From supermarket offerings to health food store mainstays, there’s no question that consumers are shopping with an eye to health. But as the pace of living in America increases by the day, shoppers are finding themselves thirsty for convenience. Look no further than the newest research coming out of Nielsen for proof of this.
According to the research firm’s consumer survey, Americans are more engaged with food than ever, but at the same time, ironically, devote less time and planning to their meals and nutrition. Functional beverage manufacturers can capitalize on this need for convenience by appealing to consumers’ desire for a quick health boost without having to invest the time and energy needed to create a nutritious snack on the go.
Jean M. Heggie, director of corporate marketing at Delaware-based DuPont Nutrition and Health, points to two main consumer demographics as drivers searching for convenience in the functional beverage category. The first is the aging population who is looking to maintain vitality. “Additionally, we find that the millennial generation is the most open and interested segment in trying food or beverages with health or wellness benefits,” she added, noting that they tend to be the most experimental shoppers. “Additionally, due to their active, busy lifestyles, they are interested in functional beverages.”
In fact, anyone with a busy lifestyle makes a great target consumer for functional beverages. According to Richard Staack, chief operating officer of Illinois-based HyPhyto, Inc., consumers are looking for alternatives to traditional supplements and finding the answer in functional drinks. “The marketing data demonstrates consumers are tired of swallowing several supplement pills and/or forgetting how many supplements they might have already consumed,” he said. “A functional beverage is a more convenient way to maintain a healthy lifestyle.”
As a result, the market for functional beverages is growing. “According to Euromonitor, the global market for functional and fortified beverages grew to $86 million in 2013, up 5.1 percent versus 2012,” explained Heggie. “Of that, North America accounted for $24 billion, and grew more modestly at 2.8 percent.” This more modest growth is evidence of a market still in its relative infancy in America, and cleaning up confusion is priority No. 1 for manufacturers and ingredient suppliers. According to Bob Green, chairman at Advantra Z, Inc. in New Jersey, the functional beverage category is one that is still in the initial stages of introduction to most consumers. On the shelf, functional beverages might find themselves competing with supplements, functional foods or even conventional beverages. “Adding a function to a beverage will affect the price, and the added cost must have a well-defined benefit for the consumer to be willing to pay more,” said Green. “You can assume that a functional beverage will cost more than sodas, unfortified juices and other conventional beverages currently on store shelves that don’t address a specific structure/function application in the body.” On top of that, he added, some consumers can turn to traditional dietary supplement pills to get the same ingredients a beverage might offer. The solution? Differentiation.
“The finished goods manufacturer/ marketer has to do a lot of homework to ensure the beverage fills a true market need and provides genuinely better function than other traditional beverages on the market,” he said. “Functional beverages face stiff competition and challenges from all sides, from the conventional food and beverage market to dietary supplements to the pinched pocketbooks of consumers. It all boils down to perceived consumer convenience and value.”
Ingredient suppliers are helping finished product manufacturers differentiate through two leading trends: condition specific offerings and increased nutrition—all without sacrificing taste.
Condition Specific
One way to make functional offerings stand out on the shelf is through condition specific products that address a clear, targeted health need. According to Sarah Battledore, U.K. and Ireland sales manager for LycoRed Ltd. (Aylesford, U.K.), consumers are actively looking for products with health and wellness claims called out on the label. “Manufacturers and retailers alike need to ensure that the on-pack messages are clear and easy for the consumer to understand,” she said. “This can be achieved by listing the specific vitamins and minerals contained in the package, or by using terminology such as ‘defense,’ ‘immune’ or ‘antioxidant.’”
According to Battledore, products that perform a specific function are a leading trend; she cites immunity, vitality, beauty, bones and teeth, energy, relaxation, cognitive and multivitamin offerings as the most popular. The most successful, she said, are ones that translate well on the package. “This can be a visual message such as a symbol of a bone or in a word format,” she explained.
LycoRed offers water-soluble vitamins for beverages including vitamins A, D2, D3, E, K and more. Its Natural Encapsulated Vitamin C ingredient is appropriate for hot teas, as it has the correct particle size for tea bags and maintains its declarable vitamin C content even after being in boiling water for 10 minutes. LycoRed’s Natural Beta Carotene offers a yellow/orange color and pro-retinol A. The company recently launched Natural Beta Carotene Intense for manufacturers looking for a more intense color profile on a smaller budget. Alongside these, LycoRed also offers a natural red color, lycopene, derived from tomatoes.
Advantra Z also finds the most success in products offering a specific structure/function claim as the ingredient is patent protected for stimulating thermogenesis, reducing weight, increasing the percentage of lean muscle in relation to total body mass, improving athletic performance and suppressing appetite. The ingredient is the thermogenic component in many ready-to-drink sports nutrition beverages as well as meal replacements, and the company has found success in diet, fitness and energy beverages in both mainstream and health food channels. “Functional beverages are still in the initial stages of introduction to mainstream consumers,” Green explained. “We expect to see even more growth in products with natural ingredients that can address specific structure/function claims.”
Healthy Additives
Another way for functional beverage manufacturers to differentiate is to up their nutrient profile with recognizable, in-demand ingredients. Once relegated to the nutritional bar aisle, high fiber and protein products specifically are making a transition to beverages. “This interest is coming from many corners of the globe, as well as many different consumer segments spanning kids, weight managers, sports enthusiasts and active, aging adults,” said Heggie. “Consumer interest specific in plant-based proteins is a growing trend as well.”
But beverages offering higher levels of protein often face stabilization challenges. “Our portfolio of functional ingredients, including a full portfolio of hydrocolloids and stabilization systems, along with our expertise in protein beverages, is in high demand in today’s market,” Heggie said.
Fiber, along with protein, is also a popular choice for manufacturers and consumers of weight-management beverages and well as those positioned as meal replacements. To that end, DuPont released new research demonstrating the satiety benefits of its Litesse polydextrose soluble fiber. It is a low-calorie, low-sugar specialty carbohydrate with prebiotic properties.
“As the general public becomes more aware of the beneficial effects of high fiber intake, solutions bridging the ‘fiber gap’ are now bringing new opportunities to beverage manufacturers,” said Joe O’Neill, president and general manager of New Jersey-based BENEO. The company’s Orafti inulin and oligofructose prebiotic fibers are non-digestible carbohydrates derived from chicory roots and used to enrich fiber content. “Not only can they be used to add fiber to a product, but they can also be used to reduce the fat or sugar content without altering the product’s taste or texture,” he said. “Compared to fully available, high glycemic carbohydrates, inulin-type fructans from chicory provide only half the calories. As a result, prebiotic fibers enable manufacturers to produce lighter versions of traditionally indulgent products such as dairy drinks or smoothies—products that consumers often don’t want to sacrifice when committing to a healthier diet.”
French company Nexira offers Fibregum, an all-natural, genetically modified organism (GMO)-free source of soluble dietary fiber, obtained from acacia gum sap. It offers a guaranteed minimum of 90 percent soluble fiber, and offers prebiotic benefits, exceptional digestive tolerance and low caloric value. “Moreover, in December 2013, the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) expanded the use of acacia gum and confirmed its use as a dietary fiber,” said Mathieu Dondain, director of marketing and communications. “New use levels have been established and acaia gum use as a dietary fiber has been confirmed. Fibregum differs from other soluble fiber because of its exceptional stability in beverages, its natural origin and because it will not bring any side effect to the consumer as other lower chain soluble fibers would.”
Taste is King
But at the end of the day, if a beverage doesn’t meet taste expectations, consumers won’t come back for more no matter how nutrient-dense it is, especially if they can find similar ingredients in a supplement pill. “The calls to lower sugar, reduce calories and design better-for-you beverages are loud, clear and constant,” said O’Neill. “But that doesn’t mean we can take our eyes off of taste, because surveys and simple experience confirm that no matter how much consumers claim to value health and wellness, they value taste even more.”
For BENEO, the secret is in the sweetener. The company’s Palatinose sweetener provides sugar-sweet taste without the familiar crash. It is a slow release carb, offering the same 4 kcal/g energy as sugar, but is digested four to five times more slowly than sucrose, resulting in a more constant supply of blood sugar, and therefore eliminating the boost and crash effects of traditional sugar.
“It is challenging to formulate a functional beverage with enough active ingredients and no artificial ingredients that still delivers a great taste,” said Donain. To help manufacturers circumvent this challenge, the company launched Cacti-Nea extract obtained from the prickly pear fruit. “It offers clinically tested positive effects on weight management and adds the nice exotic and tasty natural flavor of the fruit to the beverage,” he said. Cacti-Nea is a powerful antioxidant, high soluble, clinically tested for anti-water retention and organic.
Stevia, a popular sweetener, is undergoing a modernization effort at Cargill in Minnesota, where the company has developed a proprietary taste-prediction model that can predict which combination of steviol glycosides through the company’s ViaTech stevia-based sweetener portfolio deliver optimal sweetness and taste. “This unique technology results in a proprietary composition of ingredients that delivers optimum taste and performance for the most challenging reduced-calorie applications,” said Cargill’s marketing programs and communications manager, Pam Stauffer. “Calorie reductions greater than 50 percent in more challenging applications can be achieved while delivering optimal taste and sweetness.”
Hand in hand with taste is texture, and it can’t be ignored in the manufacture of a beverage, especially where non-water soluble ingredients might be a roadblock. “HyPhyto’s technology affords the opportunity to convert non-water soluble additives and make them water soluble in aqueous carriers, thus allowing the actives to remain intact within the functional beverage,” said Staack. The company’s CardioCare sterol does not separate or fall out when added to a beverage, and has no impact on color, viscosity or flavor. “This new CardioCare is very much different from traditional sterols being used, as CardioCare is more easily incorporated into any type of aqueous functional beverage without the gritty and/or chewy texture that is associated with current sterols being used in functional beverages,” added Staack.
If manufacturers can increase their nutrient profiles, meet a need for what ails consumers and keep their flavors taste test approved, the future is bright and opportunity is limitless.
“The trend for health and wellness has never been stronger,” said Battledore. “Health conscious consumers are seeking a healthier alternative to the more traditional soft drinks on the market. In supermarkets, a new health and wellness category is being established, and filled with beverages that are fortified, healthy, natural and low calorie. The market for functional beverages is on an upward trajectory and this trend is set to continue.”
