Since 1998, The Functional Food Center (FFC) has been a pioneer in the functional food industry, combining cutting-edge expertise in the biomedical sciences with practical business experience in order to aid in further research, development, and commercialization of functional food innovations in both domestic and international markets. The FFC connects a global network of professionals (scientists, functional food experts, and food industry representatives) to an environment conducive to innovative research collaboration. Functional foods are part of normal dietary food intake for optimized nutrition.

Definition of Functional Food: The Functional Food Center defines “functional foods” as “Natural or processed foods that contain biologically-active compounds; which, in defined, effective, non-toxic amounts, provide a clinically proven and documented health benefit utilizing specific biomarkers, to promote optimal health and reduce the risk of chronic/viral diseases and manage their symptoms."

Food Science Publisher

Food Science Publisher specializes in publishing books in the field of functional food science, nutrition, bioactive compounds, chronic diseases, and development of functional food products. 

We are excited to announce the release of our 5th Edition textbook: Introduction to Functional Food Science. This edition has some exciting new additions including new figures, tables, pictures, end of chapter summaries, test questions, updated glossary, and an entire chapter discussing viral diseases such as influenza and coronaviruses. The new chapter titled "Coronavirus Infection: Food and Nutrition Suggestions" takes a closer look at 15 different plants and different vitamins, micro, and macro elements used to boost the immune system. This book is a collective work of 41 scientists and more than 25 universities, medical organizations, and food organizations across the globe.

Paperback: 382 pages, Publisher: Food Science Publisher. Edited, Published and Printed in the USA

ISBN: 9798652972059. Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.9 x 11 inches.

The Journal of Functional Foods in Health and Disease

Functional food science can be defined as the comprehensive, aggregate, interdisciplinary, and collaborative processes of: establishing a target and finding a bioactive compound that enables that effect, finding the correlated measurable biomarker, running testing to find proper dosage and effectiveness, performing clinical trials to ensure efficacy, creating the functional food with an informative label, releasing to market and running epidemiological studies to verify it.

The Journal of Functional Foods in Health and Disease (FFHD) strives to develop concepts that help readers understand the mechanisms of disease and the creation of specific functional and medicinal foods used for the prevention and management of various diseases. Established December 3, 2010, FFHD is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal, which keeps members of the ASFFBC, readers of FFC newsletter (more than 800,000 readers composed of scientists, medical doctors, dietitians, nutritionists, and food industry professionals), as well as the public up-to-date on the latest collective information on the topic of functional food and bioactive compound research and development.

Functional Food Institute

The Functional Food Institute  (FFI) is the leading organization in the world for evaluating functional food products and educating the public in Functional Food Science. The primary goal is to educate healthcare professionals, researchers, scientists, students, representatives of the food industry, and the public on the health benefits of functional food products and bioactive food compounds to increase their knowledge in this specific field of science. Since 2004, the Functional Food Center/Functional Food Institute has organized conferences where scientists, researchers, and food industry professionals present their research and discoveries about functional foods and bioactive compounds for the management of chronic diseases such as diabetes, CVD, obesity, cancer, etc. In the past, the FFI has organized conferences jointly with top-level universities such as the University of California (Los Angeles, California), Texas Women’s University (Denton, Texas), Kyoto Prefectural University (Kyoto, Japan), University of California (Santa Barbara, California), Southern Methodist University (Dallas, Texas), University of San Diego (San Diego, California),  Kobi University (Kobi, Japan), and  Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School Teaching Hospital (Boston, MA, and more).

The Academic Society of Functional Foods and Bioactive Compounds (ASFFBC) was founded at the 11th International Conference of FFC, which was held at the University of San Diego in 2012. Ever since its inception, the ASFFBC has continued to grow and develop. Currently, it has over 7000 members (comprised of scientists, medical doctors, dietitians, nutritionists, govermental representatives, and other food and medical industry professionals) who are dedicated to the research and development of functional and medical foods, bioactive compounds, and nutraceuticals. The society’s mission is to increase the global awareness of functional foods and their ability to improve overall health and wellness.