Consumers want to feel definite health benefits

Suppliers of functional foods must make sure consumers can “feel the benefit” if they want to ride out the recession, a leading food health expert has argued.

Julian Mellentin, executive director of New Nutrition Business consultancy, said cash-strapped consumers still want food and drinks that offer active health benefits. But with purse strings tight, they will want to know they are definitely working before they splash out.

Mellentin’s comments are contained in a new report Ten key trends in food, nutrition & health 2009​, which has just been published. He claimed that functional foods and beverages that provide a benefit consumers can actually feel would be best placed to weather the global economic downturn.

“In tough times the single most important factor consumers will take into account in choosing a functional food or drink will be whether it delivers a benefit they can feel,” said Mellentin. “When people can feel the benefit that is being offered to them, they can see that they are getting value-for-money.”

The importance of feeling the benefit already underpinned many successful brands in the good times, he said, and it would become even more important with people being careful about how they spend their money. “The best examples of the power of ‘feel the benefit’ are energy drinks and products for digestive health. It’s no coincidence that these are already the two largest segments of the functional food and beverage markets worldwide,” he said.

The energy drink market in the US is worth $6bn and is still growing at 10% a year, he claimed. Ten of the top-20 functional food and beverage brands in Japan are for energy or digestion. The single-biggest functional brand in Japan is Otsuka’s Oronamin C energy drink.

Basically, he said, energy drinks deliver a benefit - a shot of energy - that can immediately be felt. Likewise, digestive health products had the same advantage. With probiotic and fibre-fortified products you very quickly find out whether a product is effective or not by whether it makes you feel ‘better inside’, he added. Hence brands such as Activia and Actimel have become global successes.

Conversely, he said: “Products that lack a quick and easy-to-feel effect could be in trouble.” Mellentin cited the example of omega-3 milks: “In Australia sales of omega-3-fortified milks have been falling - in one case by 33% this year. Omega-3 is an essential nutrient, but it doesn’t give a benefit that you can see or feel.”

Mellentin’s 10 Key Trends for 2009 are: digestive health (the biggest trend); followed by ‘feel the benefit’ - what consumers want most in recessionary times; weight management - a bright future for foods that make you want to eat less; energy; naturally healthy and free-from; fruit - the future of functional foods; kids nutrition; healthy snacks; ultra-loyal consumers - niches to help brands ride the recession; and, lastly, packaging innovation.

This report also looks at five micro-trends: movement; omega-3; skin and beauty; mood food; and antioxidants.