The IFT Expert Report, Functional Foods: Opportunities and Challenges, released on March 24th, advises that functional foods be brought to market in a new, seven-step, scientific process. Fergus Clydesdale, Ph.D., department head of food science at University of Massachusetts at Amherst, chair of the IFT Expert Panel, and co-author of the report, said, “Functional foods should be integral components of public health programs to help reduce the risk of specific diseases.” Functional foods are foods and food components that provide a health benefit beyond basic nutrition; this includes conventional foods, fortified, enriched, or enhanced foods, and dietary supplements. The seven-step process listed below outlines critical aspects of the design, development, and marketing of functional foods:

Step 1: Identify relationship between food component and health benefit

Step 2: Demonstrate efficacy and determine intake level necessary to achieve desired effect

Step 3: Demonstrate safety at efficacious levels

Step 4: Develop suitable food vehicle for bioactive component

Step 5: Demonstrate sufficiency of evidence for efficacy

Step 6: Communicate benefit to consumers

Step 7: Conduct in-market confirmation of efficacy and safety

Recognizing the role nutrition communicators play in translating scientific information and fostering consumer awareness of new food components, Step 6 highlights the IFIC Foundation and IFT Guidelines for Communicating the Emerging Science of Dietary Components for Health. An integral part of the IFT Expert Report (published on the IFT Web site: http://www.ift.org/cms/?pid=1001247), the Guidelines, which include seven “guiding principles” for improved communication of emerging science related to functional foods, are published on the IFIC Foundation Web site (http://www.ific.org/nutrition/functional/guidelines/index.cfm).