Marine Functional Food (Hb 2009) Paperback

Eating seafood regularly is linked to positive health outcomes. This book examines the scientific research on seafood and its impact on health, the use and quality of fats and proteins from marine sources as ingredients in health-boosting foods, and how consumers feel about these (marine) functional foods. The first chapter highlights emerging areas where seafood might help prevent illnesses and improve health, such as in brain development, mental well-being, cancer, allergies, and the body's response to damage. It also discusses how specific nutrients found in seafood, like proteins, peptides, amino acids, selenium, chitosan, glucosamine, and chondroitin sulfate, may offer protective health benefits. The following chapters focus on the quality of marine fats and proteins when used as ingredients in functional foods. These fats and proteins need to be of high quality and maintain that quality to ensure the final product tastes good, works effectively, and lasts a reasonable amount of time on the shelf. The book discusses the methods used to process marine fats and proteins, as well as various factors that can affect their quality in functional foods. The book then shifts its attention to what consumers think, know, and understand about functional foods. It explores how different types of products carrying these ingredients and various demographic and cultural factors can influence whether people accept functional foods. Finally, the book discusses the difficulties that small and medium-sized businesses face when trying to sell healthy nutritional products. Using a study from Nordic countries as an example, it presents the different characteristics, abilities, challenges, and opportunities these businesses encounter in the marketplace in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India, and globally.