A health ingredient is a component that improves the health benefits and nutrition in an item of food or drink.
Health ingredients, which are often bound by European Union (EU) legislation regarding claims made about them, can be classified as either passive or active.
Passive health involves removing certain parts of a food or beverage product. For example, this may mean acting as a replacement in order to bring down the level of fat, sugar or salt in the goods.
Active health is the term given to ingredients that are put into products in order to make them more nutritious.
Vitamin supplements, omega-3 fatty acids and probiotics are among the sorts of components that may be included as active health ingredients.
Health ingredients may include nutraceuticals as well as functional food components.
In order to make claims about health ingredients, manufacturers often have to abide by EU rules that require evidence and substantiation.
This covers claims made in adverts and as part of packaging.
According to research by Frost and Sullivan, digestive health ingredients are the most popular within the functional foods market.
They comprised 68 per cent of all EU-approved functional food sales in 2008.
Frost and Sullivan gave several reasons for the dominance of digestive health ingredients within the market, citing consumer demand and awareness as well as the availability of these goods.
There is a high number of new products for digestive health, thanks to the growth being experienced within the sector.
