Digestive Health Continues to Drive Functional Food & Beverage Product Development

Gut health has continued to gain prominence in the food and beverage industry. Despite some ongoing issues regarding efficacy and definitions, the science behind gut health continues to encourage the use of fibers, prebiotics, and probiotics for digestive health in a range of products.

Digestive health was one of the key areas driving the functional foods boom in the 1980s. Nevertheless, it is continuing to generate interest as probiotics move further into the mainstream and awareness of the role of fibers and prebiotics in gut health is also boosting new product development. Also, interest in fermented foods has risen, not only because of their perceived digestive health benefits, but because of their naturally processed image fitting well into current clean label and authenticity concerns.

Awareness of the role of fiber and prebiotics is now relatively well established, with Innova’s 2018 Trends Survey indicating that seven out of 10 Chinese consumers thought that digestive health was the main reason to consume fiber, with one in three claiming to have followed a fiber-rich diet over the previous year. While fiber claims continue to be popular in the traditional categories of bakery and cereals, they are also rising in less established areas including dairy and sports nutrition.

Probiotics are also a well-established functional ingredient for digestion, and continue to see rising levels of interest, with a 72% rise in food and drinks launches featuring probiotics in 2018. Dairy continues to be the key area for new product development, accounting for 67% of Asia-Pacific launches featuring probiotic ingredients in 2018. But, activity is rising in other areas, with the confectionery and snacks categories showing particular potential.

With fermentation seen as a natural and authentic process, new product development and heightened consumer awareness have combined to bring a raft of traditional products back to the fore, many of which are also positioned on a digestive or gut health platform.

Yogurt is one of the best-known fermented foods, but the success of probiotic yogurt was followed by a revamp and repositioning of other related spoonable and drinkable cultured dairy options, including crème fraiche, Smetana, skyr, ayran, lassi, and kefir. Launches of drinking yogurt and fermented drinks doubled in the Asia-Pacific region in 2018, with kefir highlighted as an emerging drink with strong potential.

Key categories for fermentation outside the dairy category include sauces and seasonings, bakery and beverages, with pickles, such as sauerkraut and kimchi, sourdough bread and kombucha particularly prominent.

Kombucha, the ancient fermented tea drink from China, has been available in other countries for some years. However, with rising interest in functional beverages and fermented products it is moving out of the specialty sector into the mainstream, positioned as a sustainable, health-boosting alternative to more traditional soft drinks. Half of the kombucha-featuring launches in the APAC market also highlighted a digestive or gut health claim in 2018.