Distributed from 2000 to 2015, the articles collected presented, at the beginning, a low frequency, having until 2007 only 20% of the articles found published. After this, there was a significant increase, with almost 80% of the publications related to the theme (Figure 1). This may be a result of changes in Brazilian legislation on the subject, publishing ordinances, resolutions, normative and technical instructions, divulging to the industry the importance of delimiting foods with these properties, mainly from the year of 1999, because the first legislation was in this year.

Most of the authors have affiliation in Federal and State Universities, in different Brazilian regions, totaling 62 Teaching Institutions in 18 different states. The publications frequencies, divided by region, are described in Figure 2a. The South (43%)

and Southeast (34%) regions had hegemony in the scientific production published in national journals on functional foods, followed by the Northeast region (14%) and, to a lesser extent, North and Midwest, which together added up 7% of publications.

Figure 1.
Frequency of articles publications per year within the theme of functional foods.

Figure 2.
Distribution of articles by region of the country and Brazilian states.

Due to climatic diversity, vast biome and continental dimensions, all Brazilian regions have food resources with probable functional properties. Thus, develop studies on the use of these regional products and in the development of new foods from them would not only help in the publications distribution and comprehensiveness of knowledge, but also in the development of exotic products in all regions, with immense scientific and technological gains for the country.

Figure 2b shows the States with the highest frequency of publications, where the Southeast region stands out. The Northeast was better represented by Ceará and Paraíba. From the North and Midwest regions, Roraima reached a prominent place, although the participation of these regions in comparison with the others was much lower.

Amazon, with one of the greatest biodiversity on the planet, accumulates an immense amount of regional products (Alencar, Yuyama, Varejão, & Marinho, 2007). It has a large collection of typical fish and fruits, which can represent a significant supply of proteins, calories, vitamins and minerals, providing a great supply of nutrition and health standard for its consumers (Clay, Sampaio, & Clement, 2000). Due to these factors, it would be really interesting to have a greater commitment to functional food research in the North region, gathering information about its regional products.

From the 62 educational institutions, it was possible to relate those that had a higher frequency of published articles with the typologies of food studied in each one (Table 1). The most expressive universities in national scientific production on functional foods were the Universidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL), Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Universidade Federal de Santa Maria UFSM), Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC), Universidade de São Paulo (USP) and Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), traditional Brazilian institutions.

The main foods published in the Brazilian journals by these institutions, also detailed in Table 1, were evaluated and compared with the Brazilian legislation for functional foods. Foods of animal and plant origin, as well as nutrient and non-nutrient components were mentioned, and a diversity of studies on the subject was verified.

The main areas of academic formation of the authors were Food Technology (21%), Nutrition (18%) and Food Engineering (18%), which together consisted of more than 50% of the areas cited. It was also mentioned Agronomy, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Phytotechnology, Food Science, Industrial Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (Figure 3).

Figure 3.
Main areas of authors’ formation.

Table 1.
Publications by educational institution.

The first three areas mentioned above add up to the conception of a safe food with food characteristics in accordance to current legislation. Food Technology is a multidisciplinary area that uses the areas of chemistry, biochemistry, nutrition, pharmacy, among others to promote management techniques and technological changes that improve the conditions of safety, quality, health and respect for the environment. Applied to the food area, Nutrition is concerned with the promotion/recovery/maintenance of a healthy life through the use of a balanced diet. Food Engineering deals with the study and application of unitary and fermentation techniques for the design, storage and food transportation. The interaction between the three areas is important, where Food Engineering promotes the production process, Food Technology takes care of the management and application of appropriate techniques, and Nutrition evaluates the nutritional quality of this food, having greater representativeness of formation in the published articles.

The main Brazilian journals utilized to publish the articles were Ciência e Tecnologia de Alimentos (Campinas - São Paulo), Revista Brasileira de Fruticultura (Jaboticabal - São Paulo) and Alimentos e Nutrição (Araraquara-São Paulo), with more than 50% of the publications (Figure 4). Other journals, less cited, but with a good percentage were the Brazilian Journal of Food Technology (Campinas - São Paulo), Boletim do Centro de Pesquisa e Processamento de Alimentos (B. Ceppa) (Curitiba-Paraná) and Ciência Rural (Santa Maria-Rio Grande do Sul).

Figure 4.
Main journals used for publication on functional foods.

An important parameter is the articles classification in the Qualis Capes, based on the journals where they are published. The journals classification is made by each evaluation area, updated annually. The classification has a quality range between A1, highest, A2, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5 and C, the latter with zero weight. This range is used in Brazil by Capes for the evaluation and classification of the postgraduate courses, being any other type of use outside its responsibility. This type of division does not directly reflect the quality of the published article, but rather the prestige of the journal for that particular area evaluated (Engineering II, Food Science, Nutrition, etc.). Therefore, a high quality research is advised to publish in these journals, reaching a wider scientific scope for their area of study. In the analysis carried out in this article, 67% of papers were published in periodicals with Qualis in the area of Food Science and Technology, with the majority characterized by Qualis C, not very significant in terms of evaluation. For the Nutrition area, only 32% were evaluated by Qualis, mostly between B2 and B4, which represents a reasonable percentage (Figure 5a).

Figure 5.
Publications by Qualis Capes and JCR impact factor.

The Impact Factor (JCR) and the Scopus indexed database are the most widely used and comprehensive classification criteria for collecting citations and grouping high impact articles. The survey indicated 48% of articles published in journals with impact factor between 0 and 0.6 (Figure 5b), with most publications between 0.3 and 0.5. Within the national standard, that is, of the impact factors exhibited by the most respected national journals, generally being between 0 and 1.2, these values are considered reasonable.

In scientific circles, experimental research is the one with the most prestige. In it an analysis of an object of study is made, being able to manipulate the variables, to control and to observe the effects. Bibliographical research, in turn, is carried out with analyzes of already elaborated materials, such as books and scientific articles, being also the principle of other types of researches. Documentary research is very close to bibliographic research, differentiating itself by the material basis that, in this case, are materials that have not yet been organized so as to have perceptions to contribute to the research object, as in the case of resolutions and laws (Gil, 2002).

The research showed that in 75.2% of the analyzed articles the experimental research was the method used, which is positive due to the importance that is given to this type of research in the scientific environment. Less frequently, documentary research (6.4%) and bibliographic research (18.4%) were used in the evaluation of functional foods.

Bromatology, a science that seeks to study food, determines the composition of food before and after the various processes to which it can be subjected in the food supply chain (fresh, processed, enriched or modified). This occurs by analyzing the various aspects related to food, such as physicochemical, microbiological, biochemical, rheological, sensory, marketing, among others.

The research noticed that almost 50.6% of the work is still related only to the physicochemical analysis of food, determining the components of the fresh and processed food. In sequence, with 25.6% is the study of sensory aspects, science of extreme importance for the technological application of food, based on the senses of the human body (smell, touch, sight, taste and hearing), that determine the acceptability and satisfaction of a food by consumers. Articles in questionnaires form have been found (18%) and are important, as they try to verify behaviors, needs, preferences and the psychosocial status of the interviewees on a given topic, and it may be noted that marketing and promotion needs of specific foods/foods (food characteristics and the best way to represent them) are poorly understood and/or used in new products entering the market.

For Food Technology, rheological behavior is important (5.8%), although it is studied to a minimal extent in published articles. Rheology, in general terms, seeks to delimit the study of food deformation and flow, being fundamental for the technological aspects and the development of equipment, besides having relation with the sensorial characters and, as a result, to food acceptance. One aspect for this, probably, is the high equipment cost to perform these analyzes that preclude its use in the papers

The foods studied during these years, in the theme of functional foods, were diverse, many of them in the form of flour, fresh or added with some complementation. One of the first definitions in national legislation, if not the first one, was carried out by Ordinance n° 398 of 04/30/99, of the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (Anvisa): ‘Any food or ingredient that, in addition to the basic nutritional functions, when consumed as part of the usual diet, produces metabolic and/or physiological effects and/or beneficial effects on health and should be safe for consumption without medical supervision’.

Another necessary explanation is that functional food is not the same as nutraceutical, since the former, in addition to health effects, is similar to conventional food, being administered in a normal diet and without medical supervision, whereas nutraceuticals are administered as a food/medicine in amounts normally greater than the ingested in normal foods, such as omega 3 and carotenoid capsules.

These definitions are complex and change according to the organ and the region of the planet, which in many cases do not define functional foods individually, associating them with specific functional claims, as is the case of Anvisa. It does not use the defined concept of functional food, but two categories: ‘Allegation of Functional Property’, relative to the metabolic/physiological function that the nutrient in question represents for the growth, development and maintenance of the vital functions of man and ‘Allegation of Health Property’, which states, suggests, or relates a link between the nutrient/ingredient with a disease or any condition related to the human health.

In the Brazilian legislations many details can be found regarding what is or is not allowed during the marketing and mandatory information on food labels with functional property claim, as well as the list of new ingredients and foods which are updated as much as possible and should be constantly reviewed, in addition to the fact that there are more specific legislations for each type of product.

An important concept defined by Anvisa is ‘new foods and/or new ingredients’, foods or substances with no history of consumption in the country, or foods with substances already consumed that may be added at levels much higher than those currently observed in the regular diet. Foods that are to be consumed in capsules, tablets or other pharmaceutical forms and which do not present a claim of scientifically proven functional or health properties should bear the label ‘The Ministry of Health warns: There is no scientific evidence that this food prevent, treat or cure diseases’ (Stringheta et al., 2007).

Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária (Anvisa, 2008) recognizes as functional property products fatty acids, carotenoids, food fibers, phytosterols, soy protein, chitosan, polyols (mannitol, xylitol, sorbitol) and probiotics (Lactobacillus acidophilus, casei Shirota, casei variety rhamnosus, casei variety defensis, paracasei, lactis, Bifidobacterium bifidum, animallis (including the subspecie B. lactis), longum, and Enterococcus faecium). It is important to emphasize that the permission for entry a food with functional property claims/bioactive substances into the market compete to Anvisa (represented in large part by CTCAF - Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee on Functional Foods and Novel Foods) and requires a previous evaluation of a technical-scientific report submitted by the company/institution concerned (A list of the main Brazilian documents and the definitions of these products cited above are discussed in http://portal.anvisa.gov.br/alimentos/alegacoes and available in Appendix A).

In articles that study specific foods, foods rich in fiber (fibers and prebiotics) and proteins are the most studied, covering more than half of published articles. Within these categories, foods were also shown to be rich in vitamins, minerals and, in some cases, in omega 3, such as oil meal and pumpkin seeds. Soybean was the most cited food in the articles, both in the form of extracts, as well as flours and soy milk (Table 2). Dietary fiber is the fiber resistant to the action of human digestive enzymes, consisting of carbohydrate polymers, with three or more monomeric units, and lignin (Anderson et al., 2009, Howlett et al., 2010, Bernaud & Rodrigues, 2013).

The soluble fibers (pectins, gums, inulin and some hemicelluloses) dissolve in water, forming viscous gels, not being digested in the small intestine and easily fermented by the micro flora of the large intestine. Insoluble fibers (lignin and cellulose), on the other hand, are not soluble in water and their fermentation is limited (Wong & Jenkins, 2007). The main effects of fiber use are correlated with the shrinkage of blood cholesterol and reduced risk of cancer, acting in the following processes: (1) ability to retain toxic substances (ingested or formed in the digestive tract); (2) decrease of intestinal transit with reduction of the possibility of adversities due to the high contact between the fecal cake and the tissues of the treatment; and (3) formation of protective compounds from probiotic microorganisms (Anjo, 2004).

Table 2.
Main foods studied.

Prebiotic can be defined as a non-digestible food ingredient, fermented in the human intestine, which beneficially affects the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacteria in the colon, increasing host health (Siró et al., 2008, Bandyopadhyay & Mandal, 2014). As examples, are mentioned inulin of frutoligosaccharides (FOS) and pectin, assisting intestinal transit and protecting against infections, besides support the nutrients absorption (Lopez-Varela et al., 2002).

Probiotics are living microorganisms present in the human intestinal tract, which act in a protective and preventive infections form, being LAB (Latic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria) the most studied (Siró et al., 2008).

In relation to antioxidants, the cells of our body can be damaged by the action of free radicals, being these substances able to prevent and/or reduce such damages, interfering directly in free radicals or indirectly by the action of enzymes in the human body. A balanced diet in fruits and vegetables, and many other foods that have antioxidants, such as vitamin C, uric acid and vitamin E, are important to prevent the damage that free radicals can cause (Shami & Moreira, 2004).

Proteins, composed by amino acids, are essential for a proper functioning of the body and are of great importance in a balanced diet. Among the amino acids with functional property claims, tryptophan, tyamine, arginine, glutamine and cysteine are cited, related to processes of sleep regulation and stress control, assisting in various aspects of the nervous and immune system (Lopez-Varela et al., 2002).

From the nationally published articles and analysis of the current legislation, it was noticed that Brazil is progressing in relation to the functional properties of food, despite the small amount of food/compounds characterized as functional property holders. It is hoped that information on the subject will be further worked out in the coming years, as the development of such food will increase, with more homogeneous regional dissemination and greater emphasis on native products.

eduardo.farias.ufal@gmail.com