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The Europiiische Akademie is concerned with the study of scientific and technolog­ ical advances for the individual, society and the natural environment. The work of the academy is interdisciplinary drawing on relevant academic disciplines so far as they can inform the debate on consequences and suggest solutions. This book is dedicated to the issue of Functional Foods, a rather topical issue with important ramifications for the overall quality of life. It is the result of the Europiiische Akademie's working group'Functional Foods'which worked from January 2001 to June 2003. Since the times of Hippocrates, we view'food as our medicine, and medicine as our food'; a view that is confirmed by nowadays science which agrees that diet is related to health, well-being and the prevention of disease. At the same time, food­ related diseases have reached epidemic proportions in western societies while obe­ sity is spreading rapidly in all parts and strata of modern society. The cost for the health system is significant while the reduction in quality of life is immeasurable.

Many of the questions related to the treatment of drug addiction originate from the confusion that still characterizes this issue, even though biology is irreversibly changing our outlook on the physiology and psychopathology of the mind. In fact, prejudices stemming from the archaic concept of mind-body dualism are so difficult to eradicate that even a skilled psychiatrist may find it hard to distinguish a psychiatric symptom from a socially transgressive behavior. The dilemma becomes even more salient for drug addiction, since many of the substances which induce abuse and dependence are illegal, and their production, trade and use are forbidden by law. If the use of heroin is connoted as a crime, it may become controversial to recognize its chronic sequelae as a disease. Hence, withdrawal symptoms may alternatively be attributed to drug effects, or labelled as immoral attitudes arising from a vicious personality. However, the physician's judgement, which has to be merely instrumental at improving the patient's quality of life, should never be influenced by such complex setting. In fact, the only concern of the physician must be that of ascertaining the causes of symptoms and of removing them: if symptoms are induced by the toxic effect of a drug, he has to use the most effective antidote, and then proceed towards a detoxification; if they are due to withdrawal, a substitutive substance should be given initially. In the case of narcotics, substitutive therapy on a maintenance basis may become mandatory.