Probiotic products have been marketed for a number of years, primarily in the yogurt category or as live microbial dietary supplements whose biological activity needed to be preserved. This tends to limit their consumption to supplements taken after meals or in fresh dairy foods. One technology now makes it possible to "have your probiotic and eat it, too!"
The interest in foods with healthful properties has increased the need for food formulators to offer additional benefits in the foods and beverages they manufacture.
Health-conscious consumers—and manufacturers and marketers of nutritional products—are becoming more familiar with the health benefits of "good fat." A primer on nutritional fats and oils—from omega-3 fatty acids to chia seed oil—is provided.
Ribose is a simple, five-carbon monosaccharide, or pentose sugar, found in body cells. It is the backbone of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a key molecule in the metabolic cycle that provides energy to cells.
Elderberries grow beyond the folklore into mainstream functional foods.
An old Austrian saying, "Tip your hat to the elder," expresses the respect with which Europeans have long regarded the elder tree (Sambucus nigra L. Caprifoliaceae) and its dark purple berries.
Ingredients pitch in for performance-enhancing products.
From Gatorade to creatine, a dietary supplement used by baseball sluggers Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire, ingredients and formulated products targeting weekend warriors, as well as professional athletes, have grown in popularity.
Research increasingly supports the medicinal benefits of food ingredients.
Even "empty calorie" food and beverages provide needed calories, if little else, to the human body. And, at the other extreme, more than a few plants have historical use not only as a food but for their medicinal benefits as well.
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