortifying food preparations. Chapter seven is a well-balanced presentation of mineral requirements and their
Book Review / Trends in Food Science & Technology 12 (2001) 302–303 health implications. The availability from food, daily requirements, fortification of food, health-regulatory roles, etc., of calcium, iron, magnesium and zinc have been discussed. Chapters eight and nine are devoted to structural components, proteins, peptides, amino acids, as well as phospholipids. The stress is on food fortification with these components, specifically to enhance the health value. Several proteins such as whey proteins, immunoglobulins in milk, lactoferrin, soya proteins and egg proteins have been described. A highly interesting aspect of this chapter is the description of bioactive peptides, which are specific sequences within a protein and exhibit biological activity after digestion. These include casein phosphopeptides (CPP), the phos-
phoserine- rich amino acid sequences in alpha- and beta- casein, which are believed to play a crucial role in the protection of milk gland against calcification. CPPs are resistant to digestion and may serve as a tool for mineral absorption. The other interesting group is the glycomacropeptide (GMP), a 64 amino acid long C-terminal residue of kappa-casein. GMP may have a regulatory role in eating behavior through the release of cholecystokinin. Other potential peptides released from casein, those generated by microbial fermentation from milk, and other sources including fish and plant proteins, may have regulatory roles at the level of angiotensin-converting enzyme in regulating blood pressure. Chapter nine briefly summarizes the beneficial
303
effects of phospholipid supplementation on health. Altogether, this book is very informative and an excellent addition to the literature pertaining to functional foods and nutraceuticals. What is missing? Potentially, the inclusion of a chapter on flavonoids, terpenes and lycopene would have been ideal, since this is an important area and its absence really stands out. Even then, I am sure that this book will be very useful to the public, academia and industry professionals alike. G. Paliyath Department of Food Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada N1G 2W1 e-mail: [email protected]
Any Suggestions? Articles published in TIFS are usually specially invited by the Editors, with assistance from our International Advisory Editorial Board. However, we welcome ideas from readers for articles on exciting new and developing areas of food research. A brief synopsis of the proposal should first be sent to the Editors, who can provide detailed guidelines on manuscript preparation. Mini-reviews focus on promising areas of food research that are advancing rapidly, or are in need of re-review in the light of recent advances or changing priorities within the food industry. Thus they are shorter than conventional reviews, focusing on the latest developments and discussing likely future applications and research needs. Features are similar in style to mini-reviews, highlighting specific topics of broad appeal to the food science community. The Viewpoint section provides a forum to express personal options, observations or hypotheses, to present new perspectives, and to help advance understanding of controversial issues by provoking debate and comment. Conference Reports highlight and assess important developments presented at relevent conferences worldwide. TIFS also welcomes Letters to the Editor concerned with issues raised by published articles or by recent developments in the food sciences. All Review-style articles are subject to editorial and independent peer review by international experts in the appropriate field.