Original scientific paper

ANIMAL PRODUCTS AS FUNCTIONAL FOOD

Gordana Kralik
Manuela Grčević
Zlata Gajčević-Kralik

Abstract

Functional food is food which, in addition to the basic nutrients needed for growth and development of the organism, contains ingredients that improve health or reduce the risk of disease, and is consumed as an integral part of daily diet. The term "functional food" was first reported in Japan during the 1980s and it was developed as an attempt to prevent the growth of health care costs required for the treatment of diseases caused by aging of the population. Various scientific studies have shown that consuming foods containing functional ingredients (either naturally found in foods or added to foods by means of some technological process) has a positive impact on health and reducing the risk of various diseases. Over the years, scientists are investing more and more efforts to enrich food with
functional ingredients in order to prevent diseases and improve health and consequently reduce health costs. In this paper, emphasis is placed on foods of animal origin - meat, eggs, dairy products - and their ingredients and properties that make them functional food. Legal provisions and the way of labelling food with an emphasis on European regulations are also mentioned.

Keywords

functional foods; meat; eggs; dairy products; health

Hrčak ID:

56763

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/56763

Publication date:

15.6.2010.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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