Over the past few years, researchers and consumers alike have been taking interest in whether or not the foods that eventually reach our tables are "functional." But what are functional foods?

"All foods are functional to some extent because all foods provide taste, aroma, and nutritive value," explains researcher Clare Hasler in a Journal of Nutrition article.

"However," she goes on to clarify, "foods are now being examined intensively for added physiologic benefits, which may reduce chronic disease risk or otherwise optimize health." And those foods seen to bring specific health benefits are deemed "functional."

Probiotic foods — such as certain types of yogurt, kefir, or kimchi — fall into this category, as they boost the population of good bacteria in our guts, which contribute to our overall health in many ways.

Now, however, researchers from the Universitat Politècnica de València in Spain are looking at how gut bacteria interact with antioxidants in the gut.

Specifically, senior researcher Ana Belén Heredia and her team were interested in seeing how tomato sauce — rich in antioxidants — would behave in the presence of good bacteria in the gut.

And, since tomato sauce can be served raw or cooked, they wanted to understand what effect this would have on the antioxidant-gut bacteria interaction.

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