December 2006

Market analysis group Business Insights Ltd. reported earlier this year that the following key markets trends will compromise the lion's share of the future of wellness foods and beverages:

Heart health - R&D experts are reformulating products to include ingredients, such as plant sterols, soy whole grains and tea, that actively protect the heart. Lead heart-health trend categories are snacks, bakery and cereals, dairy, oils and fats.

Well-being - manufacturers are driving the trend by highlighting the wellness ingredients of a product through marketing and on the packaging, as well as reformulating products to include ingredients that promote well-being, such as antioxidants and pre- and probiotics. Lead product categories in the well-being trend are soft drinks, snacks, dairy, hot drinks and meal substitutes. Many products in these categories contain ingredients such as pre- and probiotics and antioxidants to promote digestive health and immunity.

"Right" fats - is a trend being driven due to awareness of rising levels in heart disease and scientific validation that omega-3s slow down the onset of dementia and symptoms of arthritis.

Nutraceuticals/Pharmacologicals - is a key category related to rising levels in cancer, high prevalence of osteoporosis, women searching for more natural methods to help relieve the symptoms of menopause and increasing health care costs. Manufacturers are riding the trend by including ingredients that provide specific health benefits. Industry executives believe pharmaceutical companies will have significant impact on healthy food and beverage innovations over the next five years.

The consultancy also predicts nanotechnology and nano-bio-info convergance will influence more than 40 percents of food industries by 2015, The nanofood market doubled from $2.6 to $5.3 billion from 2003 to 2005 and is expected to reach $20.4 billion in 2010. The risk for the food companies lies not in not entering nanotechnology, but in entering too late.

Business Insights points to the growing awareness by consumers of the benefits of certain ingredients and sees young adults as the key marketing targets for new healthy products. Young adults are also likely to be more health conscious while having less cemented purchasing and consuming patterns.

Helmut Kaiser believes snacks to be the most innovative category in healthy food and drinks. Snacks can be reformulated easily, and single-serve products provide convenience to the fuctional food and drinks consumer.

According to Datamonitor experts, "Manufacturers believe the most important fuctional products to consumers are those targeting weight loss and energy needs, while long-term health concerns are the least important aspects of well-being.

This reflects a tendency for nutraceutical consumers to focus on the short-term benefits of products, as would be expected from their general consumption behavior."