Increasing Dietary Intake of Bioactive Flavonoids without Major Changes in Dietary Habits.

For the last several years health organizations have been recommending consumers to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables. Although some progress has been made, the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables remains below the recommended levels. Deeply rooted dietary habits are difficult to change. Parallel to continued consumer education another strategy is to increase availability of plant bioactive compounds in the regular diet.   

In this presentation we will discuss different approached for increasing the dietary human intake of flavonoids that do not require drastic changes in dietary habits. Phenolic enhanced varieties of staple commodities can deliver these phytochemicals to large populations, as an example, potatoes will be discussed. Incorporation of bioactive phytochemicals into food products such as hard candy, eggs, and yogurt may be another approach to deliver phenolic compounds without changing deeply rooted dietary habits.

 Challenges and opportunities of these different approaches will be discussed.