2006 IRISH SCIENTIST YEAR BOOK

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Teagasc, Ashtown Food Research Centre
Ronan Gormley
Research on functional foods

There is an extensive ongoing functional foods research programme at Ashtown Food Research Centre (AFRC) driven, to a large extent, by the major commercial interest worldwide in functional foods. Functional foods are defined as those that offer 'something extra' in terms of health benefits than the basic food item, e.g. probiotic-enriched yoghurt versus ordinary yoghurt. The term inherent functionality can also be used to describe health-promoting constituents occurring naturally in foods such as antioxidants in fruits and vegetables or conjugated linoleic acid in meat products.

Gluten-free products are an example of an 'inverse' functional food where gluten is specifically excluded rather than included. The focus is on producing gluten-free products that are of equal quality to their gluten-containing counterparts. This embraces formulation with non-wheat starches, novel proteins (as replacements for gluten), hydrocolloids and other ingredients using a modelling approach [i.e. response surface methodology (RSM)] and embracing the inclusion of inulin to enhance dietary fibre status. Product reformulation and in-vitro testing of low glycaemic index breads (both conventional and gluten-free) is a major new research area as is characterisation of �-glucans from oats, barley and seaweed as potential health-promoting agents for use in a wide range of foods.

( [email protected] ).


Fruits, vegetables and their products have high inherent functionality via bioactive compounds, and especially antioxidants such as anthocyanins and flavonoids. The retention of these constituents in minimally and fully processed products is under intensive investigation and by-products of fruit and vegetable processing are being investigated as sources of bioactive compounds. Activities in the EU Integrated Project 'ISAFRUIT' include screening apple varieties and other tree fruit from Europe for antioxidant capacity and also the isolation of bioactive fractions from apples for inclusion in other food products. Research on the stability of bioactive compounds in fresh fruit salads is ongoing as are studies on the retention of polyacetylenes in minimally processed carrots.

( [email protected] ).


Personnel from AFRC have a major role in the ongoing EU FunctionalFoodNet project ( www.functionalfoodnet.eu ) which distils innovative outcomes from functional food research projects (funded by the EU and others) for transfer to over 150 companies involved in functional foods. Other activities at AFRC on functional foods include the taurine status of fish and fish products (see The Irish Scientist 2005 Year Book, p 27b) , and also projects on bioactive peptides and conjugated linoleic acid in meat and meat products

( [email protected] ).


Contact: Dr Ronan Gormley
E-mail: [email protected]