Wellness Foods Trends 2007

But the data strongly suggest there are “outlying” consumers of gut-health products, specifically probiotic yogurts and similar products, who believe – correctly, for the most part – that these products enhance their health status. Probiotic yogurts contain live cultures which promote the growth of healthy bacteria.

Researchers have determined this growing popularity of gut health products is not only from their having been heavily marketed to health-oriented consumers but because such products are perceived as providing additional benefits, such as enhancing the immune system.

Weight Management

According to Datamonitor’s study, “New Consumer Insight: Overweight Consumers and the Future of Food and Drinks,” the obesity crisis is still growing. Awareness is no longer the problem. And, although significant urban populations live in “food deserts” that put little but fast food within their reach, for many American consumers the availability of healthier foods is sufficient enough to not block averting or reversing obesity.

Involved processors have been taking a more aggressive approach by ramping up the sheer number of choices for healthier foods and beverages for weight management.

Although the U.S. has by far the highest proportion of overweight and obese consumers, with 65.8 percent of the adult population estimated to be in the category in 2004, some European countries are not far behind. Germany and the U.K. in particular stand out in Europe, with 54.2 percent and 61.6 percent of consumers, respectively, being overweight and obese in 2004. However, the number of overweight consumers in the US will continue to grow fast.

Obesity

According to the World Health Organization, obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with more than one billion adults overweight and at least 300 million clinically obese. The rising epidemic is a major contributor to the burden of chronic disease and disability and reflects the profound changes in society and in behavioral patterns of communities over recent decades.

Consumers of all ages are increasingly concerned about obesity, as obesity and overweight rates rise to record levels among adults and children alike. As a result, the market for diet products has reached $42 billion in the U.S., and is growing at a rate of about 3.5 percent per year. “Diet foods are not functional foods since they are characterized by an absence of calorific or fatty ingredients rather than the presence of other ingredients. However, there is scope for functional products to target dieting consumers in two major ways,” say Datamonitor experts.

One way is the manufacture of “low-and-light” nutraceutical products. Early examples were spreads, such as McNeil Nutritional’s Benecol and Unilever USA’s Promise, providing putative health benefits through reduction of dietary cholesterol. Even within energy drinks, products such as Diet Red Bull have achieved significant sales in many geographies. This suggests a demand for the caffeine and other fortified components without the sugar and its resultant calories.

But the emerging strategy is development of functional products specifically targeting consumer weight-loss needs not via displacing higher-fat foods, but by “having a direct functional effect that drives weight loss.” Such products are referred to as “negative calorie” products.

Negative calorie products are said to influence metabolism via stimulants, such as caffeine, guarana, ginseng or maté (also called “yerba maté”), to the point of using as many or more calories as is in the product itself. Maté, which provides stimulation from a chemical analog of caffeine called xanthine, is poised on the verge of mainstream popularity. A number of beverages containing mate have been rolled out in just the past few years.

Some negative calorie products are also marketed as appetite suppressors, a trait long associated with stimulants. So far, these products have emerged primarily in the beverage category. Beverages with no calorific value are more practical to produce than foods. However, there may be scope to develop functional foods with the same aspects, and in fact a few such confectionary products, such as chocolates, mints and breath strips, are already on the market.

Childhood nutrition needs figure large, especially considering the childhood obesity and diabetes crisis. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, an estimated 40 percent of overweight children and 70 percent of obese children will remain overweight or obese through adulthood. This suggests the obesity epidemic will be with us for at least another generation or more.