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Heart Health – NPD Remains Strong

New data on supplements and food & beverage products carrying heart health claims show that this is a platform to watch.

As in so many areas of the functional foods and nutraceuticals space, supplements were found to dominate this platform. Based on the number of global product launches tracked in 2015, Innova Market Insights reports that 14% of supplements had a heart health positioning, albeit often in conjunction with other platforms such as brain health and immunity.This grew in terms of NPD by +71% from 2011 to 2015. Heart health has been found to be one of the main concerns for seniors and in particular the group aged 65+, with a significantly higher proportion of the population requiring medication to address heart health related issues. According to a 2015 consumer study, heart health and high cholesterol were both on 29%, indicating that these are key areas of concern.

Multiple benefits are combined in heart health supplements. Also in the form of a brain mood health or energy positioning. Product development in foods is still at a very small scale level, but new options in heart healthy foods are emerging as new ingredients take the stage, including chia seeds and oats. In food and beverages, the number of launches is still very small, at less than 1% of launches. However, there has been growth in these areas too of 36% from 2011 to 2015. Within supplements, an interesting area of product development is botanicals, which are marketed on various health platforms, including heart health. When comparing US figures for 2014 vs. 2013 on trending botanicals by active health positioning, garlic (+26%), cinnamon (+22%), ginger (+21%), turmeric (+16%) and annatto (+11%) were the fastest growing varieties. Within the top 5 claims being made for selected botanicals, heart health performed quite strongly, with 13% of supplements within the botanicals space carrying heart health claims. In terms of food & beverages the numbers were also quite high at 10%.

The top 3 market categories ranked to number of global product launches in 2015 from 2014, cereals (+5%), dairy (+8%) and snacks (+64%) are all performing strongly, with the biggest growth coming in snack launches with heart health claims, with growth coming from snacks, nuts & seeds, which are claimed to be good sources of fiber and/or omega 3. What is clear in both the food and supplements space is that active ingredients that hold approved health claims in Europe are benefiting from this type of active health positioning. Some of the EFSA approved claims being used include those for beta glucan in terms of lowering blood cholesterol, potassium for the maintenance of normal blood pressure and omega 3 DHA for normal cardiac function. These will be some of the key claims to look out for on new heart health foods and supplements.