Bioactive compounds are defined as components of food that influence physiological or cellular activities when we consume them. These are the extra-nutritional constituents that are found in small quantities in foods providing health benefits beyond the basic nutritional value. Bioactive food components are usually found in multiple forms and also have multiple metabolic activities allowing for beneficial effects in several diseases and target tissues. Bioactive food components also help at health-promoting roles at various stages of diseases that are associated with multiple progressive steps, from initiation to development.
Food additives are the substances that are being added to food either to preserve flavor or enhance its taste, appearance, and other qualities. The Food/color additives are added to the food for the following reasons;
- To Maintain or Improve Safety and Freshness
- To Improve or Maintain Nutritional Value
- Improve Taste, Texture, and Appearance
There different categories of Food Additives, some of them include;
- Color Retention Agent: to prevent the food from changing its color. This works by using antioxidants i.e. either binding or absorbing Oxygen before it damages the Food.
- Acidity regulators or pH control agents: Used to change or control the acidity and alkalinity of foods. They can be organic or mineral acids, bases, neutralizing agents, or buffering agents
- Anticaking agents: used in powders to prevent from caking or sticking
- Antifoaming agents: to prevent foaming of foods.
- Bulking agents: used to increase the bulk of a food without affecting its nutritional value.
- Food coloring or color additive: it is a dye, pigment, or substance to impart color when added to a drink or food. These also have non-food applications including cosmetics, pharmaceutics, medical devices, etc.
- Preservatives: used to prevent or inhibit the spoilage of food due to bacteria, molds, yeast, fungi or other micro-organisms.
- Stabilizers or Thickeners: used to give a firmer texture of food.
- Sweeteners: it is a sugar substitute that provides a sweet taste while containing significantly less food energy than sugar making it a zero-calorie or low-calorie sweetener.
