Functional food and beverage products offer manufacturers and retailers with an abundance of marketing opportunities. Andrew Wolf, a retail analyst for BB&T Capital Markets, said it best with a recent quote – “a huge number of people have become interested in changing the way they eat. There’s a societal shift that’s the basis of all this demand.” And given the inherent nature of functional food and beverage products that offer an abundance of “healthier” benefits to consumers, marketers can align the functional benefits of these products with a range of content subjects, experts, and relevant occasions that affiliate the product to niche health-conscious audiences for early adoption, greater frequency of purchase, and ultimately greater consumption. » » » »

With an emerging mind-set that is being driven by a multitude of forces, functional Food and Beverage manufacturers are well positioned to inject themselves in to an integral position as consumers continue to evolve their attitudes about health and well-being.
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With all of the prognosticators and experts weighing in on the expected latest Health & Wellness trends for 2012, I’m going to choose to do something different this year. Yes, rather than anticipate where people will be heading with their healthy lifestyle behaviors and choices, I’d like to paint a point-by-point vision of hope for our society that will serve as a guide for achieving a higher degree of Health. It goes like this: » » » »

According to Active Life, an Austin, Texas-based organization whose mission is to make healthy the norm by generating a persistent demand for healthy living among all sectors of society, the declining health of Americans is not merely the result of increased obesity, overweight and diabetes rates. Rather, the negative health outcomes are the result of a culture and society in which unhealthy has become the norm. » » » »

In an effort to help their customers embrace healthier nutrition and lifestyles, many supermarket chains, supported by Better-For-You brand manufacturers, are integrating in nutrition scoring campaigns for products in their stores. It’s just another example of how health and well-being awareness is become more prevalent in our society as helpful, simple-to-use educational information is being utilized to direct customer purchases, preferences and behaviors. Here’s an overview on the two leading nutritional scoring systems. » » » »