Elderberries grow beyond the folklore into mainstream functional foods.

An old Austrian saying, "Tip your hat to the elder," expresses the respect with which Europeans have long regarded the elder tree (Sambucus nigra L. Caprifoliaceae) and its dark purple berries.

Ingredients pitch in for performance-enhancing products.

From Gatorade to creatine, a dietary supplement used by baseball sluggers Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire, ingredients and formulated products targeting weekend warriors, as well as professional athletes, have grown in popularity.

Research increasingly supports the medicinal benefits of food ingredients.

Even "empty calorie" food and beverages provide needed calories, if little else, to the human body. And, at the other extreme, more than a few plants have historical use not only as a food but for their medicinal benefits as well.

With complex mechanisms maintaining body cholesterol levels, foods to pharmaceuticals must fight for 'share of healthcare.'

Controversies and developmental challenges face botanical functional foods.

It's as old and delicious as sin...so what is so newsworthy about chocolate? Researchers at Davis have been making headlines lately and spurring special news segments on the newly found cardiovascular benefits of chocolate.