The Functional Foods Revolution
Healthy People, Healthy Profits?

Foods that promote human health - "functional foods" or nutraceuticals - have caught the imagination of the global food industry. Distinguishing hype from real hope, the authors of this study explain the dilemmas and contradictions the industry faces.

Foods that promote human health - 'functional foods' or nutraceuticals - have caught the imagination of the global food industry. All the household-name companies are developing them as a key driver in their global strategies. They see the prospect of new markets and bigger margins, but the issues presented are fraught with complexity and difficulties. Distinguishing hype from real hope, the authors of this handbook explain the dilemmas and contradictions the industry faces. They present a wealth of detailed marketing, food policy and regulatory material from the leading markets world-wide and show how the hopes of the industry, and the consumer, may be dashed. The solution they offer is radical - nothing less than a new business model of what they term a healthful company.

Introduction * Part 1: a New Era in Food and Health? - What are Functional Foods ? * Benecol - the Rise and Fall of the Colossus of the Functional Food World * Part 2: Risk, Regulation and Policy Dilemmas - A Clash of Two Nutrition Revolutions and Cultures? * Eating and Drinking in the Risk Society - Implications of Risk for Functional Food * Health Claims and Functional Food * Part 3: The Unfolding of the Functional Foods Revolution Across the World - The Japanese Invented Functional Food * The US - Breaking the Boundaries Between Food, Medicine and Health * Is Finland the 'Silicon Valley' of European Functional Foods? * Part 4: Global Marketing and Strategic Challenges - The Marketing of Functional Food and the European Dairy Industry * Functional Food Strategies - Lessons from the Revolutions * Part 5: The Healthful Company (tm) : A Leap Forward * Appendices * Notes * References * Index