The Potential Role of Functional Foods in Medicine and Public Health

Abstract

The metabolic role that some nutrients and other nonnutrient constituents of foods may have in potentially preventing the premature onset of chronic diseases, or in preventing a disease or disorder from ever occurring at all, has captured the attention and imaginations of nutrition scientists, medical practitioners, the food and pharmaceutical industries, and the general public. The linkage of diet to many of the leading causes of death in the United States, including heart disease, cancers, stroke, and diabetes has received national attention at the highest levels of government and in prestigious scientific societies (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 1988; National Research Council 1989). The definition of functional foods has evolved into one of foods for disease prevention. Food may be more important in medicine and public health than has pre-viously been believed because of its chemical constituents that play a role in disease prevention or treatment.