Functional Foods Get Real Personal
From the fortified white bread on the market way back in the 50s to practically everything in the supermarket today, selling food on the basis of what supplements it contains has never been more of a driver of innovation.
It isn't just a matter of probiotics, whole grains, Omega 3 and vitamins added wherever possible, even to colas. More and more consumers are asking questions and wondering how relevant the so-called benefits are to their individual circumstances. Which is where speakers at the recent European Commission conference, Perspectives for Food, have come up with a novel answer. According to a report on just-food.com, speakers declared that "functional and healthy foods catering for clearly defined consumer groups, or even personalized individual diets, will be the staple fare of food companies in 2030." Other experts from industry, academia and government suggested that new technology "would allow food processors and suppliers to address the individual needs of all consumers."
Charles Daly, professor at University College, Cork, Ireland, went so far as to say that "personal healthy diets based on an individual's genetic make-up will create the food of tomorrow." Professor Daly further added that food, "instead of or in conjunction with traditional pharmaceutical products, will be able to prevent diseases such as obesity, diabetes and osteoporosis in adults and improve nutrition in unborn babies."
At the same time, a search appears to be on to find ingredients to fortify foods even more. Another group from the UK, as part of a government-sponsored trade mission, has been investigating whether the more than 8,000 kinds of herbal medicines China has cultivated could be adapted for commercial benefit. Home to one of the world's largest elderly populations, China's proportion of people 60 and older is growing faster than any other major country.
The Food Processing Knowledge Transfer Network, which links researchers and the food industry, published a report speculating that China's wealth of functional food opportunities could inspire Western manufacturers. The mission's objective was "to examine ingredients in traditional Chinese medicines that could become potential functional additions to processed foods."
In both cases, the assumption seems to be that food today by itself isn't enough. It needs added value, added functionality, to encourage purchase. And how better to encourage that purchase than to tailor the functionality to each individual's requirements?
Discussion Questions: What do you think of the potential market for personalized diets around functional foods? Since it pre-supposes some research/testing to individualize diets, are supermarkets in a position to capitalize on this opportunity? Also, with all this attention to functional foods, how do you see mainstream food manufacturers adapting?