Busy consumers are seeking more from their foods and beverages. They desire great-tasting options that deliver efficacious doses of health-promoting ingredients, with transparent processing methods and substantiated claims.
Increased consumer awareness of the long-term benefits of proper nutrition in overall health, and its relation to specific health conditions, is driving new product development in the global functional food and beverage market. Grand View Research Inc. estimates global sales of functional beverages will reach just shy of US$94 billion in 2019, while functional foods—which garner the lion’s share—will hit $275 billion by 2025. Since 2009, there has been a 49 percent increase in consumers who believe consuming functional or fortified foods is important for maintaining health. These consumers are resolute in making purposeful choices. Millennials represent the largest group (88 percent) who consider functional food important to a healthy lifestyle, followed by Gen Xers (42 percent) and Baby Boomers (36 percent). Trending ingredients in functional foods include fiber, protein, fatty acids, carotenoids, vitamins and minerals, prebiotics, and probiotics, among others. Probiotics and omega-3 fatty acids are widely consumed through yogurt and fish oils to reduce instances and risks of cardiovascular diseases and improve intestinal microflora quality. Traditionally, the functional beverage category included energy drinks, sports drinks, and nutraceutical drinks. Energy drinks formed the largest segment, accounting for 55.8% of the global functional drinks market value in 2014. However, juices, waters, coffee, tea, and fermented drinks like kombucha have recently become established players in the functional arena. Simply adding a health claim to a nutrition bar won’t suffice if it doesn’t deliver desired results. Product developers and brands must ensure products contain efficacious levels of functional ingredients, such as protein, omega-3s, calcium, and fiber, to combat disease progression and provide health benefits. Brands must also address formulation challenges with functional ingredients. Taste remains the top priority for consumers, meaning developers must balance the benefits of nutritional ingredients and their chemical interactions during processing (e.g., HPP and UHT) to optimize texture, appearance, stability, shelf life, and cost. Outline desired results and consult ingredient suppliers to find the best options for functionality and to counterbalance off-notes from proteins and botanicals.As more brands launch functional food and beverages, the NEXTY Awards at SupplySide West 2019 seek to honor the best.
Does your company make an innovative functional food or beverage that incorporates any of these trends? If so, I invite you to enter the NEXTY Awards at SupplySide West 2019 that recognize innovative and inspirational finished products launched to the U.S. consumer market between summer 2018 and July 26, 2019. The NEXTY Awards at SupplySide West recognize innovation, inspiration and integrity across 13 finished product categories. Winning products represent what’s “next” in wellness trends, in solving today’s health and sustainability problems, in ingredient innovation, in packaging, in condition management, in supply chain growth and transparency, and in health impact. Products must be submitted by the CPG brands or their representatives, not by ingredient or component suppliers. The submission deadline is July 26, 2019. Winners announced at SupplySide West in Las Vegas, Oct. 15-19, 2019. For more than 20 years, SupplySide has helped those in the food, beverage, dietary supplement, animal nutrition, personal care and cosmetic industries break through the hype and ambiguity to find the information they need to explore, discover, innovate and market their next best-selling product.
