Quantum and Tempus Theories of Functional Food Science: Establishment of dosage and time of consumption of functional food products

Abstract

Over the years the United States has seen an increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases. For that reason, there has also been an increased need in products that can prevent or manage symptoms of disease. Functional food products are food products that contain bioactive compounds that have been shown to produce beneficial effects that increase health. The Functional Food Center has previously a 16-step process to develop functional food products and bring them to the market. As part of this process, researchers should establish the appropriate dosage of a bioactive compound at which the product can be consumed safely, and it can effectively improve health parameters. Previously, we suggested that Quantum theory of functional food science could be useful for finding the critical amount at which a bioactive compound will cause enough chain reactions to influence health and biomarkers of disease. In this paper, we propose that a new step be added to the 16-step process making the total steps to bring a functional food product to the market 17. This new step should occur after establishing the appropriate dose and should focus on establishing the appropriate time of consumption using the Tempus theory of functional food science. The word Tempus comes from the latin word for time. Similar to dosage, time of consumption can impact the effectiveness of a bioactive compound, which is why this new step is important. Recent studies on diabetic patients have applied the Quantum and Tempus theories of functional food science to determine the appropriate range of dosage and time of consumption at which squalene, which is a bioactive compound belonging to the triterpene class, can improve parameters of health in diabetics. The studies found that consumption of squalene improves parameters of health in diabetic patients, however higher doses produced the effects in less time than lower doses. Although the studies were able to provide more information about the appropriate dose and time range for consuming the bioactive compound in that population, more research is needed to find the exact ranges.Keywords: functional food product, bioactive compound, dosage, time, quantum theory of functional food science, tempus theory of functional food science