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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BHNRC) » Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center » Diet, Genomics and Immunology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #332462
Title: Establishing health benefits of bioactive food components: a basic research scientist's perspective

Author
item Yasmeen, Rumana
item Fukagawa, Naomi
item Wang, Thomas - Tom

Submitted to: Current Opinion in Biotechnology
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/17/2016
Publication Date: 1/2/2017
Citation: Yasmeen, R., Fukagawa, N.K., Wang, T.T. 2017. Establishing health benefits of bioactive food components: a basic research scientist's perspective. Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 44:109-114. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2016.11.016.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Bioactive food components or functional foods have recently received significant attention because of their widely touted positive effects beyond basic nutrition. However, a question continues to lurk: are these 'super foods' backed by sound science or simply an exaggerated portrayal of very small 'benefits' ? Efforts to establish health benefits by scientific means pose a real challenge in regards to defining what those benefits are, as well as how effective the foods are in justifying any health claim. This review discusses the pitfalls associated with the execution, interpretation and extrapolation of the results to humans and the challenges encountered in the dietary research arena from a basic scientist's perspective.