Functional foods

Functional foods are foods that provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition because they contain components that have the potential to improve physical or mental health or to reduce our risk of certain diseases of health conditions. Many traditional food products including fruits, vegetables, soya, whole grains and milk have been found to contain components with potential health benefits, for example specific vitamins or minerals, dietary fibre, fatty acids or probiotics. New foods incorporating components that are beneficial for health are also developed.