Question

7. The food we eat provides nutrition. However, some foods provide more than just essential nutrition. They have something that could provide additional health benefits and prevent certain chronic diseases. We call these food functional foods. a. Composition-wise, what makes food functional food? Give an example. (2 points) b. Both probiotic yogurt and regular yogurt have beneficial bacteria, but probiotic yogurt is believed to be healthier. Please explain why, with appropriate reasons. (3 points) c. Considering functional food, what is meant by bioavailability? Why is it important? (2 points) d. Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, which is one of the most potent antioxidants and have many health benefits. However, the bioavailability of lycopene is significantly higher from tomato paste compared to whole tomatoes. Explain why. (3 points)

Answer 1

a. Composition-wise, what makes food functional food? Give an example.

A food having a component with health benefits will make that food a functional food. For example, oatmeal with high fiber content will assist in lowering cholesterol levels and is a great companion for blood glucose management for diabetics. Another example is anthocyanin content in berries, which are flavonoid compounds having antioxidant potential. Anthocyanin will help neutralize reactive oxygen species in the body.

b. Both probiotic yogurt and regular yogurt have beneficial bacteria, but probiotic yogurt is believed to be healthier. Please explain why, with appropriate reasons.

Regular yogurt will contain only the natural basic bacterial strains which ferment the milk. On the other hand, probiotic yogurt is artificially added with additional beneficial bacterial strains that should meet a specific concentration of bacteria in the given volume of yogurt to be called probiotic. Ideally, probiotic yogurt is rich in beneficial bacteria as compared to regular yogurt.

c. Considering functional food, what is meant by bioavailability? Why is it important?

Bioavailability is defined as the amount of the nutritional component in the food entering the body into the circulation from the intestine. Although food is rich in a particular functional component, if it is not absorbed into the body, there is no use in consuming that particular food. A familiar example is a bioavailability of iron in heme form and non-heme form. The heme-iron present in meat or seafood is better absorbed in the intestine than the nonheme iron present in nuts and vegetables. So, it is important that the bioavailability of a component is high in functional food.

d. Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, which is one of the most potent antioxidants and have many health benefits. However, the bioavailability of lycopene is significantly higher from tomato paste compared to whole tomatoes. Explain why.

Bioavailability of lycopene in processed tomato is higher than raw tomato because mechanical processing breaks the cell wall releasing the lycopene content. Once the processed tomato paste is ingested, the free lycopene is easily absorbed. While in whole tomatoes, the lycopene is inside the cells which have hard to break the cell walls. In addition, processing tomato paste with the addition of oil will enhance bioavailability due to the easy absorption of lycopene in the lipophilic matrix.