Paper Title
Functional Foods; Design Concerns and Benefits

Abstract
Functional food is a ‘food that has a component incorporated into it to give it a specific medical or physiological benefit, other than purely nutritional benefit. It should be naturally occurring, can be consumed as part of the daily diet, and when ingested should enhance or regulate a particular biological process or mechanism to prevent or control specific diseases. The technologies for development of functional foods include Microencapsulation Nanoencapsulation of food ingredients in cyclodextrins Supercritical CO2 and Subcritical water: Complementary agents in the processing of functional foods and Emulsion delivery systems for functional foods. Linking the consumption of functional foods or food ingredients with health claims should be based on sound scientific evidence, with the gold standard” being replicated, randomized, placebo- controlled, intervention trials in human subjects. Functional foods play an important role in portion control, targeted nutrition, increased nutrition uptake and health consciousness. Keywords - Functional foods, health claims, development, health consciousness.