Functional Beverage

A functional beverage can be defined as “any non-alcoholic drink that provides additional health benefits due to the inclusion of any bioactive component from a plant, animal, marine or microorganism source” (Gayathry & John, 2021).

From: Food Research International, 2023

Medicinal Properties and Functional Components of Beverages

Aysu Tolun, Zeynep Altintas, in Functional and Medicinal Beverages, 2019

Abstract

Functional beverage industry is the largest functional food sector, including food, beverages, and supplement sectors. It is also the fastest growing market in the food sector. The global functional drinks market grew by 3% in 2010, and a substantial increase was observed in 2014 with a 7.8% growth. This high demand toward functional beverages is the results of convenient content, size, shape, and appearance of the containers, as well as ease of distribution and storage conditions for the refrigerated and shelf-stable products. Moreover, it is possible to incorporate desirable nutrients and bioactive compounds into functional beverages, such as antioxidants, dietary fibers, prebiotics, proteins, peptides, unsaturated fatty acids, minerals, and vitamins. This has resulted in a number of new beverages in the marketplace designed to address specific health concerns. There are several types of functional beverages, such as dairy-based beverages, probiotic drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks, meal replacers, caffeinated beverages, vegetable and fruit beverages. These functional beverages have beneficial effects on one or more functions of human body in addition to their basic nutritional values. Thus, they either improve the general physical conditions of human body or decrease the risk of disease progression. These two positive effects can also be observed together. Depending on their content and production methods, the functional beverages reduce cancer risk, boost immune system, improve physical and mental conditions, and show antistress, antiaging, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. This chapter presents an extensive review of medicinal properties and functional components of beverages with the recent developments in the field. It covers classification of functional beverages with a particular focus on fermented, dairy-based, nondairy-based, fruit-based, and herbal-based functional beverages. Furthermore, the significance of bioaccessibility of these products and their health benefits are discussed. Current in vitro and in vivo studies in the field are also covered.

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Consumer-oriented development of functional beverages

D. Sorenson, J. Bogue, in Functional and Speciality Beverage Technology, 2009

17.6 Summary

The functional beverages market offers new product opportunities to those companies that understand consumers’ preferences and choice motives, and can develop and market functional beverages that meet consumers’ expectations. Once companies implement an NPD strategy, and adopt a formal NPD process that is multidisciplinary in nature, advanced consumer research methodologies can then be used to manage knowledge more effectively and efficiently, leading to the development of consumer-oriented functional beverages. The consumer-oriented approach to NPD discussed in this chapter illustrates how an understanding of consumers’ choice motives and value systems can provide guidance to marketers in terms of segmentation, pricing, positioning and communication strategies, and to R&D personnel in terms of concept development and product design, when bringing new functional beverages to the marketplace. The utilisation of consumers’ views throughout the NPD process therefore provides for a systematic means of managing consumer knowledge in product development, which can improve a company’s competitiveness in the functional beverages market.

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Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Fibers in Nutritive and Functional Beverages

Maya Raman, ... Mukesh Doble, in Nutrients in Beverages, 2019

9.2.1 Market for Functional Beverages

Functional beverages are nonalcoholic drink containing nontraditional ingredients like minerals, vitamins, amino acids, dietary fibers (DFs), probiotics, added raw fruits, etc. Energy drinks, sports drinks, and functional bottled water are among the functional and fortified beverage category that is showing immense growth in the recent years. The market for functional beverages represents the largest and fastest growing segment of the functional foods sector. By 2017, the global market for functional beverages was approximately US$1347 billion. This tremendous growth in the production and consumption of functional beverages is due to growing urbanization, expansion in the middle-class population, an increase in double income families, the growing health concern, and major contribution to health promotion and disease risk reduction (Li et al., 2016). Regionally, the market for functional beverages is classified into Asia-Pacific, North America (US, Canada, Mexico), Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East and North Africa, and rest of the World including Latin America and South Africa. North America is the largest market with its innovative varieties of drinks customized for all age groups and strata; followed by Asia-Pacific and Europe, and other countries. Currently, the functional beverages are undergoing incredible innovations in its varieties, for instance, Verday Chlorophyll Water recently added a new line of healthy green waters and launched a new flavor, blueberry. Further, there is a growing demand for functional hydration or “beauty beverages” containing collagen, cinnamon extracts in soft drink for diabetes, and ω-3 for heart health (Li et al., 2016). In Japan, “energy shots,” the nutrient-loaded drinks in small packs and in India and China, large value packs are in trend. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determine the safety and health claims of these beverages. The sports and energy drinks are mostly innovated with flavors and are overcoming the traditional supplements. These beverages address the immunity and digestion concerns; and are the major segments of the global functional beverages market. The energy drink market was worth US$50 billion in 2014 and is predicted to be the fastest growing segment due to its health benefits. Nutraceutical beverages are another segment of functional beverages that are currently emerging and comprise natural products that reduce the risk of chronic disease beyond basic nutritional functions (https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/functional-beverage-market). Various ingredients that have efficaciously concealed the unpleasant taste of certain amino acids and ω-3 fatty acids have revolutionized the market. Other drivers of the innovation in the functional beverage sector are encapsulation, reduction in sugar content, and wider channels of distribution. The industries such as PepsiCo, Inc., Nestlé, Kraft Foods, General Mills, Campbell Soup Co., Monster Beverage Corporation, The Coca-Cola Company and Red Bull GmbH, and the major ingredient suppliers such as Archer Daniels Midland Co., DuPont Nutrition & Health, LycoRed Ltd., Fortitech, Inc., BASF and Nutratech, Inc., contribute significantly to the functional beverage market (https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/global-functional-beverages-market). The future functional beverage innovative researches may put emphasis on the beverages targeting specific parts of the body such as bones, joints, eyes, sleep improvement, weight management, cholesterol management, healthy teeth, energy, the elderly market segment, and beverages supplemented with ω-3 fatty acids, which will lead to more market opportunities across demographic groups. The consumption of superfruit juices has risen globally, with China (1587 million liters per annum) being the first, followed by United States and Japan. Blueberry, pomegranate, and Aloe vera are other consumer favorites worldwide; nevertheless, acai berry, baobab, mangosteen, goji berry, and sea buckthorn are also catching up. The most important part in the development of functional beverage is consumers' acceptance of new ingredients, their perception and awareness of their health benefits, and specific science and technology being marketed to consumers (Li et al., 2016) (Fig. 9.4).

Fig. 9.4

Fig. 9.4. (A) Worldwide market of some selected popular beverages (2011–16), and (B) global beverage consumption forecast 2021 (https://www.beveragedaily.com/Article/2016/05/20/Unprecedented-growth-for-Asia-beverage-market-global-consumption-data).

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Nutrients, Bioactive Compounds, and Health Benefits of Functional and Medicinal Beverages

Elvan Yilmaz-Akyuz, ... Yusuf Tutar, in Nutrients in Beverages, 2019

Abstract

Functional beverages play an essential role in our modern life and contribute to nutritional well-being. Current efforts to understand and develop functional beverages to promote health and wellness have been increased. Determining bioactive compounds out of the food content and incorporating them into beverage requires a thorough knowledge. Functional foods have lower or no adverse effects like current drug treatments and are good candidates for this purpose. Functional food treatment is a complementary approach for the prevention and treatment of several systemic diseases and they are tailored for individual’s choice for boosting energy, shrinking waistlines, and mental focusing. Further, functional foods with lifestyle modifications may lead to wellness and improve individual’s health. Functional foods may include but not limited to fruits, fiber-enriched grains, and beverages. Experiments on animal research monitor improvements but translational research must be performed to reduce and/or prevent systemic diseases. Beverages can meet individual’s demand and nutrients as well as bioactive compounds can be delivered conveniently. This review summarizes current knowledge of bioactive compounds and scientific advances at functional beverages.

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Functionality of Bioactive Nutrients in Beverages

Rana Muhammad Aadil, ... Anees Ahmed Khalil, in Nutrients in Beverages, 2019

7.7 Conclusion and Future Trends

Functional beverages impart various health implications upon the consumption due to the presence of various bioactive components, that is, phenols, flavonoids, carotenoids, peptides, vitamins, and minerals, but prior to their activity. These compounds need to be absorbed by the body due to these components, which have very low bioavailability and less absorbed by the body. As far as, the absorbance of bioactive component is concern, it can be increased by developing such processing techniques that can the maximum retention. Loss of these compounds during processing is another concern that may degrade the value of functional beverages. Generally, these are proved to be sensitive against thermal processing and either degraded or destroyed during processing. So, keeping in mind these concerns, there is need to use such methods in processing of beverages that mainly focus on the minimum loss of these components so that the consumers may take maximum benefits from functional beverages. Use of nonthermal techniques like pulse electric field, ultrasonication, and ozone treatment would be a better solution for these concerns, because these techniques have been verified for microbial safety as well as shelf stability of beverages.

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Effects and Mechanisms of Antioxidant-Rich Functional Beverages on Disease Prevention

Jahidul Islam, Yearul Kabir, in Functional and Medicinal Beverages, 2019

5.2 Fruits and Vegetable Juice as Functional Beverages

Functional beverages, a subsector of the functional food industry and the fastest growing sector of the functional food market, have become increasingly popular among the conscientious consumers due to their perceived health benefits. Suitability, affordability, and health benefits are the most significant factors where consumers make decisions to purchase the functional beverages. Functional beverages claim to improve athletic endurance, energy, hydration those are associated with various health benefits like healthy cardiovascular (CV) system, cancer prevention, health digestive system, immune defense, body weight reduction, joint health improvement, and among others (Franke et al., 2005; Pojer et al., 2013). It is emphasized to identify the bioactive compounds in the fruit juice; along with its mechanism by which bioactive compounds in fruit juice render their beneficial health effects. Fruit juice is also a good source of nutraceuticals. By definition, nutraceutical is referred to components in food, both nutrient and nonnutrient, that render beneficial health effect through disease prevention (Shahidi and Naczk, 2003). These are generally used in the medicinal form of pills, capsules, and juices. Thus, the ingredients that are building blocks of the beverages especially fruit or vegetable juices, their positive impact on health should be investigated and their content should be summarized. Some example includes orange juice (OJ) is enriched in vitamin C, calcium, and phytosterols, berry drinks with anthocyanins, and green tea (GT) fortified with epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). It is very important that functional beverages carry appropriate labeling information for the benefit of the consumer.

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Engineered Soybean-Based Beverages and Their Impact on Human Health

Sandrasekaran Naresh, ... Huey Shi Lye, in Non-Alcoholic Beverages, 2019

Abstract

Functional beverages are emerging as they provide nutritional and health benefits. Soybean-based beverage is one of the functional foods with continuous innovation emphasizing its importance in the human diet. Recent studies are focusing on the dark colored soybeans because of their high-potential functional properties. Various bioactive compounds found in soybean have been linked with antihypercholesterolemic and antihypertensive effects. Furthermore, regulations of diabetes, alleviation of antioxidant defense mechanism, immunomodulatory activities, and chemopreventive effects on consumption of soybean-based beverages have been documented by a substantial amount of studies. In contrast, soybeans are also known to possess unwanted side effects such as allergenic proteins and endocrine disrupting effects. In order to provide minimal health risk and increase the nutritional profile of soybean, fortification of soybean-based beverages with probiotics, micronutrients, and others are formulated. Thus, this chapter deals with types of soybeans, nutritional profile, and soybean-based functional beverages with the addition of probiotics and fortification with selected ingredients. Evidences from past studies associated with health benefits and safety assessment of soybean are also discussed.

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URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128152706000116

Agricultural and Food Industry By-Products: Source of Bioactive Components for Functional Beverages

Winny Routray, Valerie Orsat, in Nutrients in Beverages, 2019

15.2 Functional Beverages

Functional beverages with beneficial effects can be broadly categorized as “nutraceuticals” and “functional foods.” The term “nutraceutical” was defined by the US Foundation for Innovation in Medicine in 1989 as “any substance that is a food or a part of a food and provides medical or health benefits, including the prevention and treatment of disease” (Rodriguez et al., 2006). The term “functional food” was introduced and conceptualized in the mid-1980s in Japan for “foods containing ingredients with functions for health or food for specified health use (FOSHU)” (Lau et al., 2012). However, the term functional food is defined in different ways in different parts of the world which have been discussed in detail by Corbo et al. (2014). They have summarized functional foods as either (a) an unmodified naturally healthy food; (b) a food in which components have been enhanced through special growing conditions, breeding of the source biomaterial, or biotechnological means; (c) a food to which a component has been added or removed by technological or biotechnological means so that the food provides health benefits not otherwise available; (d) a food whose composition has been modified to obtain a resultant food product with components having favorable properties; (f) an enzymatically, chemically or technologically modified food product to provide benefits; (g) a food with an enhanced bioavailability of a component; and (h) a combination of any or all of the above (Corbo et al., 2014; Pravst, 2012).

Among various functional products, functional beverages have been described as the most accepted and popular product, which has contributed significantly in the increased consumption of healthy, fortified, or functional products in almost all parts of the world (Corbo et al., 2014). This can be mainly attributed to the (a) convenience and diversity of possibilities with container size, shape, and appearance; (b) convenience of the product form for efficient refrigerated storage and increased shelf stability; and (c) convenience of addition of various nutrients and desirable bioactive compounds with possible increased bioavailability (Corbo et al., 2014). Functional beverages include dairy products, plant-based products, and energy/sports drinks, which have been extensively explored for fortification. Food and agricultural industry by-products include both liquid and solids, from which further refined intermediate by-products and products are obtained which can be either extracts (fluids, pure, or encapsulated forms), fluids (whey), or solids (fibers), which can be applied into functional beverages as base as well as additive ingredients.

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Functional beverages: an emerging trend in beverage world

Namrata A. Giri, ... Nilesh Prakash Nirmal, in Recent Frontiers of Phytochemicals, 2023

8.1.3 Types of beverages

Functional beverages are becoming more popular in the market, and it is valued at US $25 bn in 2005 (Datamonitor, 2006). Based on the Mintel Business Market Research report (Mintel International Group, 2009), the functional drinks and natural RTD beverages market has grown to $23 bn. It was reported that the sales of functional beverages and energy drinks in 2009 were 9 billion and 1.03 million, respectively. The sales of diet drinks, water, and fruit juices showed considerable growth. As the different types of beverages are there in the market, globally it can be divided into four segments: drinks, milk-based drinks, soft drinks, and alcoholic drinks. Hot drinks can be further classified into tea, coffee, and hot malt-based products; the second segment of milk-based drinks consists of segments like white drinking milk and flavored milk products. The third segment of soft drinks can be further categorized into subcategories which include bottled water; carbonated soft drinks; dilutables, also known as squash and including powders, cordials, and syrups; 100% fruit juice and nectars with 25%–99% juice content; still drinks, including ready-to-drink (RTD) teas, sports drinks, and other noncarbonated products with less than 25% fruit juice. Alcoholic drinks which form the fourth segment are comprised of products like beer, wine, spirits, cider, sake, and flavored alcoholic beverages (premixed spirits) (Mulvihill, 1992).

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Canapa sativa L. and Moringa oleifera as Naturally Functional Beverages: Innovative Trends

Martina Musarra, ... Giuliana Vinci, in Natural Beverages, 2019

9.1 Introduction

Functional beverages include nutrients and bioactive compounds used for improving the health performance. The nutritive substances used in the functional beverages preparation are minerals, vitamins, amino acids (AA), and omega-3 (ω-3) and omega-6 (ω-6) fatty acids in different percentages, according to the product ingredient composition. Furthermore, another important group of elements added in the functional beverages are the antioxidant compounds. An interesting category is represented by “naturally functional beverages,” composed of foods that naturally contain nutrients and bioactive compounds and contribute to the improvement of health benefits for the consumers, by having positive effects on immune defence system, mental energy, cholesterol management, and other benefit associated with specific organs such as heart, liver, and eyes. Canapa sativa L. and Moringa oleifera are officinal and medical herbs that are contemplated in the category of “naturally functional foods,” and can be also considered as “naturally functional beverages” for the composition in nutritive principles.

In fact, the C. sativa L. seeds have a high nutritional value, containing approximately 25% protein, 27% carbohydrates, 36% lipids, and considerable amounts of fibers, vitamins, and minerals (Callaway, 2004); the M. oleifera seeds contain approximately 39% carbohydrates, 27% protein, and 17% lipids, and fibers, vitamins, and minerals (Al-Juhaimi et al., 2016). Both the C. sativa L. and M. oleifera seeds contain in different percentages: essential amino acids (AAEs) necessary for protein synthesis; polyunsaturated essential fatty acids (EFAs), essential for the functioning of muscles, nerve receptors, and many glands in our body; vitamins; mineral salts (calcium, magnesium, and potassium) and antioxidant substances.

C. sativa L. also contain unsaturated fatty acids (ω-3 and ω-6) in an optimal aspect ratio for the regulation of metabolic activities and all the eight AAEs: a regular intake of ω-3 and ω-6 in functional drinks offers various health benefits like improved cognitive function (especially for elderly and children), joint health, mental health, lowered incidence of heart failure and irregular heartbeat, and lowered blood triglyceride levels.

In the food sector, hemp seeds are considered edible by the Circular of the Ministry of Health of 22/05/2009. Studies and research conducted by different authors have shown that hemp seeds possess a high nutritional value as they consist of about 25% protein, 27% carbohydrates, 36% lipids, and considerable amounts of fiber, vitamins, and mineral salts. In relation to the protein composition, "hemp" seeds are a high-value biological, rich, and complete food consisting of all eight AAEs (leucine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, lysine, methionine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine) required for protein synthesis. AAEs cannot be synthesized by the organism, so they must be introduced with the diet. These AA are needed for the formation of cellular membranes, for the proper development and functioning of the brain and nervous system, and for the production of eicosanoids, regulators of many organic functions including blood pressure, blood viscosity, vasoconstriction, and immune and inflammatory responses.

In the food market containing "hemp," the largest market share is of flour and oil; drinks such as tea, coffee, and alcoholic beverages (beer and spirits) occupy a small market niche.

M. oleifera food and beverage market is less developed than the hemp market, but the contents of antioxidant, proteins, vitamins, and minerals is important especially regarding its effects on human health. In fact, M. oleifera is used for treating widespread conditions such as inflammation-related diseases, diabetes, arthritis and rheumatism, allergies and asthma, constipation, stomach pains and diarrhoea, fluid retention, bacterial, fungal, viral, and parasitic infections.

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