Nutraceutics
“A major industrial and commercial opportunity”
For more information, contact us.■ Consumers, who are better and better educated and informed, are more and more making the connection between food and health. In the 1980s, in Japan, the first “Health Foods” (Foshu) and Cosmeto-Foods appeared, followed by nutraceutics in the United States with functional foods and ingredients and "food designers". These hybrid products, which are beneficial to health, arrived in Europe in the early 1990s.
■ Today, milk is enhanced with vitamins and the market of complete food products on dietetic shelves is experiencing regular growth. Mineral waters boast their magnesium content and the range of food supplements is becoming excessive. Now, there are stirred yoghurts with extract of linden and orange blossom for a peaceful night’s sleep.
■ On this emerging market with high growth potential and which overlaps several borders, we can observe some interesting developments; for example, Shisheido has a yoghurt with aloe vera to soften the skin; in Japan, the soy bean oil reduces cholesterol and "active" drinks stimulate immune systems.
■ In developed countries, consumers, whose life span is rapidly increasing, want to be sure of good or better physical, moral and mental health. The frontiers between food, cosmetics and medicine are fading; food products have more and more nutritional and functional or therapeutic virtues, while hygiene and beauty products are becoming more and more medical; competition is emerging between the food (and its ingredient suppliers), pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries to gain share on this market.
■ Development of this market will depend largely on national and international regulations, which are more or less flexible depending on the country, which concern labelling and claims. The FDA has studied 10 health claims (relation between nutrients and health), the first four of which have been validated for the moment: calcium and osteoporosis – sodium and hypertension – lipids and cardiovascular disease – lipids and cancer – fibre and cardiovascular disease – fibre and cancer – folic acid and malformation of the neural tube – anti-oxidant vitamins and cancer – zinc and immune functions - W-3 fatty acid and cardiovascular disease.
■ Technologies for producing neutraceutics are also evolving. Today, nutraceutic ingredients are obtained more and more by bio-technological methods and less by synthetic methods; their manufacture will soon call on genetic engineering.
■ On this rapidly developing market, industrial players concerned quickly need scientific, technical, economic and regulatory information that will influence their own strategy.
■ To meet the needs of all players concerned, Innovation 128 has been proposing, since 1997, a Technological Watch Programme, TechWatch, the aim of which is to provide them technical and economic information selected and summed up by the best experts.
Main themes
■ Ingredients
- amino-acids, proteins and oligopeptides
- carbohydrates, oligosaccharides and food fibres
- poly-unsaturated fatty acids and phospholipids
- carotenoids, anti-oxidant and anti-radical substances
- vitamins, minerals and trace elements
- phytochemicals and substances with physiological activity
■ Properties or physiological interest of products
- metabolic imbalances: obesity, cholesterol, diabetes, etc.
- degenerative pathologies: cancers
- cardiovascular diseases, hypertension
- osteoporosis, ageing
■ Industrial players
- ingredient suppliers
- food industry
- pharmaceutical industry
- cosmetics industry
■ Distribution of nutraceutics
- food supermarkets
- pharmaceutical dispensaries
- specialised stops, dietetic shops and health & beauty stores
■ Regulations
- claims
- labelling
- applicable texts or texts being prepared