BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS AND NUTRITIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SELECTED FUNCTIONAL FOOD PRODUCTS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53555/gafs.v12i1.2576Keywords:
Functional foods, Bioactive compounds, Carotenoids, Nutritional composition, Antioxidant nutrientsAbstract
As a result of the presence of essential nutrients and bioactive constituents, functional foods are gaining recognition for their role in nutrition and health. The nutritional profiles and some bioactive compounds of six categories of functional foods (berries, fermented dairy products, leafy vegetables, legumes and soy products, nuts and seeds, whole grains) were compared in this study. The descriptive statistics, Kruskal–Wallis testing, Spearman correlation analysis, and principal component analysis were used for the evaluation of the macronutrients, minerals, carotenoids, and antioxidant-related vitamins. The nutritional and bioactive variables showed significant variations between different food categories for all the main variables. The protein content was the highest in legumes and soy products, and the energy, fat, dietary fibre, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, and vitamin E content was highest in nuts and seeds. Whole grains had high levels of carbohydrates, fibre, and iron. The leafy vegetables showed the best carotenoid profile, with more beta-carotene and lutein + zeaxanthin and a moderate amount of vitamin C. There were also significant positive associations between fibre and magnesium, protein and magnesium, and beta-carotene and lutein plus zeaxanthin, and principal component analysis also indicated good compositional separation between the food categories. The results provide an insight into the complementary nutritional and bioactive properties of various functional foods.
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