Canada needs to develop the scientific proof to capitalize on a $180 billion US market for the world’s nutrition industry, consultant Ian Newton argued during the annual meeting of Ag-West Bio Inc. in Saskatoon on Sept. 7.
He said a study done for Agriculture Canada determined which food additives would present the best chance for sales. But before the government spends money on these compounds or encourages farmers to grow the crops from which they are harvested, it needs to do medical trials to prove to the world that the additives help human health.
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“You need science underpinnings to prove that the supplement or functional food does what it says it is,” said Newton, who is managing director of Ceres Consulting.
He said the top medical problems that would lend the quickest return for a functional food are cardiovascular diseases, obesity, diabetes, arthritis and vision troubles. It would probably cost $2 million to run a year-long diabetes trial with one of the functional foods involving 200 patients, he added.
The best nutritional additives for immediate marketing are beta glucans, fish oils, conjugated linoleic acid and sterol esters. Some of these compounds are derived from oats, flax, canola and hemp plants.
Newton said early studies show that omega 3 oil contained in fish and flax more effectively reduces heart attack deaths in Canadians than the standard prescription statin drugs.
There is great market potential because consumers want to live longer and healthier, he added. A study showed they believe nutritional foods are the top way to help them do that, followed by exercise and the luck of their family genes.
He considers the internet to be an important force behind the nutritional trend. Consumers use it to research their health questions before visiting a doctor.
Most consumers also know that certain foods are better for human health, such as broccoli, fish oil and green leafy vegetables. There is also more acceptance by health professionals of the role that food compounds can play and some governments are moving toward allowing functional food labels that boast their human health bonuses.
Newton said a functional food success story is the addition of folic acid to flour. The rate of birth defects dropped by half, to one percent, after 1998 when the U.S. government mandated the addition.
He said the world’s conventional food business is growing two to three percent a year while the functional food business is growing about 10 percent. In Canada, nutrition sales totalled $7.28 billion in 2003.
