The market for health and target foods of various kinds has grown a lot in recent years, and in the marketing of such a product, various claims have sometimes been made that do not stand up to closer scrutiny. A recent report from Matís contains a detailed summary of various categories of health food, as well as definitions and regulations, the content and function of popular health products and permitted health claims. The main author of the report is Sigrún Mjöll Halldórsdóttir, but the summary is part of her master's project at the Department of Food Science at the University of Iceland, which she is working on at Matís.
In the report entitled HEALTH DIET: A summary of the main categories of health foods and scientific evidence of their effectiveness, states, among other things, that the concept of functional food first appeared in Japan in the seventies of the 20th century after the authorities there wanted to improve public health. Targeted foods have been defined as "foods that have in common that they have been modified for the purpose of having a more positive health effect on the consumer than food unchanged."
When placing health products on the market, many things need to be considered, such as regulations and health statements. Among the things to look at are the questions: When did food become a medicine? How can the consumer be sure of the functionality and excellence of a product? The origins of the summary can be traced to these and other questions that are useful to get answers to.
Sigrún, together with two business students, took part in the Innovit entrepreneurship competition earlier this year and they reached the eight-team finals with a business plan for a product line that contains bioactive peptides (the source of fish muscle proteins produced in Iceprotein). They named the "company" Heilsufæði ehf. and the first product Græðir, which is a health drink with a blood pressure lowering effect.
According to Sigrún, there is a lot of interest in "bioactive peptides" in the health product market in the world today and research has shown that they have very broad health effects such as blood pressure and cholesterol lowering effects, they are immunosuppressive and counteract overweight and diabetes. Studies have also shown that bioactive peptides derived from fish are stronger and more active than other sources such as milk and soy.
Matís owns and operates the protein processing company Iceprótein ehf in Sauðárkrókur, which develops, produces and will sell wet protein for the fishing industry in Iceland and dried protein for the health and food supplement market. Sigrún says that her master's project is largely about finding new ways to utilize the fish protein that Iceprotein processes, in the greatest possible value.
Among other things, the aim is to produce bioactive peptides with enzyme technology from a material derived from Iceprotein in such a way that they are suitable as additives in health foods. According to Sigrún, the future dream is to work on a foundation in, for example, a health drink, mix these bioactive peptides and put them on the market. Also create all kinds of other health foods that contain these peptides - a kind of product line.