The Functional Foods Revolution: Healthy People, Healthy Profits

Foods that promote human health - 'functional foods' or nutraceuticals - have caught the imagination of the global food industry. All the household-name companies are developing them as a key driver in their global strategies. They see the prospect of new markets and bigger margins, but the issues presented are fraught with complexity and difficulties. Distinguishing hype from real hope, the authors of this handbook explain the dilemmas and contradictions the industry faces. They present a wealth of detailed marketing, food policy and regulatory material from the leading markets world-wide and show how the hopes of the industry, and the consumer, may be dashed. The solution they offer is radical - nothing less than a new business model of what they term a healthful company.

Michael Heasman and Julian Mellentin are directors of the Centre for Food & Health Studies, a London-based think-tank that researches, analyses and forecasts developments in food and health around the world, and co-editors of the international business journal New Nutrition Business.