Butter judged better for consumer health
It was pointed out here at the time that the increased carbohydrate awareness triggered by the diet phenomenon would create marketing opportunities for companies conscious of the gap the Atkins craze had opened up in world markets.
In a recent comment piece Davy Stockbroker’s John O’Reilly, who tracks global food trends, noted that since Atkins 375 new products making claims to be low in carbohydrates were introduced on the US market in the first two months of 2004 alone.
That compares with 289 for the whole of 2003.
For food companies the shift in tastes can be a nightmare. With claims and counter claims about what’s good and bad for you, it takes a lot of bravery for any good company to hit the market with a product they believe to be a winner.
However, market segmentation and the wide variety of dietary habits make it possible to identify and target certain consumer trends that will yield results in the future. Health trends come and go, and while some may appear to be locked in a time warp, what was once deemed to be the gospel truth is often stood on its head by new research.
Two issues spring to mind. Again in this forum some time back, I referred to the growing concern in the US about the use of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils in food products.
It was regarded as the best ever substitute for saturated fats and if you check the back of most tins or food packets it is usually listed as an ingredient.
Now the Food and Drugs Administration in the United States has been petitioned by the Centre for Science to have this product banned from all foods in the public interest.
The research centre claims that consumption of the partially hydrogenated oil causes coronary heart disease. We all thought that butter and other natural fats were the real killers.
The research if accepted by the FDA could offer great opportunities to restore the reputation of dairy products as safe foods if used in moderation.
In fact it never seemed logical to me that alternatives like margarine that tasted decidedly off could be good when the taste buds were giving a strong contrary indication.
For decades the dairy sector lost the battle to the margarine moguls and to the alternative spread merchants.
This was so much the case that large portions of the dairy sector were forced to introduce low fat spreads, displacing the raw materials they were set up to process in the first instance.
At this stage of dietary awareness it is becoming increasingly obvious the food sector will continue to experience radical demands on its ingenuity to produce food and drinks that meet the increasingly exacting demands of some segments of the global population.
With McDonald’s introducing salad alternatives, however dubious their motives, there is little doubt that public opinion once aroused can be a most powerful weapon.
Companies capable of responding to those shifts in sentiment will tend to do best in the years ahead.
In fact that shift in sentiment about dairy products is a powerful reminder that sometimes hard research is required to counter negative perception of what is or isn’t good for us.
But just to throw another spanner in the works, here is another piece of research that adds to the anti-carbohydrate argument.
Carbs in this instance are taken to include not just starch, but glucose, fructose, sucrose orange juice and even honey. These, if over done, can suppress the immune system for much of your waking day.
This applies especially to those who snack throughout the day on meals with a strong carbohydrate base.
The message is unambiguous, but again the bottom line here is moderation and balance.
