Yakult Australia

According to the definition given by the National Centre for Excellence in Functional Foods (NCEFF), "Functional Foods are foods that support human health and wellbeing, providing health benefits beyond basic nutrition". In other words, functional foods look like their conventional counterparts and are intended to be consumed as part of a normal diet, but have been modified during processing to contain additional nutrients and ingredients in an attempt to provide a particular benefit.

Food manufacturers have been adding nutrients to processed foods for years. Usually this has been to restore nutrient content to the level that existed in the raw food before processing. In this case the food is not considered functional.

There are a wide variety of functional foods available throughout Australia and there doesn't seem to be any slowing down in the rate of development of new functional foods. The majority of those available are dairy products (milk and yoghurts), however they can also be breads, cereals, fruit juices, non-alcoholic beverages and ‘fast foods’.

Examples of functional foods currently on the market include:

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Milks enriched with calcium and iron

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Cereals containing additional folate

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Eggs containing omega-3 fatty acids/oils

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Fermented milk drinks eg: Yakult

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Yoghurts containing bacterial cultures

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Breads containing extra fibre, DHA, phytoestrogens or Hi-Maize ®

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Margarines containing plant sterols

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Fruit juices containing calcium and iron