Foods with enhanced nutrition growing in popularity

For the majority of consumers, price and taste have always been the most important deciding factors when choosing a food. In recent years, additional factors have begun to drive consumer preferences. This change has likely been triggered by shifting demographics, a desire for convenience, growing environmental concern and the motivation of the average consumer to know more about the food they’re eating.

In 2015, the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada summarized trends and opportunities in the food industry and found that foods with innovative ingredients were growing in popularity.

An increasingly health-centric population has likely fueled the drive to develop foods with enhanced nutrition. The food industry is now attempting to attract certain segments of the population with three approaches: biofortification, fortification and supplemented foods.

Biofortification refers to the process of increasing the nutritional value of plants or animals through conventional selective breeding, genetic engineering, or by adjusting animal feed. For example, mushrooms are now being grown using pulsed UV light to boost the vitamin D content.

Fortification is the mandatory addition of vitamins and minerals to select staple foods. Health Canada requires that certain foods be fortified or enriched with nutrients to replace those lost in processing, or to address a public health requirement. For example, vitamin D is added to milk to prevent childhood rickets and folic acid is added to white flour to promote proper fetal development of the brain and spinal cord.

There’s some controversy surrounding mandatory fortification, since some people believe the consumer should be given the choice whether or not to take in the nutrients added to commonly eaten foods.

Supplemented foods are marketed as having added substances, such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbals and bioactive ingredients, with the intent of providing a health benefit beyond the general public health requirements addressed through fortification.

This type of nutritional enhancement is meant to appeal to certain segments of the population.

Water with added vitamins would be an example of a supplemented food. Health Canada does not require that bottled water manufacturers add vitamins to their water, but some companies do so in an attempt to appeal to a certain demographic and tout the additional, potential health benefits associated with their product.

The demand for functional foods, a type of supplemented food, has grown at an increasing rate, and is outpacing that of the traditional processed food market.

All foods are functional to a certain extent, whether providing energy or other nutrients essential for life, but a functional food has other components, not considered to be nutrients that can provide positive health benefits.

Health Canada defines functional foods as foods that are enhanced with bioactive (biologically active) ingredients and which have demonstrated health benefits, such as yogurt with probiotics or pasta with added pea fibre.

Canada produces a number of bioactive ingredients used in functional foods including omega-3 and other essential fatty acids from marine and plant sources, fibre from soy and oats, and antioxidants from blueberries, cranberries and Saskatoon berries.

In Canada, more than 750 companies specialize in functional foods and natural health products, accounting for more than $11 billion in revenues in 2011, with current profits likely to be much higher.

Functional food research is an exciting area of food development, with functional foods having the potential to improve the nutritional intake and quality of life for consumers.

Although, at this point, any related research must still successfully establish the bioavailability (the proportion of a substance that is able to have an active effect) of the bioactive ingredients in these enhanced foods.

The addition of these functional ingredients allows food manufacturers to make health benefit claims.

The consumer can be led to believe that by eating more of that margarine with plant sterols, they’ll lower their cholesterol, or by eating a sugar-laden probiotic yogurt they will drastically improve their digestion, which is not the case.

Bottom line, no single food, no matter how “super,” can take the place of the important combination of nutrients from all major food groups. Functional foods can contribute to a healthy, balanced diet but are often not required. Eggs fortified with omega-3s and margarine with phytosterols can be a part of a healthy diet for most, but the additional cost of these niche-market items may not be worth the potential health benefits, especially when these ingredients can be eaten as part of a balanced diet.

— Kelsey Leckovic is a registered dietitian with Northern Health working in chronic disease management.

CITIZEN NEWS SERVICE PHOTO Eggs are often fortified with omega3s, which could improve some people’s health but might not be worth the cost, especially when omega-3s can be found elsewhere in a balanced diet.