Firstly, we consider it is important our clients know that Hydroxytyrosol, in tis powder form, can be used as functional food. This compound is currently being used to enrich solid foods with its properties, such as:

• Bread
• Cakes
• Flours
• Snacks
• Animal feed
• etc.

The main reason to use Hyxotxytyrosol as functional food  is to take advantage of its antioxidant properties. Antioxidants are substances which prevent the lipids oxidation and hence, they avoid the lipid degradation. In the recent years, synthetic antioxidants have been replaced by the industry for naturally found antioxidants. The use of natural antioxidants is an effective method used to prevent or diminish the oxidation effects.

Recently, the use of Hydroxytyrosol as functional food for the animal feed has been tested in several scientific publications in which they proved the antioxidant benefits of the Hydroxytyrosol consumption. During the breeding and fattening of the turkeys there is the problem that the animal suffers serious cardiovascular problems which causes a high mortality rate. The use of Hydroxytyrosol as a functional food has the objective of reducing the mortality of animals during fattening process.

The ILSI (International Life Science Institute) defines functional food as: "A modified food that claims to improve health by providing benefit beyond that of the traditional nutrients it contains". In order to classify food as functional food, their beneficial properties for human health must be clearly documented.

The functinonal foods can be produced through the addition, elimination, concentration or modification of one or more food components. It is important to highlight that functional foods are not tablets or capsules, but foods that are part of a normal regime.