Functional foods and beverages that provide a benefit to consumers can actually feel will be best placed to weather the global economic downturn, according to 10 Key Trends in Food, Nutrition & Health 2009. Each year since 1995, leading industry expert Mellentin has forecast and analyzed trends in food, nutrition and health. “This year is different,” he says. “The effect of a slowdown will be to reinforce the core trends and sweep away the fads.”

“In tough times the single most important factor consumers will take into account when choosing a functional food or drink will be whether it delivers a benefit they can feel,” says Mellentin. The importance of “feel the benefit” already underpinned many successful brands in the good times and it will become even more important when people are being more careful with their money. Each trend analysis in this report is written with recession in mind and in each Key Trend we suggest an approach that we believe can contribute to enduring success – or survival – in tough times. “Products that lack a quick and easy-to-feel effect could be in trouble,” Mellentin observes.

Mellentin’s 10 Key Trends for 2009 are:

Digestive health: the biggest trend

Feel the benefit: what consumers want most in recessionary times

Weight management: a bright future for foods that make you want to eat less

Energy: new markets waiting to be discovered

Naturally healthy and free-from: what everyone wants

Fruit: the future of functional foods

Kids nutrition: make parents’ lives easier

Healthy snacks for the “me” generations

Ultra-loyal consumers: niches to help brands ride the recession

Packaging innovation delivers premium prices

This year the report also includes 5 Micro-Trends. These are :

Movement

Omega-3

Skin and beauty

Mood food

Antioxidants

10 reasons to buy :

We focus on long-term trends, not fads

Each trend written with recession in mind, offering practical advice on surviving tough times

We show how brands around the world are already profiting from the trends

Independent and opinionated

20 years of experience to guide you through the rough years ahead

Based on 350-plus interviews with industry executives

Supported by supermarket sales data

Illustrated with a wealth of colour product images and data charts

A very affordable price which is why hundreds of companies large and small, in over 40 countries, buy 10 Key Trends every year

For more information, kindly visit :

http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/10-Key-Trends-in-Food-Nutrition-Health-2009-2135.html

Our earth is everyone’s responsibility. We all want to have a healthy environment to pass on to our children, but it can often seem like eco-friendly behavior is difficult to attain. Environmentally conscious consumers will be happy to hear that more and more earth friendly product lines are being developed to make healthy living simple and convenient.

Living an earth loving life is not just good for the environment in the long run, it is also good for your health immediately. The chemical products that have become so ubiquitous in our society’s day to day life are making people very sick. Research is now linking chemicals found in everyday household products to a prevalence of allergic reactions, occurrences of asthmatic attacks, and even the rise of cancer. An earth friendly product provides a healthy alternative that will work great and not make people sick.

There are many harmful aspects of our homes that we have little control over. It is unfortunate, but many of us live in homes that were built in ways that are not ecologically friendly. Although many people are not aware of it, their homes are filled with pollutants in the form of paint, fabrics, and the very building materials that hold up the roof. These products emit fumes and gases that actually cause the air inside a house to be more polluted than the air outside.

Although homeowners tend to start in an environmental deficit, this does not mean that they cannot make their houses healthy over time. Natural home products have been developed for all aspects of life, including home building materials, chemical free cleaning products, organic foods, natural beauty products, and environmentally friendly fabrics. By always selecting an earth friendly product, consumers can ensure that everything new entering the house will contribute to the overall good of the family’s health and the environment’s future.

There is now no excuse for using chemical based products. First, it is easy to find retailers that carry natural products. Shoppers no longer have to go to specialty stores because the earth friendly product they desire is likely stocked on their local store’s shelf and can even be found online. Second, as the products gain strong fan bases, clear favorites are starting to stand out. Next time you are out shopping, look to see which products most people are reaching for. Finally, unlike before, natural products are very competitively priced, making them affordable for all budgets.