Wellness Foods - December 2007 - (Page 14)

orange, blueberries, camu-camu, capros, carotenoids, cherries, cranberries, granates have all risen in popularity,” writes Michael Hughes, market analyst for Datamonitor. “Pomegranate is currently one of the most fashionable superfood ingredients. In the period January 2005 to May 2007, there had already been a 500 percent increase in the number of products using pomegranate…compared to 1999-2004. “Right now, pomegranate is the hot ingredient, but is likely to be superseded given that new ingredients are being continuously touted,” Hughes adds. “Monitoring these developments will be vital if industry players are to fully capitalize on the superfoods movement.” The class of polyphenolic antioxidants known as anthocyanins are what give red, purple and blue fruits and veggies their color. “Anthocyanins are one of the exciting polyphenolic compounds we’ve been studying in our laboratories looking at brain function, dementia, and aging,” says James Joseph, Ph.D., director of neuroscience laboratory for the USDA Agricultural Research Service at Tufts University, Boston. “Anthocyanins, as part of a food matrix, appear to get across the blood brain barrier better than isolated flavonoid fractions (in) a pill or an extract,” Joseph adds. “There may be specific receptor sites for anthocyanins and other polyphenols in the brain.” “Demand for superfruit ingredients has grown rapidly, adds George Pontiakos, president and CEO of BI Nutraceuticals (www.binutraceuticals. com), Long Beach, Calif. “These extracts offer beverage manufacturers a way to add antioxidant activity and other healthful properties to their finished products.” Perhaps the best bellwether of interest for these nutraceutical-rich juices is the new pomegranateblueberry juice from Minute Maid (www.minutemaid.com), Houston. Targeting mental performance (“Help Nourish Your Brain”), it completes the trend trifecta by including 50mg of Martek Biosciences life’sDHA omega-3 per 8-oz. serving. It’s not just fruits. Tomatoes – the main and most familiar source of lycopene – played a big part of the red fruit revolution, drawing some of the earliest attention to the part color plays in nutrition. So much so we also have to add to the edible rainbow revolution the new crops of colorful carrots in purples, reds and yellows, as well arrivistes such as scarlet sweet corn, bred with added anthocyanins. The transition from fresh fruit to juice to trendy food product ingredient proved pomegranate’s success as one of the top superfruits. Tropical Storm Mintel International Group Ltd.’s (www.mintel. com) Global New Products Database forecasts Trends from New Consumer Research by David Schmidt, president and CEO of the International Food Information Council (IFIC) The year 2007 marks a midpoint between the release of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the next wave of recommendations to be made in 2010. According to the 2007 IFIC Consumer Attitudes toward Functional Foods/Foods for Health Survey – the fifth edition of a biennial survey begun in 1998 – Americans’ familiarity with foods providing benefits beyond basic nutrition (“functional foods”) is at an all-time high. On an unaided basis, 92 percent of consumers are able to name a food and its associated health benefit, such as calcium for bone health. This represents a significant and steady increase compared to 84 percent in 2002, 82 percent in 2000, and 77 percent in 1998. The top 10 functional foods named top-of-mind by consumers were 1) fruits and vegetables; 2) fish, fish oil, seafood; 3) milk and other dairy products; 4) whole grains, including oats, oat bran, and oatmeal; 5) fiber; 6) green tea; 7) meat; 8) water; 9) certain herbs and spices; and 10) nuts. Where the nutrition needle stalls - the “diet disconnects” - are the knowledge-behavior gaps with respect to some basic nutrition concepts, such as calories and dietary fats. While 56 percent of consumers say they are currently trying to lose weight, only 11 percent of consumers correctly estimate the recommended number of calories per day for a person of their age and height. Less than one third of respondents correctly stated that “calories in general” caused weight gain. Consumer concern about types and amounts of dietary fats is up from a year ago, 72 percent vs. 66 percent, and people are trying specifically to consume less trans fat. But, they are also trying to consume less polyunsaturated fats, suggesting they are unclear about which fats are healthful. View the complete survey at www.ific.org/research/index.cfm. 14 | December 2007 www.wellnessfoodsonline.com Food Processing’s Wellness Foods™ http://www.binutraceuticals.com http://www.binutraceuticals.com http://www.minutemaid.com http://www.minutemaid.com http://www.mintel.com http://www.mintel.com http://www.ific.org/research/index.cfm http://www.wellnessfoodsonline.com

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Wellness Foods - December 2007 Well Noted Healthbites New Ingredient Profiles Wellness Trends in 2008 On the Shelf Expert Opinion

Wellness Foods - December 2007

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