Functional foods and health
The topic studies functional and enriched foods, or foods with health claims, and how consumers judge them. It asks who buys them and why, how far consumers trust health and nutrition claims and how much they are willing to pay. It uses choice experiments, conjoint analysis, experimental auctions and consumer segmentation. Studies cover probiotics, breads and cereals, dairy products, marmalades and new ingredients. Recent research looks at combining health and sustainability in snacks, foods enriched with by-products, high-protein products for athletes, spirulina and consumption trends for functional foods.
Description written by AI from the keywords, journals, most-cited works and recent works of the topic.
The last share tells how far the topic passes through few hands: in the field it ranges from 12% to 39%. 21% means that the topic has some reference groups but remains widespread. Signatures are counted, not papers: an article with four authors on the topic weighs four times, because the question is how much of the work passes through few people.
Trend over time and quality of outlets
Documents and citations per year
Journal quartiles (SJR · SCImago)
Attention in the last three years
The topic is declining: citations received by its papers went from 693 (2020–2022) to 863 (2023–2025), while those of the whole field grew 1.55 times. Citations received in those years by all papers on the topic are counted, including older ones.
Who leads the topic in the last three years
- Riccardo Vecchio · Napoli Federico II · 180 citations received 2023–2025 from papers on the topic
- Azzurra Annunziata · "Parthenope" di NAPOLI · 178 citations received 2023–2025 from papers on the topic
- Rosaria Viscecchia · FOGGIA · 93 citations received 2023–2025 from papers on the topic
- Domenico Carlucci · BARI · 78 citations received 2023–2025 from papers on the topic
- Biagia De Devitiis · FOGGIA · 78 citations received 2023–2025 from papers on the topic
Most active researchers on the topic
By papers on the topic. The last column still shows specialisation, to tell apart those who work on it a lot in absolute terms from those who work on it above all.
Who is most specialised in this topic
Not those who published the most on it, but those who devote the largest share of their output to it compared with the field average. Above 1 there is specialisation; the tick marks parity. Researchers with fewer than three papers on the topic are excluded.
| Name | Institution | Papers on the topic | Specialisation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azzurra Annunziata | Università degli Studi di Napoli "Parthenope" | 12 | 19.02 |
| Raffaele Zanchini | Università degli Studi di Torino | 5 | 11.00 |
| Rosaria Viscecchia | Università degli Studi di Foggia | 5 | 10.63 |
| Gioacchino Pappalardo | Università degli Studi di Catania | 8 | 10.11 |
| Francesco Bimbo | Università degli Studi di Foggia | 4 | 9.59 |
| Riccardo Vecchio | Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II | 11 | 9.53 |
| Claudio Bellia | Università degli Studi di Catania | 3 | 7.58 |
| Daniela Ivana Laura Spina | Università degli Studi di Catania | 4 | 5.50 |
| Biagio Pecorino | Università degli Studi di Catania | 4 | 5.06 |
| Gaetano Chinnici | Università degli Studi di Catania | 5 | 4.99 |
Most active institutions
The number tells how much work on the topic comes from each institution; specialisation tells how much the topic weighs within the institution compared with the field average. A small, focused institution can be more specialised than a large one that does everything.
| Institution | Papers on the topic | Specialisation |
|---|---|---|
| Università degli Studi di Catania | 46 | 3.18 |
| Università degli Studi di Foggia | 21 | 2.23 |
| Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II | 19 | 3.60 |
| Università degli Studi di Napoli "Parthenope" | 16 | 5.48 |
| Università degli Studi di Palermo | 13 | 1.68 |
| Università Politecnica delle Marche | 10 | 2.31 |
| Università degli Studi di Torino | 10 | 2.05 |
| Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro | 8 | 1.59 |
| CREA – Centro di ricerca Politiche e Bioeconomia | 6 | 0.81 |
| Foreign institutions | 6 | 0.80 |
Institutions in Italy
- Catania18
- Napoli Federico II (Portici)18
- Napoli Parthenope15
- Foggia8
- Palermo7
- CREA-PB (Roma)6
- Torino (Grugliasco)6
- Bari5
International collaboration
Related topics
The topics that most often appear in the same papers. The number is the papers in common.
Recurring keywords
Main journals
- Foods · 5 papers
- Quality - Access to Success · 5 papers
- British Food Journal · 4 papers
- Future Foods · 4 papers
- International Journal of Consumer Studies · 3 papers
- International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition · 3 papers
- Journal of Agriculture and Food Research · 3 papers
- Nutrients · 3 papers
- AIMS Agriculture and Food · 2 papers
- Appetite · 2 papers
- Food Quality and Preference · 2 papers
- International Journal on Food System Dynamics · 2 papers
Most cited publications on the topic
- Consumer perception of functional foods: A conjoint analysis with probiotics2013 · 245 citations
- Emerging trends in European food, diets and food industry2018 · 222 citations
- Functional foods development in the European market: A consumer perspective2011 · 210 citations
- Willingness to use functional breads. Applying the Health Belief Model across four European countries2009 · 143 citations
- Consumer perceptions of healthy cereal products and production methods2007 · 114 citations
- Consumers' willingness to pay for conventional, organic and functional yogurt: Evidence from experimental auctions2016 · 109 citations
- The role of beliefs in purchasing process of functional foods2016 · 102 citations
- Sensory attributes and consumer acceptability of 12 microgreens species2020 · 87 citations
- Sociodemographic Factors Differentiating the Consumer and the Motivations for Functional Food Consumption2017 · 86 citations
- Analyzing consumer trends in functional foods: A cluster analysis approach2024 · 74 citations