Nutraceutical Ingredients Focus on Trends

摘要

The March 4,2002, issue of Time Magazine listed some interesting statistics in its "For the Record" column: 3,800 is the number of calories produced everyday by the food industry for each person in the United States; 2,500 is the number of calories needed everyday by the average adult male; and 35 is the percentage of adult Americans who are overweight. The weight issue has grown into a major health issue in the U.S. The government is even acknowledging the need for Americans to improve their health. During his keynote address at the Opening Event of IFT's 2003 Food Expo on July 12,2003, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said, "We need to lose weight and gain life." With companies like Kraft Foods and Frito-Lay announcing their future plans to create healthier food products, it comes as no surprise that nutritional ingredient suppliers at this year's Food Expo focused on issues such as weight loss, low-carbohydrate diets, glycemic indexes, and cholesterol levels. Ingredients such as dietary fiber, soy protein, whey protein, and plant stanols were positioned as weight-loss promoters, low-carb and low-calorie ingredients, and heart healthy.