This thesis consist of short review of how the term ''functional food'' came to be, its signifacance and role in human diet and health. The research done with 60 highschool students and 85 students of University of Zadar, with the goal of determining the level of knowladge and awareness about functional food, as well as recent science researches, show that the most important factors for individuals when choosing which products to buy are appearance, price, quality, diversity, organic farming, and availability. The views of functional food, its contribution to overall health of an individual, safety, flavours, its effects on the immune sistem, and its ability to prevent and cure illnesses, were tested through a sociodemographic questionnaire and a questionnaire with 20 assertions. The results are interestingly diverse, dispersed from 1 to 7 on the Likert scale. The general result of the questionnaires is the lack of knowladge about functional food shown in the respondents answers, The research sheds a light on the need for educating students, preferably by including functional food in curriculum.