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GOURMET NEWS MARCH 2014 www.gourmetnews.com GENERAL NEWS 8 Functional Foods Continued from PAGE 1 Hilton recently delivered an educational session on "Trends in Functional Foods and Beverages" for attendees at the 2014 Winter Fancy Food Show in San Fran- cisco. According to Hilton, the functional foods and beverages market is transform- ing as companies find new ways to deliver nutrition in their products. "Nutrition was traditionally delivered through caplets and tablets, but that's no longer solely the case," said Hilton. "Nu- trition has moved over into other formats. And not just into food and beverage but into other delivery formats giving way to things like gels and tubes and gummies and shots and bars and all kinds of differ- ent deliveries." According to Hilton, several factors seem to be driving the growing functional food and beverage trend. The first is con- sumer insecurity regarding health and wellness. Today's consumers are becoming increasingly panicked when it comes to protecting their health, and disease pre- vention is at the forefront of people's minds. With the cost of healthcare explod- ing, consumers are changing the foods they eat and the beverages they consume as part of a low cost strategy to protect their physical well-being. Another factor driving this trend is the fact that people today are simply more knowledgeable about the particular bene- fits of the things they consume. With ready access to a wealth of information about how foods can boost their bodies and minds, consumers are actively educating themselves on functionality and filling their shopping carts with items that do more than simply satisfy hunger. Finally, whereas people were once more apt to supplement their nutrition with vi- tamins and pills and powders, contempo- rary consumers prefer to get their nutrition primarily from the foods they eat. This means they are picking out foods and bev- erages that are fortified, either inherently or by design, with the nutrients they need. "Consumers would just as soon get their nutrition in an ideal world from the foods and beverages they consume. They would rather not supplement if they didn't have to," said Hilton. "That's increasingly the way consumers feel, which opens up a huge opportunity for functionality if it is done at an efficacious dosage." When it comes to functional food and beverage, there are a number of subcate- gories within the market that are especially popular among today's consumers. Shop- pers can not seem to get enough nutrient- rich bars, with hundreds of new products being released each year. Fortified and pro- tein-rich waters, including coconut, quinoa, almond, hemp and more, are trend- ing. Consumers are flocking to stick packs of flavors and nutrients that they mix with water. And products containing chia, flax seed, superfruits and vegetarian proteins have never been more popular than they are today. Today, there are functional foods and beverages to satisfy virtually any need. The biggest subcategory within the functional food and beverage market is energy prod- ucts. Conversely, however, relaxation prod- ucts are also coming on strong. In addition, consumers are picking up products that im- prove mental acuity, promote digestion, aid immune system health, contribute to beauty and skin health, suppress aging, help weight loss, deter diabetes and sup- port cardiovascular and joint health. With so many food companies jumping on the functionality bandwagon, it is in- evitable that a significant percentage of newcomers to the category fail. According to Hilton, there is an 8 percent failure rate for new functional food and beverage prod- ucts. This does not mean, however, that there is not enough room in the industry for new companies and new products. In fact, Hilton argues that each year, 20 per- cent of new products do find significant success in the industry. For food and beverage companies hoping to make an impact on consumers with their functional products, there are several pit- falls it is important to avoid. First and fore- most, it is vital that if a company claims that its product includes a functional ingre- dient, that ingredient must be present in an efficacious dose. According to Hilton, this is not only a moral issue, but it is a business issue as well, as consumers are increasingly aware of products that simply do not perform as advertised. "I think that consumers are kind of aware of the whole window dressing concept," said Hilton. "I think a lot of them are increasingly looking for products that deliver efficacious doses. [They are] feel- ing that, yeah, you can list all of these herbs, but if they're there in minor concentrations, it really doesn't make much difference in terms of my health." Olivier Sonnois, Team Leader at Brands Within Reach, the production, mar- keting and distribution partner behind a number of functional beverage brands, agrees that offering a perceived functional product is the key to success in the indus- try. He cites his company's Youthy Forever beverage as an example of a product that can deliver on its promise. Youthy Forever is enhanced with resveratrol and grape seed extract, unique ingredients common in the cosmetic industry, which are known to con- tribute to skin longevity. "It can be high in assumed functionality … We have a high level of resveratrol and grape seed extract in Youthy Forever," said Sonnois. "You may have heard that drink- ing red wine can be actually beneficial. Es- sentially, the high antioxidant and polyphenol content which is in red wine comes from grape seed extract and resver- atrol. It's the same ingredient. And each bottle of Youthy is the equivalent of sixty glasses of red wine. That's how much resveratrol concentration there is." "All of our products' labels [are] re- viewed. We have an attorney that special- izes in that field. We're very cautious about that," Sonnois added. "There are so many entrepreneurs coming in and launching a product here and there with- out going through the rigorous process of getting everything properly checked by some experts." Sonnois argues that too many food and beverage companies can overstate the func- tional qualities of their products. He sup- ports greater official oversight of product claims within this market segment. "I think claims need to be regulated. Claims need to be put in the context of regulation and law, which the FDA is doing more and more. They're becoming more and more cautious about all of that," he said. Adela Hasas, Master Herbalist at SEN CHA Naturals, the company behind a line of functional green tea products, echoes Sonnois' commitment to verifying the func- tional qualities of her company's products. For her, it is absolutely vital that all SEN CHA products deliver on the promises the company makes. "I won't allow anything to be printed or said about our products unless there are ac- tual studies to prove it," said Hasas. "I am all about clinical studies and research. I'm certified as an herbalist. I'm certified as a nutritional consultant. I'm all about the clinical evidence." Another unique issue facing many func- tional food and beverage producers is how to market a product that is at once a health and wellness product and something to be readily consumed. Hasas admitted that this has been a particular challenge for SEN CHA. The company markets green tea mints and effervescent green tea drink mixes, but these everyday consumables are much more than just ordinary green tea. "We're still kind of playing with that, be- cause it's kind of a whole food, or it's a boosted tea. It's a potent tea, but it's also for immune support," she said. The makers of Youthy Forever face a sim- ilar challenge in marketing a beverage that is perceived by consumers to be a func- tional beauty aid. "We're not selling juice here. We're selling resveratrol and grape seed extract," said Sonnois. Currently, Youthy Forever is available in only one fla- vor, cactus pear, but while many beverage companies feel the need to expand their product lines into a wealth of different tastes, Youthy does not feel this impetus. This is because it is not the flavor that they are focused on marketing to consumers, but rather the drink's functional qualities. "We're not really looking at widening the range, because really we're not selling cactus pear here. We're selling resveratrol and grape seed extract. And we're bring- ing it to the consumer in a form that they can enjoy, still getting the functionality but enjoying a very smooth taste," he said. "We're not pushing too hard on hav- ing a Youthy with apple, a Youthy with pineapple, a Youthy with whatever, be- cause it's not the point. The point is: Youthy Forever: 70 milligrams of resvera- trol and grape seed extract per bottle." For some functional food and beverage companies, the products they offer are sig- nificantly more expensive than the non- functional alternatives on the shelf, and it can be a challenge to educate consumers about why it is worth spending a little more to get the added benefits. This is the case with Youthy Forever. The company has to effectively market its functional qualities if it is going to be competitive with other en- hanced and flavored waters on the market. "Youthy's a premium beverage. It sells for approximately $2.99 a bottle. But that's pri- marily explained by the fact of the high cost of ingredients and the functionality of the ingredients. We have 70 milligrams of resveratrol and grape seed extract in every bottle, so that's a lot," said Sonnois. With the recent release of new vitamin C-enriched effervescent green tea drink mixes, the team at SEN CHA Naturals re- alizes that it has its work cut out for itself in setting itself apart from more main- stream and less expensive immunity sup- port drink mixes on the market, such as the ever-popular Emergen-C. "We are very strict about what we market. Everything we have is standardized. Our vitamin C comes from whole food, but it's standardized to be a certain level of vitamin C … Everything is standardized, so you're actually getting the potency that we claim," said Hasas. "And [our mixes] are all sugar-free which is important for your immune system versus Emergen-C is mostly sugar, and that's not the best thing for you when you're sick. So it doesn't really make sense to take that." Finally, when it comes to suc- cessfully marketing functional foods and beverages today, it is important to formu- late products that are good-for-you but still appealing to consumer tastes. "The hardest thing when you're [bringing] such an ac- tive ingredient as resveratrol into food, into something you're going to be drinking, is taste," said Sonnois. The team behind Youthy Forever spent months developing a flavor for their product that successfully masked the inherent bitterness of resvera- trol. Now, the company has a drink that can support skin health, but does not taste like a traditional health food product. Therein lies the paradox that all success- ful functional food and beverage companies need overcome: if it tastes good, it can not be good for you, and if it is good for you, it can not taste good. "We've been taught as consumers over the years and the decades … if it tastes bad for you, then it's really good for you," said Hilton. Hilton argues that it is up to companies like Brands Within Reach and SEN CHA Naturals to prove that this simply is not the case. "With today's technology and formula- tion and food science, what we're finding is that we can make great tasting products that are also good for you. So now we're trying to reeducate the consumer that we created in the first place," said Hilton. "We kept telling them it tastes terrible, it's really good. Now we have to go back and tell them okay, if it tastes good, it can be good … We're in this process of kind of changing consumer attitudes." GN