As consumers` understanding of nutrition ltas become

114
HEALTH & WELLBEING
PharmaFcod
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SPOTLIGHT ON HEALTH
On both sidesof theAtlantic,health
and well-being has become a major media
focus. Consumers are being bombarded
with conflicting messages,from scare
stories to lifestyle advice. Despite
confusion over what is and isn't healthy, for
many people the main messagethat health
is influenced by nutrition has hit home.
This has fuelled a thirst for genuine,
unbiasedinformation on health and
nutrition. Websitessuch as those for the
Food and Behaviour Researchcharitable
organisation (Fabresearch),the NHS's
Behind the headlinesand the Consumers
for Health Choice site are popular, with
Fabresearchgetting an averageof 10,000
visitors every month. Consumers for
Health Choice has a databaseof over
267,000supporters.
DIET-LINKED
DISEASE
Media coverageof new researchand
online information has greatly heightened
public understandingofhow diet can
make the body more susceptible to, or
prevent, disease.A recent study by the
World Cancer ResearchFund stated:
'Evidence
shows that vegetables,fruits and
other foods containing dietary fibre (such
aswholegrains and pulses) may protect
againsta range ofcancers' and camewith
a list of top 10 dietary recommendations to
reduce cancer risk.
The study also found that certain
foods are not merely bad for the waistline,
but can actually increasesusceptibility to
cancer.Processedmeatssuch as ham and
bacon can increasethe chanceofgetting
cancer by l0%, and, while drinking red
wine can reduce the likelihood of heart
disease,it can increasethe possibility of
mouth. throat and breast cancers.Rather
than giving general advice to eat healthily,
we can envisage doctors and governments
advising people to eat or avoid specific
loods to lower chances of diseases they
may be susceptible to.
PERFORMANCE
EATERS
A burgeoning consumer demographic
buys Foodspurely for health-giving
properties,without being concerned
whether these are organic, pure or natural.
Members of GenerationJones want to look
and feel as good as they did in their youth,
and have no intention of giving in to the
signs of ageing, while fast-livingZeno
Youth embracevitamin-enriched
or vaccine-boostedproduce to improve
their health without having to stick to
a nutritionally-balancednatural diet.
These groups are fuelling the
functional foods market as they not
only buy to improve their own wellness,
performance and appearance,but
also that of their families.For these
groups, heightened performance and
health is the only goal and if that comes
through products with a wealth of added
vitamins and minerals subjectedto fat
or sugar stripping processesor synthetic
production processes,so be it.
Pharmafoodsand superfoodsarethene@
@ayto attemptto achieaeoptimumhealth
and extendlongevity
Infuture, doctorsandgoaernrnents
nxay
adaisepeopleto eator aaoi,dspec!ficfoods
to
louer chances
of disease
A burgeoni,ngconsurnerderno
graphic,
including Generationjlnes and leno
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Touth,buysfoods
properties,aithout beingconcerned
uhether
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FoodMedicsaretheearlyadopters
of nea sup er/fun cti onalfo ods andfood
productioninnlaatioe srstenxs
but only
lfthq belieaetheprodurts haaegenuine,
proaenhealthbenefits
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aboutGMfood, hafthe proportiln that
enpressed
concernin 2000
GroupssuchasZenoTouthseeenrichedfoods
astheperfectantidoteto their syntheticfood
ll/hen it comesto health-boostingfood,
consurners
areuillingto pay extra; houeaer,
thefunctionalfoodand drinks marketis
aboutt0 entera criti,calera aspurchasers
become
increasinglyueptical aboutooerinJlatedclairns
FOODMEDICS
M anqfacturers oJtr adi ti onaIIg unhealt b)
Food Medics are the key consumer group
foodssuchastitps, chocolate,oilsandfast
driving the pharmacy foods market. Food
aregiaingtheir productsa dramatic
Medics are at the forefront of selFmedication food
healthmakeoaer
through nutrition. They researchand hone
their knowledge to achieve a diet that
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digest iaeheal th-i.mproaing constituents
foods and innovative food production
systemsbut only if they believethe products
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Products
The ingredients, products and
innovations set to drive the brand
and category sales of tomorrow...
Bonsoy: Often referred to as the RollsRoyce of soya milks by coffee baristas for
its smooth appearance and creamy taste.
Expect sales to rise as foodies discover its
superior taste and the health-conscious
realise it is one of the few sova milks that
already contains seaveg.
Children's health: Products such as
Danone's Danimals, smoothies for
children with probiotic Lactobacillus
(LGG), will lead the way in the soonto-explode children's functional food
market. Adult Food Medics will feed
their offspring the same health-boosting
foodstuffs they feed themselves and wellmeaning parents will look for quick fixes
and easy vehicles for topping up their
children's vitamin and mineral intake.
Satiety products: Satiety products such
as Slimfast's new Hunger Shot drink and
Coca-Cola's calorie-burning Enviga will
generate fans among those who want
to control" maintain and reduce their
weight with as little effort as possible.
Anything that suppressesthe appetite
without being too extreme will win
dedicated repeat buyers.
Mood foods: Already big in Japan,
'mood
foods' that help tackle
stress, restlessness,concentration
and depression will spread. As the
effectiveness ofdrugs such as Prozac
is questioned, more people will look to
food and naturally occurring ingredients
to improve their moods.
ZENO YOUTH
Proudly urbanite and digitally native,
Zeno Youths don't automatically equate
organic with quality. This is a generation
that has grown up with the concepts of
hybrid pets and successfulcloning. They
seegenetically modified crops as a way
ofensuring that there is enough food for
everyone,via crops that can resist drought,
diseaseand pests.They have not thought
about the potential complications because
they seetechnological advancesas a force
for good. They representan emergingwave
of changing attitudes towards science.
Today only one in five Britonsis concerned
about GM food, half the proportion that
expressedconcernin 2000.
Zenos are also keen on enriched foods,
from dairy produce with additional Omega 3
to vitamin-enrichedjuices and breads.
The wholefood fanatic would seethese as
gimmicky, but the Zeno looks upon them
as the perfect antidote to their synthetic
food favourites and hedonistic lifestvles.
BUYING INTO HEALTH
Consumers are dedicating a larger chunk
of their incomesto quality,organic,
premium, health-giving and functional
foods. According to Datamonitor, the
combined US, Western European and
Asian-Pacific functional food and drink
market is worth $72.3bn,proving that
when it comes to health-boosting food,
consumers are willing to pay extra.
However, according to industry
experts, despite impressivesalesfigures,
the functional foods and drinks market
is about to enter a critical era. According
to Datamonitor: Although consumers
are actively seeking out food and drinks
that optimise performance and reduce
the risk of illness,they are becoming
more scepticalabout the health claims
made by food and drink manufacturerb...
a lack ofconfidence in food and drink
with'artificial' ingredientsmeansmore
consumers are opting for naturally healthy
diets in order to boost wellnesslevels.'
DOCTOR. DOCTOR
Ironically, as the public steersclearofthe
doctor's surgery, the red carpet is being
rolled out for medics working in food
and beauty, with products conceived by
'doctors'
becoming more prevalenton
shelves.German brand Dr Karg's organic
crispbreadsare rapidly becoming the latest
in gourmet, health-boostingcrackerbreads,
while American beauty brand NV Perricone
MD, named for dermatologist Dr Nicholas
Perricone, is receiving accoladesfor its
range of digestible beauty products.
BORN.AGAINJUNK
Manulacturers of traditionally unhealthy
foods such as crisps, chocolate, oils and fast
food are giving their products a dramatic
health makeover.Walkers now fries its crisps
in Sunseedoil, McDonald'sis using organic
milk and Marks & Spencerchildren's
sweetsare additjve free.American company
CorazonasFoods,creatorof Corazonas
Heart-Healthy Potato Chips, usesa patented
technology that infuses plant sterolsinto
the chips.This is claimed to reducelowdensity lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol by
up to L5%.Similarly,Israeli firm Shemen
Industries has launched Canola Active Oil,
also said to reduce cholesterol by using
infusions of plant phytosterols.
'First
we had products with lower
cholesterol-forming levels, Now we've
got products on the market that help
lower cholesterol, and in the future there'll
be products that stop cholesterolfrom 119)
HEALTH & WELLBEING
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getting high in the first place,' saysKarl
Crawford, businessleaderof HortResearch
in New Zealand,a government-sponsored
researchprogramme designedto probe the
possibilitiesof functional food.
Following Corazonas'healthy potato
chips, Coca-Colahas brought out a
cannedgreen tea drink, Enviga, that burns
calories.By 2009,American company
PioneerHi-Bred International hopes to
launch a new soyabean oil that is, through
geneticmanipulation, healthier and
doesn'tproduce trans fats during cooking.
OMEGA3 RUSH
Many people in countriesincluding the
UK, US, Europe and Australia havefar
too little Omega 3-derived EPA and DHA
in their diets, and this has been widely
publicised.These essentialfatty acidsare
neededfor optimum brain function, and
food manulacturers are adding them to
anything and everything. McCain has
launcheda range ofSuper Crunchy Omega 3
Friesand Healthy Choice Pizzaswith
added Omega 3, while Heinz has produced
Omega 3-enrichedtinned SpaghettiPlus,
and Birds Eye has followed suit with Smart
Choice Fish Fillets. However, none of
theseproducts have set the market alight
like Australian bread brand Tip Top Up,
an Omega 3-enrichedslicedloaf that has
becomethe most popular slicedloaf in the
country as it is not only rich in Omega 3,
but is deemedperfect'lunch-box' size,
with a superiorgrainy taste.
Alex Richardson, nutritionist and
founder of the Fabresearchheath and
nutrition website,is generallyscepticalof
'added-value'
products and a supporter
of nutrients obtained from their natural
sources,such as fresh fish, in the caseof
Omega 3. However, he tentatively supports
'Obviously
such products.
eating foily] fish
twice a week is best,but there is such
a massivedearth of Omega 3-derivedEPA
and DHA that anything healthy that gets it
into people'sdiets is good.'
ANTIOXIDANTTAKE.OVER
Ifindustry expertsare to be believed,
antioxidantswill becomethe probiotics
of2008. To date,probiotic drinks are the
biggestsinglemarket in the functional
foods category.Although these are bought
by a relativelysmall numberof people.
such customersform a dedicated,loyal
and repeat-purchasing
base.Probiotics,
designedto aid the digestivesystemand
'wellness',
boost
haveproved a major
successfor Danone,which produces
Actimel, a €1bn brand.
Most consumers,bar the Food Medics
group, have an extremely rudimentary
grasp of why probiotics are good lor them,
yet buy into the product anyway. The
samegoesfor the burgeoninginterestin
antioxidants: consumerspurchaseproducts
with high antioxidant levels becausethey
seethesesimply as a'wellness-boosting'
property.Thosewith a slightlyhigher
understanding may describe antioxidants
as compounds that'kill free radicals,which
are,er, bad things we don't want inside us.'
HortResearchscienrisrsare propagaring
new strains ofapples, kiwis and berries such
as raspberry, boysenberry, blackcurrant
and blackberry with levelsofantioxidants
eight times higher than standard crops.
They are also looking at the theoriesabout
why antioxidants are good for us. 'What
antioxidants probably do is signal to cells
or activatecellsto producethe body's
own antioxidants, which help normalise
immune function, inflammation and mop
up free radicals,' saysKarl Crawford. 120r.
Innovations
Drinkable sunscreen: Why spend time
slapping on suntan lotion when you
can drink it instead? Lyc-O-Guard,
one of the lycopene-based, tomatoderived products from Lyc-O-Mato,
aims to protect against solar radiation
and other free radical donors.
Nutrigenomics: As nutrigenomics
become more sophisticated, expect
personalised diets to become the norm in
the quest to prevent the onset ofdisease.
This trend will be supported by the
emerging pharmacogenomics industry.
Healthyjunk: Food such as Corazonas'
potato chips that actively reduce
cholesterol will become the norm and
kind of technologywill be applied to a
variety ofjunk foods.
Supreme produce: Through selective
breeding technolog:y, the nutritional
value of fruit and vegetables, particularly
antioxidant levels, will be boosted to
levels as much as eight times higher than
that of naturally occurring produce.
This is possible as researchers now have
a more sophisticated knowledge of fruit
genetics than ever before.
Health-to-go: Dissolvable strips look
set to become the newvehicle for
supplement absorption with industry
expertslisting 812, chromium
picolinate, melatonin and possibly
coenzyme QtO (COQ[0) as good
examples of ingredients thatwould be
suitable for soluble films.
120
HEALTH & WELLBEING
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TARGETAREAS
Heart health was targeted by functional
food manufacturers during the late 90s
'death
via a multitude of
marketing'
campaigns. Digestive health and weight
management will be the key trends of 2008
and beyond.Julian Mellentin,executive
director and editor-in-chief of New
Nutrition Businessbelieves this is largely
because'digestive health problems from
bloating to IBS affect millions of people
and are usually packaged in a general
wellness messagewhich is more appealing
than products with single-organ appeal.'
We can expect to seea rise in foods
with added digestive health-improving
constituents, such as products from Orafti
Active Food Ingredients that leature
natural extracts from chicory: inulin, a
heterogeneousblend of fructose polymers,
and oligofructose, a subgroup ofinulin.
Sunsweethas produced a beverage called
PlumSmart that claims to boost digestive
health. In a recent press statement Steve
Harris, vice president of marketing at
'With
Sunsweet,said:
60 to 70 million
Americans suffering from digestivediseases,
PlumSmart Light is the only low-sugar
juice for digestive health maintenance.'
Until another 10 come along...
BEAUTY SHOPPING
In the beauty realm, Borba Nutraceuticals,
a US company that specialisesin
nutraceuticals and ingestible beauty
products, is using agai, pomegranate and
goji berry in various products that claim to
enhance beauty: waters, HD-Illuminating
PlasmaInfused Crystals and Gummi Bears
(yes,Gummi Bears).'Berries are huge right
now,'says founder and CEO Scott-Vincent
'Our
Borba.
products that contain them,
especially the Gummi Bears, are extremely
popular.'At $25 a bag, Borba Gummi
Bears have an almost inconceivable markup on standard sweetsyet on their initial
launch stockistssold out injust a few days.
'Retailers
thought lwas crazy,but I saw a
gap in the market for ingestible beauty and
beauty fromwithin that neededto be filled,'
'Borba
saysBorba.
Nutraceuticals targets
problems at the root, inside your body, and
it's a conceptconsumerstotally get.'
ANTI.STRESS CHOCOLATE
We are also seeing the rise of anti-stress
foods, filler foods and'brain foods'.
InJapan, the launch of Glico's Mental
Balance chocolate, containing GABA,
has been a runaway success,due to its
claims that the ingredient GABA (gammaaminobutyricacid).a neurotransmitter,
reducesstress,which appeals to a nation of
workaholics. GABA bars now have annual
salesof $40m in Japan alone.
NATURAL
SELECTION
Lyc-O-Mato is a supplement produced by
Israeli company LycoRed, and is derived
from tomato lycopene, believed to help
prevent free-radical damage to human
cells. Each Lyc-O-Mato capsule contains
four times the lycopeneof a regular
tomato. In addition to the supplement,
the company has developed a range of
functional drinks: Summer Delight,
enriched with antioxidants, lutein and
beta-carotene,and Tomato-on-the-Go
beverages.In the cosmeceuticalcategory,
the company is currently promoting LycO-Guard, a beverage that is claimed to
protect against solar radiation and other
free radical generators such as pollution.
'Functional
foods, especially in the
form ofbeverages, will be a household
concept in the near future although the
skin protection category (cosmeceuticals)
has the best chance to overtake lagging
salesofsnack bars and foods,'predicts
Zohar Nir, vice president of product
development and scientific affairs at
'This
LycoRed.
century will be the century
of nutrition and the younggeneration
won't be able to shy away from learning
nutrition at school, which hopefullywill
lower the rate ofdegenerative diseases
in the future.'
FUTURE CLAMPDOWN
The future of the functional foods market
is uncertain as it is unclear what can and
'functional',
cannot be classedas
what
type of health claims food can make and
how these are to be substantiated. InJuly
2007,the EU Directive brought in the
Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation,
designed to set out clearly what health
claims manufacturers can and cannot
make. The Food Standards Agency (FSA)
confirmed the list of nutritional claims is
already in use, but the health claims list is
still being developedby the EU. Its planned
implementation begins in January 2009.
The FSA refrains from conjecturing how the
Iist may affect the functional foods industry.
Will products have to be withdrawn or
re-branded?As no-one yet knows what
measuresthe EU plans to impose, or how
thesewill affect the industry, this is, as
Karl Crawford of HortResearch says,
'the
$64m dollar question.'
NUTRI-DETECTIVES
Consumers' ever-increasingknowledge,
not only about diet but about formerly
impenetrable lists of food preservatives,
chemicals and additives, means
manufacturers won't get awaywith adding
cheapjunk torfoods, or with over-hyped
121
'Because
the consumers
product claims.
that are into health tend to be quite vocal
and engaged,we're heading into a time
where manufacturers will have to be much
more careful about not only what they
put into their products but also how they
brand and market them in relation to the
claims they make,' saysLisa Miles of the
BritishNutrition Foundation.'Consumers
are becoming much more clued-up and are
doing their researchto find out what they
are really eating.'
FUTUREFOODS
Scientific innovation, coupled with
changing consumer attitudes, will see
the pharmafoods ideology spread
throughout the industry in a variety of
forms and guises. The pharmafoods
trend is cranking up a gear: from the
contradictory proposition of nutrient-rich
Big Macs to gene-defyingpersonalised
diets in the not so distant future.
SMALL WORLD
Nanotechnology is becoming increasingly
important in the development of
pharmafoods. Although much of the
development ofnanofoods is being kept
tightly under wraps, nano-tech is already a
billion-dollar industry: the EU has already
contributed €1.7bn to research,while
analystspredict the nanofood industry
could be worth $20bn annually by 2010.
Nanotechnology is already being used
in a range of foodstuffs already on the
market, includingTip Top Up bread and
ShemenIndustries'Canola Oil. Tip Top
Up adds the Omega 3 to a nanocapsule
liposome and Shemenusesa nanoformation
that reducescholesterol by competing
with the body's bio-system,preventing
cholesterol from being absorbed.
An interesting area for nanotechnology
is taking food that's bad for us like
chocolate,sugary drinks, chips, and
making them good for us,' saysMark
Morrison.scientificmanagerat the
Institute of Nanotechnology. A new
nanotechnology processis being worked
on to remove fat frorn mayonnaise: solid
globules of fat are replaced by liquid
nutrients and minerals. The result
still tastesand feelslike mayonnaise,
'The
yet contains a fraction ofthe fat.
scientific processis actually quite simple,'
'It's just
saysMorrison.
a casenow of
getting it to a point where it's cost-effective
to reproduce on a mass scale.'
SECOND GENERATION
GM
While other Europeancountriesare
experimenting with genetically modified
(GM) crops, the UK is lagging behind
due to staunch opposition from antiGM
campaigners and the general public.
However, Iain Ferguson, chiefexecutive of
Tate & Lyle and president of Britain's Food
and Drink Federation, recently told the
'We
Economist:
sit at a moment in history
where GM technology is a fact of life.'
He went on to argue that, because
many large agricultural exporters have
adopted GM organisms (GMOs), it is very
expensiveto avoid them.
The article also reports that the
European farmers' lobby Copa-Cogecahas
warned that the rising cost of feed could
wipe out Europe's livestock unless bans on
GMOs are lifted; globally there are currently
114mhectaresunder GMO cultivation.
Unlike early incarnations, the new
generation of GMO technology can provide
health benefits such as low-cholesterol
soyaoil. Whether this will sway European
consumershas yet to be put to thetest. 122)
Nanofoods
The potential ofnanotechnology has yet
to be fully exploited and could be used in
various ways. Potential benefits include:
Removing fat from produce such as
mayonnaise without altering the taste,
texture or smell
Making oils such as canola and soya not
only cholesterol-free but able to reduce
cholesterol by competingwith the body's
natural biosystem
Adding nutrients such as vitamins and
minerals to everydayitems such as bread,
meat, dairy fruit juice and pasta
Delivering nutrients in a vehicle that
protects them from stomach acids
by
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122
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Genetic modification can also be used to
battle disease.Yellow rice has already been
genetically engineered to include vitamin A
to tackle deficiency and the resulting
blindne ss in parts of the developing world.
Now extra lycopene is being added to
tomatoes to fight prostate cancer.Zeno
attitudes which may seemextreme today
will be shared tomorrow by a growing
number of people who buy into the food
scienceargument.
The positive Zeno stanceon GM is
shared by the majority of the developing
world and the US. As sciencecontinuesro
find solutions to food issuesand organic
strugglesto find conclusivesupporting
evidence, theZeno lifestyle will become an
increasingly logical route.
Although some consumers doubt
the results offunctional foods and are
moving towards natural products, the
pharmafoods market is onlyjust getting
under way. It has the potential for massive
innovations and growth if manufacturers
keep current key trends in mind: natural,
convenient, gut health, satiety, mood food,
brain food, antioxidant-rich and ingestible
beauty products.
HEALTHAND
DESTINY
As nanotechnologyand nutrigenomics
becomemore sophisticatedand accurate,
nutritional information will become the
norm. Maintaining health will not be
a lilestylechoice,but an expectation.
Those that choose to ignore their genetic
predispositions or eat unhealthily could
be refused insurance policies or medical
treatment. As is the principle of many
natural nutrition courses,individuals will
take control of their own health and manage
it in the sameway they do their money,
'magic
instead of relying on medical
bullets'.
BESPOKEBEAUTY
FROM WITHIN
As the beauty-from-within market
expands,we can expect to seea rise in
bespoke ingestible beauty products and
regimes. The beauty-consciouswill invest
in bespoke (and highly expensive)skin
and hair supplement programmes, lotions
and waters, developed in accordancewith
their genetic make-up, ethnicity, skin type,
diet and lifestyle. As this market becomes
premium,expectmore mainstream
products to be launched to service middleincome beauty buyers.
JUNKUNDERBELLY
Is there potential for a black market
that deals in trans and saturated fat-laced
products such as burgers, deep-fried Mars
bars, pies, bacon butties, chips, deep pan
ptzzas and other processedfoods?Will
junk food bars become the illegal drinking
dens and crack housesof the future?
Looking to the future, Mark Morrison
believes that fast food giants will become
very interested in using nanotechnology
'nutritionally
to
beef up their wares'
and revealsthat nanotechnology has
'go
the potential to
into Star Trek
territory'. Some scientistseven suggest
that eventually liposomes could be
programmed by radio waves to behave
differently depending on the consumer's
current nutritional needs.
123
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18%ofthose
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noteaerythinguillbeplainsailing
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becomingmore
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andmental
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groathare
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think
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red
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turned intouhite, uhilenanoencapsulationmeans
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