Research and Markets: Functional Foods Weekly Launched

DUBLIN--(Business Wire)--
Research and Markets
(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/b8d60f/functional_foods_w) has
announced the addition of the "Functional Foods Weekly" subscription to their
offering.

Australian innovative company OzScientific Pty Ltd has identified a market need
for timely information and knowledge on functional foods and nutraceuticals and
relaunched its Weekly Digest as "Functional Foods Weekly"

Functional foods refer to foods and ingredients that provide additional health
benefits over and above the nutritional value of the food. Health benefits of
foods may be attributed to inherently present high levels of bioactive
components (e.g. antioxidants in fruits and berries) or due to specifically
added bioactive ingredients (e.g. omega-3 fatty acids, probiotics and
phytosterols). Global market for functional foods is estimated to be over US$
300 billion and rising 3-4 times faster than the conventional foods. As the
incidences of chronic, lifestyle-related diseases (e.g. obesity, diabetes, CVD,
cancer) increase so is the need for prevention and health care. The need for
food to provide health benefits is now well recognised, as the food is the main
vehicle that consumers would prefer as a diet due to its familiarity, taste,
texture and flavour attributes. Consumers are being educated about the benefits
that functional foods can offer. At the same time, scientifically validated
bioactive ingredients are being released and regulations around are world are
being revamped to accommodate these changes.

"Functional Foods Weekly" is compiled from commercial and scientific analysis of
over 500 resources each week. This includes company media releases, newspapers,
magazines, research journals, patent sites, RSS feeds etc. The areas covered
include: business and market intelligence, consumer trends, innovations,
nutritional studies and regulations. "Functional Foods Weekly" is the only
comprehensive weekly publication of this kind in the market.

"Functional Foods Weekly" is delivered electronically 46 times in a year and
helps companies stay ahead of the competition in innovation and market
intelligence.

Key Topics Covered:

The Functional Foods Weekly is divided into the following sections:

* Business & market intelligence: This section monitors business and strategic
decisions made by established and dominant companies and help clients align own
strategies with the changing market landscape
* Consumer intelligence & trends: Due to increased awareness of health benefits
of food and food components and increased marketing by food companies, consumer
knowledge and behaviour is constantly changing. Gathering consumer intelligence
inevitably is a priority if you are focusing on new product development. This
section summarises weekly activity on consumer trends
* Innovations, new products and patents: Capturing intellectual property and
monitoring new product launches can significantly enhance companies ability to
capture a segment of functional food markets. This section compiles new product
activities and patent applications related to functional foods & nutraceuticals
* Regulations, labelling & related news: Due to the consumer safety reasons most
regulations are still on the cautious side, however, food regulations are being
constantly altered or updated to reflect the political and consumer group
influences and recognising health benefits. Keeping tab on the changing food
regulations and meeting the requirements for labelling and health claims are
vital for the success of functional foods. This section monitors major
announcements and changes related to regulations and labelling
* Nutritional research & related news: Due to the complex nature of human body
metabolism, nutritional studies can lead to often-conflicting outcomes. Evidence
based functional foods are more likely to become successful part of long-term
diet rather that dying in a heap of fads that are also part of functional food
trends. The Digest updates the nutritional research and related news in this
section.

In addition, the Functional Foods Weekly provides a comprehensive overview of
food industry activities from Australia & New Zealand and links to major
conferences related to functional foods.

For more information visit
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/b8d60f/functional_foods_w

Research and Markets
Laura Wood, Senior Manager,
press@researchandmarkets.com
U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907
Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Copyright Business Wire 2009