21.  Like pills that treat a chronic illness, most functional foods have to be used several times a day for weeks to get the promised benefit.

22.  Natural foods such as broccoli and tea have been making headlines as functional foods for a few years.

23.  Not everyone is enthusiastic about functional foods.

24.  Nutraceuticals, or functional food, is a fast-growing segment of the cereal industry.

25.  Now, though, makers of functional foods believe that they have developed a successful formula.

26.  Nutritionists and dietitians expect the debate over functional foods, nutraceuticals and other bio-tech hybrids to continue into the next millennium.

27.  Other functional foods have similar problems.

28.  Some experts argue that with larger companies entering the market, the momentum will build to describe the contents and suggested doses of functional foods more thoroughly.

29.  Some of the skepticism is justified, said nutritionist Schardt, because not all functional foods are backed by years of research.

30.  Some consumers have begun to think of functional food as medicine, abandoning it once the benefit is achieved, several packaged-foods analysts said.