Vitamins

Vitamins are wide a group of organic compounds that have to be obtained from the diet, necessary for the correct maintenance of the body normal functions. In the current era of natural foods for health, there is an increased interest in the vitamin supply through the diet by means of ready-to-eat foods and drinks and nutritionally rich foods either natural or minimally processed. Emerging technologies aim to improve the stability and bioaccesibility of vitamins in foods to maintain their functionality through their bioavailability, metabolism, and health-promoting activity, and these new technological approaches may affect the vitamin contents of foods during shelf-life, but at the same time, vitamins can be used as technological ingredient to improve the shelf-life of food products. The envisaged challenges and opportunities for vitamins for a healthier world are also introduced in this chapter. In summary, the physiological role of the vitamins, an extended overview of the current evidence on their health implications, as well as the relevance of emerging technologies affecting the food vitamins, and the available techniques of advanced analysis of vitamins will be considered in this chapter.