Heart health is already one of the most popular positionings for functional products, and as the baby boomer demographic ages, it will become even more pivotal. With this context in mind, global business intelligence provider Euromonitor International assesses the impact of two recently identified conditions implicated in heart disease: metabolic syndrome and chronic inflammation.
Adventurous baby boomers are attracted to functionality
Functional foods and beverages continue to do well in the United States in 2008, reaching value sales of $8.5 billion and $24.4 billion, respectively. Up until now, younger population segments were the industry’s most successful targets (e.g. two thirds of functional beverage sales are accounted for by energy drinks and sports drinks, aimed almost exclusively at young males), but the appeal of functional products is about to broaden significantly.
While it is true that today’s elderly consumers show a certain reticence toward functional products, their offspring, aka baby boomers, are much more adventurous in their food choices. This is going to translate into steadily increasing revenues generated by value-added functional food and beverage sales in the years to come. The sheer size of this demographic is impressive. In 2008, 38.7 million Americans are over the age of 65, and by 2020, this will increase to 47.3 million. Cardiovascular disease is of prime concern to this age group.
Baby boomers already constitute the key consumer group of functional spreadable oils and fats, which are almost exclusively marketed on the basis of cardiovascular health benefits by virtue of containing cholesterol-lowering plant sterols and/or heart healthy omega-3s. In 2007, value sales for this category jumped to $251 million, up from just $108 million in 2002. Euromonitor International predicts that by 2012, this will surge by nearly 30% to $322 million, while regular spreadable oils and fats, lacking distinguishing health benefits, are set to decline by almost 20%.
Metabolic syndrome—precursor of heart disease
When scanning the globe for new trends, Japan, the world’s most advanced functional products market, is an inevitable port of call. After all, this is the country that gave rise to the worldwide probiotics boom. The Japanese will spend $67.5 million per capita on functional packaged foods in 2008, compared to just $30.2 million in the United States. Not all Japanese trends make it to the West, but with the current national obsession with “metabolic syndrome,” it is virtually certain this trend will spread to Europe and the United States.
Metabolic syndrome is a term referring to a cluster of prime risk factors for cardiovascular disease. They include central obesity (where excess body fat is stored around the organs, resulting in the characteristic “apple” shape), elevated blood pressure, a disturbed lipid profile (including high levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and triglycerides), as well as insulin resistance (where the body has stopped responding to its own insulin, resulting in high-fasting blood glucose levels, ultimately leading to diabetes). Lifestyle factors, such as an unhealthy diet and insufficient exercise, are the key triggers of this condition.
According to the International Diabetes Federation, Brussels, Belgium, people with metabolic syndrome are three times as likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke compared to people without the syndrome. The American Heart Association, Dallas, estimates that around 47 million Americans have the condition. However, hardly anyone outside the medical community has heard of it – except, that is, for the Japanese.
