Bmj Usa: Editor's Choice
Food, functional food
BMJ 2004; 328 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.328.7440.E277 (Published 11 March 2004) Cite this as: BMJ 2004;328:E277
- Douglas Kamerow, editor
Where do foods leave off and medicines begin?
As functional foods become more popular, it's hard to know. The Japanese coined the term functional foods almost 20 years ago to define foods having ingredients (in addition to their basic nutritional content) that prevent or treat disease. They can be plant-based foods (think of oats and cholesterol or cranberry juice and urinary tract infections) or products from animals (oily fish and heart disease).
Two clinical reviews in this issue address functional foods. Jehangir Din …