Consumers today are more conscious of their health and nutrition. The adage "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food" is more popular than ever before. With increasing knowledge about the molecular and cellular needs of the human system, demand for specific foods or physiologically active food components (called functional foods) is rising (13,14,21). The current market for functional foods in the United States alone was estimated to be worth 23 billion dollar in 2003, and it is projected to exceed 40 billion dollar in 2008 (33).
展开▼
