StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

An Enforced Need in Functional Foods - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The paper "An Enforced Need in Functional Foods" states that the United States Pharmacopeial Convention is a nonprofit organization responsible for setting standards for the quality and purity of medicines and dietary supplements; these standards are implemented by FDA…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER93.7% of users find it useful
An Enforced Need in Functional Foods
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "An Enforced Need in Functional Foods"

Functional foods are prepared by manipulating the dietary composition of ordinary foods to make them extra nutritious in terms of vitamins and minerals. This type of food material is readily available in the market in the form of several food products i.e. juices, breakfasts, energy drinks, cereals, and bread; nutrient addition is also being carried out in eggs.

            Because of the increasing use of functional foods, various food manufacturing and packaging companies have replaced their ordinary food products with functional foods leaving customers with no choice but to buy these functional foods. These extra nutritious foods which come in beautiful new packing with large labeling are also expensive as compared to ordinary foods. In this way customers are made to pay for the extra nutrition which they did not demand and the customers are not even sure about the benefits they will get from the added minerals and vitamins. Thus there is a lack of knowledge and awareness among consumers about these food products and the government has not done anything about it. Food and Drug Administration is responsible for checking the health value and quality of food products and drugs, however, currently, food supplements and similar products are out of FDA’s check and balance domain (Thompson and Manore 186).

            The most important issue about functional foods is the disturbance they cause in the natural mineral balance of the food products. Nature has created consumable food products in a balanced form and no single mineral or vitamin exists in the excessive form in ordinary food materials. However, when certain vitamins and minerals are added to these food products, the natural balance is disturbed which consequently changes the nutritional value of the food. As the nutritional value of the food product is changed the intake of such foods must also be varied accordingly. Unfortunately, FDA does not put any restrictions regarding the addition of nutrients to food materials. Functional foods are not treated as drugs and they can be marketed as foods without any prior permission from FDA. There are no proper guidelines regarding the purity, safety, and quality of these food supplements and the FDA solely relies on manufacturers’ assurance. The only restriction that the FDA puts on the manufacturers of these functional foods is regarding their advertisement and labeling; the manufacturers are required to provide all the nutrients labeled on the packing in the correct proportions.

            Since consumers are not aware of the use of multivitamins and additional minerals in their diet, the increasing trend of using functional foods can be harmful to the health of consumers. Some of the physicians, trainers, and physiotherapists are also unaware of the use of dietary supplements and they recommend these products to athletes and other consumers for enhancing body performance and energy levels; no such effect of these products has been observed in healthy adults. Each supplementary mineral and vitamin has a specific application in the human body and additional amounts of these products are required in specific scenarios. Therefore the unchecked and random use of functional foods can deteriorate human health and greater amounts of these minerals could result in toxic depositions in the human body. Unfortunately, mineral supplements and multivitamins are added to ordinary and everyday use foods, and consumers are forced to buy and use them, thus a check and regulatory mechanism is required to ensure the safe use of functional foods and dietary supplements (Thompson and Manore 187).

The USP was established in 1820 and it is the first organization that brought uniformity and consistency in the identity, manufacturing procedures, and quality assurance of drugs. Because of the increasing use of dietary supplements, USP has extended its research work to this field as well and several scientific works like Dietary Supplements Compendium have been published for standardizing the manufacturing procedures and proportions of minerals in dietary supplements. USP has established resource centers that provide information related to dietary supplements, moreover, USP also issues certification regarding the quality and safety of various dietary supplements and food ingredients. The certified products bear USP Verified Dietary Supplements and USP Verified Dietary Ingredients marks. USP also arranges online training programs for manufacturing procedures and quality assurance of dietary supplements (US Pharmacopeial Convention). The only improvement required now is that following the guidelines provided by USP, FDA should act as a regulatory body in the case of dietary supplements and functional foods as well to ensure the safe use of these products. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Functional Foods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words”, n.d.)
Functional Foods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/biology/1452285-functional-foods
(Functional Foods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words)
Functional Foods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words. https://studentshare.org/biology/1452285-functional-foods.
“Functional Foods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/biology/1452285-functional-foods.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF An Enforced Need in Functional Foods

Virtual Organizations and Simulation Exercises Needs Document

Professor … 26 November 2011 Virtual Organizations and Simulation Exercises Needs Document The Kudler Fine foods is a gourmet stores firm, with three shop locations that sell various all day food and drinks, such as bakery, pastry, dairy products, Condiments, meat and seafood and packaged food.... Requirements overview In this paragraph the functional requirements that need to be supported by the system are presented.... Use Cases The Use cases of the above functional requirements are presented below....
4 Pages (1000 words) Assignment

Pepsi and Kraft Foods Inventory Management

The paper "Pepsi and Kraft foods Inventory Management" focuses on the types of inventories and operational issuers in two companies.... Kraft foods Company maintains two kinds of inventory: raw materials and finished products.... Kraft foods Company owns the product until it crosses the checkout counter.... By keeping inventory at the lowest, Kraft foods Company operates efficiently as a low level of inventory helps in freeing up the cash....
6 Pages (1500 words) Case Study

Malinowskis Legacy and His Views on Theory

The theory that Malinowski believed in and wrote about is functionalism.... His legacy was the field of social anthropology which is also known as anthropological functionalism.... His writings have been extremely influential in this field. ... ... ronislaw Malinowski was born on April 7, 1884 in Krakow Poland....
17 Pages (4250 words) Essay

The Propaganda Model of Globalization and Food Industry

The review "The Propaganda Model of Globalization and Food Industry" highlights that corporations are taking over the food industry with unhealthy foods.... At the same time, farmers and those producing richer foods don't have the ability to compete.... Corporations that are a part of the food industry are using chemical induced foods as well as false types of mixtures to produce a similar taste to foods.... While the process is known to offer something similar to the wine or other foods, the food is often induced with chemicals and doesn't have the correct taste to it....
8 Pages (2000 words) Movie Review

Natural Food Product Private Ltd

To penetrate the market, NFP will aim to provide low-cost organic foods but at a cost lower than that of its key competitors.... ifferent management teams are employed in managing operational and functional activities.... This case study "Natural Food Product Private Ltd" presents the entire planning for Natural Food Product Pvt....
8 Pages (2000 words) Case Study

New Restaurant in Summerlin Area, Las Vegas

This need not be considered as a drawback, because he is backed up by his family which has rich experience in the business for more than a decade.... The various communities in the area need changes and varieties in restaurants in tune with the changing lifestyles....
10 Pages (2500 words) Term Paper

Legislation: Healing Properties of Fermented Foods

"Legislation: Healing Properties of Fermented foods" paper evaluates the role played by the commission in the formulation of legal frameworks that govern fermented foods.... Legal frameworks by the Codex commission must apply to fermented foods just as they apply to other attributes of foods.... Codex Alimentarius Commission is a UN body that is responsible for ensuring that safety standards for foods are maintained across the globe (Suppan, 2006)....
26 Pages (6500 words) Essay

What Are Functional Foods

This paper "What Are functional foods?... tells that functional foods can simply be said to be food or food products that may provide demonstrated physiological benefits and/or decrease the risk of chronic disease beyond normal nutritional functions.... functional foods are foods that contain nutritional additives which are claimed to be beneficial to health and are able to prevent and reduce diseases such as hypertension and cancer.... This shows how vibrant the industry is with almost every country of the world boasting multiple varieties of functional foods....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us