Market Overview

Waist sizes are increasing in many countries around the world, and obesity has become a global epidemic. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) a whopping 1.5 billion overweight consumers will be walking around by 2015, and we’ll be incurring health costs beyond $117 billion per year in the US alone.

Fingers have been pointed at the food industry as a major part of the problem, but the industry – and the nutritional industry in particular – also represents a major part of the solution.

Indeed, the opportunities for a scientifically-substantiated weight management food product are impressive: The market for food, beverage and supplement weight management products is already valued at $3.64bn (2009 figures) in the US, according to Euromonitor. In Western Europe, the market was worth $1.3bn in 2009.

However, there is no ‘magic bullet’ for weight loss and management and the sector is evolving to manage consumer expectations.

Functionality

In the first of our webinars, we will get an in-depth tour of the weight management markets in the North America and Europe, including a look to the future, and how consumers are reacting to weight management.

You can break down the weight management market according to the functionality of the ingredients – does it boost the feeling of fullness or does it increase the rate of metabolism, for example, and the former (satiety) has been a major research focus for a number of companies. However, results have been inconsistent and sometimes disappointing. Our second webinar will seek to answer the question, “Is the industry pursuing satiety or are they shifting their interests elsewhere?”

Weight management is also about lifestyle, and the scientific literature contains plenty of evidence to suggest that people who consume a lot of dairy are slimmer. Unraveling the potential benefits of dairy – is it calcium, protein, a combination of many factors – is not easy, but could functional foods like dairy can help consumers manage their waist lines? The third webinar in our program will seek to answer just that question.

Consumer understanding and confidence in weight management cannot be ignored by any company considering the sector. Anyone with an email account will no doubt have received bogus emails offering ‘miracle’ supplements and weight management solutions, so how does the serious industry counter this burden of poor reputation? We have invited two stakeholders – a leading supplement manufacturers and a leading trade association – to consider the issue, and share their views on building consumer trust and loyalty.

Last but by no means least; we’ll consider the role of botanicals, and where this segment stands following the hype and disappointment of products such as hoodia. We have invited a leading expert in botanicals to present the state of play for the herbal extract industry and look at which botanicals offer the most potential for weight management.

Our conference program has been specially selected to touch on the issues associated with weight management, offering insights and solutions rather than posing more questions.

We hope you enjoy the conference.

Stephen Daniells, PhD
Senior Editor
NutraIngredients-USA.com