Nutraceuticals: Food Follows Function

Now that scientists are figuring out which foods can stave off or even treat diseases, dietary-supplement makers are creating a whole new industry, developing foods that are much more about health than about dining pleasure. Sadly, these foods are called nutraceuticals, or functional foods (little better), and they include everything that’s good for you, for whatever reason. Orange juice, for example, with calcium added, or milk with no calcium added, are old school funtional foods. But just wait, as Science News reports, the food techie dam is about to break, and when it does it will release a flood of new technologically-improved nutraceuticals. The magazine describes the findings of a new report by the Institute of Food Technologists that has much to say about the labeling, development, and the general promise of functional foods. Tasty.