Functional and Medical Foods, Bioactive Compounds and Biomarkers: Longevity and Quality of Life

We are pleased to announce that the 19th International Conference of Functional Food Center will be held from the 17th to the 18th of November, 2015 in Kobe, Japan. The conference will bring together experts in medicine, biology, and the food industry to discuss the Functional Foods, Longevity and Quality of Life.

The concept of functional foods started in Japan during the 1980’s, and the Japanese government, known as “the Ministry of Health and Welfare”, established Food with Health Claims (FHC) in 2001. FHC originally consisted of Food for Specified Health Uses (FOSHU) and Food with Nutrient Function Claims (FNFC). FOUSHU is called “TOKUHO” (TOKUtei HOken-you shokuhin) and has become very popular for many Japanese consumers. Since then, new categories have been added, such as Qualified FOSHU, Standardized FOSHU and Reduction of Disease risk FOSHU. The development of laws regarding functional foods by Japanese government reflects great interests of Japanese people on “Food and Health”. The background in Japan enables us to develop high-level scientific research on functional foods. However, there are still several issues, including human safety and lack of scientific evidence.

In addition to Japan, other countries developed the field of functional foods based on their science and established their own system. The international conference is a good opportunity to compare and discuss the systems of functional foods, and to share the recent knowledge on bioactive molecules. We believe it will lead to improvement of longevity and quality of life.

For more information on the program click here: http://functionalfoodscenter.net/conference-program-kobe-2015.html

Danik M. Martirosyan PhD, Founder, Academic Society for Functional Foods and Bioactive Compounds; President, Functional Food Center/Functional Food Institute, Dallas, TX, USA

Fukue Seino, PhD, Consumer Affairs Agency, Government of Japan, Japan

Francesco Marotta, PhD, MD, Professor, ReGenera Research Group for Aging Intervention & Montenapoleone Medical Center, Milano, Italy

Hoyoku Nishino, MD, PhD, Professor, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan

Pamela Starke-Reed, PhD, Deputy Administrator, Nutrition, Food Safety and Quality, USDA

Yasuhito Shirai, PhD, Professor, Department of Agrobioscience, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan