Many fresh food ingredients used in everyday cooking are associated with perceived health benefits across the world. With a growing interest in healthy food and drink—Euromonitor International’s latest research forecasts that global health and wellness sales will hit $1 trillion by 2017—there is opportunity to innovate with the functional properties of fresh food, particularly as consumers are increasingly demanding more natural products. This article examines the opportunities for three widely consumed foods: mushrooms, cherries and ginger.

Mushrooms
Mushrooms are nutritional powerhouses, containing considerable quantities of essential amino acids, B-vitamins including folic acid, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamin D precursors and fiber, as well as many other nutrients.

There are plenty of scientific studies attesting to fungi's health-giving attributes, including antibacterial, antiviral, antithrombotic and even some anti-carcinogenic properties. Therefore, the idea that fungi can serve as a source of potent functional ingredients, some of which are suitable for imbuing foods and beverages with added health benefits, is not far-fetched. In addition, people the world over have an inherent respect for fungi. For instance, the extensive use of medicinal fungi is an integral part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which is practiced alongside “conventional” Western medicine in China. Two health attributes with which mushrooms have been associated include lowering cholesterol and improving vitamin D intake.

Shiitake mushrooms' ability to lower cholesterol, for example, which has been confirmed by numerous studies, remains virtually unknown, even among the growing consumer base on the look-out for heart-healthy products. Euromonitor International estimates that in 2012 the value of products with cardiovascular health as their prime positioning focus amounted to $8 billion for the 54 markets researched, up from $5.3 billion in 2007.

Cherries
Cherries, and particularly tart cherries, are high in antioxidants due to their high content of phytochemicals. The ORAC value (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity, a measure of the antioxidant potency of foods) of fresh tart cherries is around 1,500. For comparison, fresh strawberries hover around the 1,000 mark, and cranberries come in just below tart cherries. Blueberries, which are famed for being antioxidant powerhouses, achieve an ORAC value of around 2,400. Their high antioxidant content makes cherries and cherry products instant candidates for several health and wellness positioning platforms, including cardiovascular health, brain health and memory, beauty-from-within and anti-aging.

Although a number of packaged food and beverage categories will be able to benefit from the rise of the cherry as a superfruit, it is the fruit/vegetable juice category that holds the most promise. Fruit juice is widely perceived as being almost as “natural” as the fresh fruit, while having the added advantage of year-round availability.

However, it is a challenge to find 100% cherry juice on retailer shelves. Cherry juice products, even those consisting of 100% fruit juice, tend to be a mixture of fruit juices. Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc launched its new Ocean Spray Cherry range in February 2012 with the tagline “Real Cherries. Real Good.” The four new offerings are juice drinks, combining cherry juice with other juices, such as cranberry and orange.

Even U.K.-based Cherrygood Ltd launched Cherrygood Premium Cherry in January 2012. The product is promoted as possessing “a higher antioxidant content than any other leading chilled juice,” devoid of additives, preservatives, sugar and 100% natural. However, its cherry juice content is just 40%, with the rest consisting of apple juice.

Ginger
Ginger features heavily in (India's traditional) ayurvedic medicine as well as in TCM, where it is employed to treat colds and bronchitis, for example. Ginger is also widely used to treat digestive ailments and nausea. Ginger is packed with a huge array of phytochemicals, the most bioactive of which appear to be gingerols and shogaols.

Inflammatory conditions are high on the global health agenda because they are responsible for a long list of debilitating chronic diseases, including arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, metabolic syndrome and several respiratory system disorders. Ginger's anti-inflammatory properties are well documented and as it has no known side effects, it is a prime candidate in the fight against inflammatory disease. Besides its anti-inflammatory properties and beneficial effects on the digestive system, which have long been exploited in traditional home remedies, ginger may have two more health benefits worthy of exploration: weight management and brain health/memory. Weight management-positioned food and drinks, for example, are set to see global absolute growth of $22.1 billion over 2012-2017.

The potential to exploit the functional properties of fresh food—not just mushrooms, cherries and ginger but also many others—will open up the opportunity to offer more naturally positioned fortified/functional foods and drinks. This will undoubtedly help boost the move away from a treatment approach to health problems to one that is more focused on prevention.

For more insight, contact Diana Cowland, Health and Wellness Analyst at Euromonitor International, at diana.cowland@euromonitor.com

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The ideas and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect views held by Nutraceuticals World.