It is obvious that the market for functional additives is growing. Several publications emphasize the significant business numbers that are starting to change and the continued and steady expansion anticipated for the upcoming years. We will discuss functional and nutraceutical foods today.
The notion of functional foods and nutraceuticals, which have particular health-preserving characteristics in addition to their basic nutritional functions, is becoming more and more popular as a result of new dietary trends and the need to fulfill escalating social and health demands.
The lack of a unified, global definition and legal regulation of functional foods and nutraceuticals is one of the major obstacles facing this revolution, together with the stringent control of various "claims" (declarations, considerations, or assertions) of nutritional benefits, health benefits, and illness prevention.
It is crucial to clarify the meaning of these concepts since this conceptual void has led to significant consumer term confusion, which has been abused in certain marketing and advertising efforts.
What is functional foods?

A nutraceutical is what?

Thus, a nutraceutical varies from a drug in that the latter is typically a synthetic product and does not, for the most part, have a biological basis. Also, it varies from herbal extracts and infusions in that its constituent parts are concentrated and the latter may not always have a medicinal effect.