About functional foods

We are now in the ever-increasing presence of what are termed “functional foods.” This category continues to be one of the fastest growing segments of the health and wellness market.
Functional or not, food, from a consumer perspective, continues to be food, not medicine. The majority of consumers have little or no intention to use food to cure illness. So if food doesn’t taste like something they want to ingest, regardless of the ingredient claim, consumers simply won’t buy it. Even if it tastes great, consumers still have “believability limits” for what functional foods can accomplish.
According to the HealthFocus Trend Survey, only 30 percent of shoppers around the world always or usually choose foods for specific medical purposes. The most likely countries to do so were the U.S. and Mexico, with 37 percent of Americans and 36 percent of Mexicans claiming to always or often choose foods for medical purposes.
The lowest showing was in the U.K., where only 22 percent of people claim to choose foods for medical purposes. Even in China, where there are strong traditional beliefs that food contributes to general wellness and balance, only 30 percent of shoppers choose foods for medical purposes.
However, to the contrary, 70 percent of shoppers around the globe agree or strongly agree that some foods contain active components that can reduce risk of diseases and improve long-term health. In the U.K., the country least likely to use food for specific medical purposes, 76 percent agree that food did indeed play a role in reducing disease risk. On this belief, the U.K. scored higher than any other country. In addition to their future health, 80 percent of consumers on average, also believe that some foods contain active components that help maintain current health.
These statistics are not really contradictory. Diet is for prevention, not cure. Consumers tell us there are no “magic bullets” where food is concerned, and they view their diets holistically rather than depending on any one food to provide any certain health outcome. They do believe in the power of food to enhance their health but they are not consuming functional or fortified foods as a cure for any particular health concerns.
Generally when it comes to fortification, around the globe, consumers show the highest level of interest in well-known nutrients such as calcium, iron and certain vitamins. But while consumers are interested in getting more of these things in their diets, it isn’t necessary to try to provide too much of a single nutrient in a product, especially if it will reduce the taste or sensory properties.
If consumers get sick, they may pay more attention to their diets but they also will be managing illness via medical means. And remember: Consumers do not want to be identified by an illness. So even if they are managing an illness via diet, it’s generally not a good idea to identify products too closely with a disease.
People’s diets as they stand now are a proactive measure. Functional foods are important, and as they become more and more effective, there may come a day when that changes. But for now, the watchword for consumers is “balance.”
Maintaining wellness includes a number of factors, including diet, exercise and mental attitude. Consumers don’t expect food to “do it all” for them, and we should remember to maintain the taste and pleasure of food first and foremost. Don’t sacrifice your taste for a claim, because people expect to consume a number of foods on any given day to attain that balance.We are now in the ever-increasing presence of what are termed “functional foods.” This category continues to be one of the fastest growing segments of the health and wellness market.
Functional or not, food, from a consumer perspective, continues to be food, not medicine. The majority of consumers have little or no intention to use food to cure illness. So if food doesn’t taste like something they want to ingest, regardless of the ingredient claim, consumers simply won’t buy it. Even if it tastes great, consumers still have “believability limits” for what functional foods can accomplish.
According to the HealthFocus Trend Survey, only 30 percent of shoppers around the world always or usually choose foods for specific medical purposes. The most likely countries to do so were the U.S. and Mexico, with 37 percent of Americans and 36 percent of Mexicans claiming to always or often choose foods for medical purposes.
The lowest showing was in the U.K., where only 22 percent of people claim to choose foods for medical purposes. Even in China, where there are strong traditional beliefs that food contributes to general wellness and balance, only 30 percent of shoppers choose foods for medical purposes.
However, to the contrary, 70 percent of shoppers around the globe agree or strongly agree that some foods contain active components that can reduce risk of diseases and improve long-term health. In the U.K., the country least likely to use food for specific medical purposes, 76 percent agree that food did indeed play a role in reducing disease risk. On this belief, the U.K. scored higher than any other country. In addition to their future health, 80 percent of consumers on average, also believe that some foods contain active components that help maintain current health.
These statistics are not really contradictory. Diet is for prevention, not cure. Consumers tell us there are no “magic bullets” where food is concerned, and they view their diets holistically rather than depending on any one food to provide any certain health outcome. They do believe in the power of food to enhance their health but they are not consuming functional or fortified foods as a cure for any particular health concerns.
Generally when it comes to fortification, around the globe, consumers show the highest level of interest in well-known nutrients such as calcium, iron and certain vitamins. But while consumers are interested in getting more of these things in their diets, it isn’t necessary to try to provide too much of a single nutrient in a product, especially if it will reduce the taste or sensory properties.
If consumers get sick, they may pay more attention to their diets but they also will be managing illness via medical means. And remember: Consumers do not want to be identified by an illness. So even if they are managing an illness via diet, it’s generally not a good idea to identify products too closely with a disease.
People’s diets as they stand now are a proactive measure. Functional foods are important, and as they become more and more effective, there may come a day when that changes. But for now, the watchword for consumers is “balance.”
Maintaining wellness includes a number of factors, including diet, exercise and mental attitude. Consumers don’t expect food to “do it all” for them, and we should remember to maintain the taste and pleasure of food first and foremost. Don’t sacrifice your taste for a claim, because people expect to consume a number of foods on any given day to attain that balance.

Raisio Benecol was awarded by Frost & Sullivan

Benecol –the cholesterol-lowering ingredient – has received the 2006 Frost and Sullivan Award for Brand Development Strategy Leadership. Benecol received the award for demonstrating superior market growth skills through a combination of a unique product based on plant stanol ester, quality and communication strategies. The success of the brand was also attributed to the way Raisio Benecol has helped its food industry partners work collaboratively for the benefit of the Benecol brand both locally and globally.

The brand was developed and introduced year 1995 by MBA Jussi Hirvelä, who was on those days responsible for the commercialisation of the plant stanol innovation. Jussi Hirvelä did the comprehensive branding strategy for the global markets as well. Unfortunately the head of the company (Raisio) didn’t believe in young Hirvelä’s strategic wisdom and insight. The time has shown that they should have been.

I was listening Jussi Hirvelä having his presentation at Helsinki Future Food Seminar year 1996. He described his Benecol strategy briefly and the basic idea was to enter the global markets through licensing the use of Benecol ingredient to companies like General Foods, Kraft and Nabisco. But Raisio decided to start the co-operation with a medicine company and we all know the results. Now the company has started to follow the original Hirvelä’s strategy, but 10 years too late.
It is unfortunate for Raisio that they lost Hirvelä, known as a marketing wizard of the Finnish food industry. As far as I know, Hirvelä is nowadays working as a Managing Director in a customer relationship agency, which is part of Ogilvy Group.