'Functional food' intake stressed
Speakers at a views exchange meeting yesterday emphasised on building awareness on “functional food”, that is food containing chemical ingredients having positive health benefits beyond basic nutrition, among people to ensure good health.
Voluntary Consumers Training and Awareness Society (Vocta) organised the meeting with journalists at Dhaka Reporters Unity in the capital with its Chairman Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the chair.
Prof Hossain Uddin Shekhar of biochemistry and molecular biology department of Dhaka University said there are a lot of vegetables and fruits having functional values but there is no central database about it in the country.
Functional foods are what we find everyday like tomatoes, carrots, spinach, lemons, and pineapples, rich in ingredients helping to control fat and sugar levels and prevent different diseases, he said.
Vocta Executive Director Khalilur Rahman Sajal said due to a lack of proper scientific research and data, people are not aware about the functional values in foods.
Creating awareness about functional foods requires massive publicity. Good health can be ensured if functional foods can be ensured regularly in people's diets, he said.
There is also a huge commercial potentiality of functional foods in the country, said Khalilur, emphasising on active role by the media to create awareness about them.
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