Functional Foods: Concept, Technology and Health Benefits

Due to increased cost of health-care and lifestyle related diseases, the consumers are shifting towards the functional foods for health promotion and disease prevention. Functional foods are prepared to promote health by targeting a physiological process that may help in disease prevention. With the expansion of food industry, the use of functional foods in healthcare is increasing day by day and consumers are now health-conscious & preferring functional foods as a first line of defense against diseases rather than the pharmaceuticals. So the consumers are changing their mindset towards “Prevention is better than cure”. Many functional compounds have been reported for prevention and curing of these diseases. Carotenoids, lutein, lycopene, soluble and insoluble dietary fibers, plant sterols, conjugated lenoleic acid (CLA), β-lactoglobulin, lactoferrin are few of the examples of functional food ingredients. Other functional food components like probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics are also important.  Various probiotics appear to induce anti-inflammatory responses which inhibit carcinogenesis and also improve the biological defense mechanisms.

• Basic Concepts of Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals

• Functional Foods: Categorization and  Sources

• Probiotics: As Functional Foods

• Role of Functional Foods in Health and Disease

• Students enrolled in UG and PG in Food Science/Food Science and Nutrition Food Technology / Food Engineering, Biotechnology,  Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, Applied Nutrition, Post Harvest Technology, Biochemical Engineering, Livestock Products Technology and Life Sciences

• Faculty of SAUs

• Food Scientists

• Nutritionist and Entrepreneurs

• Health Professionals

• Consumers/ General Public

• Regulatory Systems for Functional Foods

• Functional Food Market in India & Global Market

• Prebiotics, Synbiotics, Types of Prebiotics and Their Mechanism of Action

• Role of Functional Foods in Management of Diabetes, Parkinson Disease (PD), Cancer & CVDs

Qualifying students will be given certificates based on their involvement and performance. Participation certificate and Competency certificate will be issued by Center for Development of Technical Education, IIT Kanpur and Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Canada.