A Mainstay of Functional Food Science in Japan—History, Present Status, and Future Outlook
Open Access
- 1 January 2001
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry
- Vol. 65 (1), 1-13
- https://doi.org/10.1271/bbb.65.1
Abstract
The development of food science in the near future probably depends on the advance in functional food science, the concept of which was proposed first in Japan nearly 15 years ago. The new science has been internationally distributed and accepted as conceptually being beyond nutrition. In Japan, however, it traced a unique path of progress in the form of a product-driven rather than concept-driven science. Actually, a number of substances and products with potential for disease risk reduction rather than simply for health maintenance have been investigated for their body-modulating functions. Some of them have been applied in practice to the industrialization of functional foods in terms of "foods for specified health uses" legally defined by new legislation. A variety of sophisticated methods have been introduced as well, including the so-called "XYZ" evaluation system, database construction for assessment of the function, and even the DNA microarray technique. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) and the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MHW) also commenced their scientific as well as political activity, with its spread to industries which almost simultaneously began to vigorously investigate functional food products for enlargement of the food market. With all of this as a background, the Japan Liaison of the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) hold a function food science symposium on behalf of related scientific bodies including the Japan Section of the International Life Science Institute (ILSI). This paper is an overview compiled from 12 presentations made in the symposium, with the aim of internationally publicizing the activity of functional food science in Japan.Keywords
This publication has 51 references indexed in Scilit:
- Inhibitory Effects of 1′-Acetoxychavicol Acetate onN-Nitrosobis(2-oxopropyl)-amine-induced Initiation of Cholangiocarcinogenesis in Syrian HamstersJapanese Journal of Cancer Research, 2000
- Chemiluminescence of adzuki bean and soybean seedlingsLuminescence, 2000
- Chemoprevention by the Oxygenated Carotenoid β-Cryptoxanthin of N-Methylnitrosourea-induced Colon Carcinogenesis in F344 RatsJapanese Journal of Cancer Research, 1999
- Immunity and probioticsImmunology Today, 1999
- An international vision of nutritional scienceBritish Journal of Nutrition, 1998
- A Major Wheat Allergen Has a Gln-Gln-Gln-Pro-Pro Motif Identified as an IgE-Binding EpitopeBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 1996
- Cereal Allergy and Countermeasures: an Overview from the Standpoint of Food Science and Technology.Food Science and Technology International, Tokyo, 1996
- Reduction of the Soybean Allergenicity by the Fermentation with Bacillus natto.Food Science and Technology International, Tokyo, 1995
- Opioid peptides derived from wheat gluten: Their isolation and characterizationFEBS Letters, 1992
- Novel Opioid Peptides Derived from Casein (β-Casomorphins). I. Isolation from Bovine Casein PeptoneMaterials, 1979