What is functional food anyway?

What is functional food anyway? It is basically food that provides health benefits beyond basic nutrition.

During our school days, we use to learn about vitamins A, B, C, D and minerals like iron and calcium. Nowadays, more and more are also talking about Antioxidants, Inulin, Omega 3&6, Beta-glucan, Co-enzyme Q10 and so on. These are the functional ingredients that are doing lots of wonders. It is the craze now!

We human have been consuming all these functional ingredients through meat, fruits and vegetables for thousands of generation. It's just that previously, we don't know what it is and how it function.

Now that more and more benefits are being unveiled, food companies all over the world are rushing to incorporate such functional ingredients into their products. Are they overly excited? According to latest research and findings, consumers are opting for a more healthy food and they are also wiling to pay more for it.

So much so that Nestle and Coca-cola, one is the biggest food company in the world and the other is the biggest beverage company in the world, have this year spend a total of US$6.6 billion to acquire a functional/nutrition company each to venture into the health and wellness industry.

Now, why would Nestle, with a net income of US$4 billion FY2006 and Coca-cola with a net income of US$5 billion FY2006, want to spend US$6.6 billion to acquire such companies? Mind you that US$6.6 billion is more than the GDP of 35% of the number of countries in the world!

Do you think both the companies, with a combined age of more than 250 years, are run by idiots? Certainly not so, if you ask Warren Buffett. He's been buying Coca-cola since 1988 and he now owns 7% of Coca-cola's stocks. It would turn out to be one of his most lucrative investments to date. His ability to sniff out well-managed and profitable companies makes him the third richest man in the world today.

Health/Wellness is the trend nowadays and functional food demand will set to soar tremendously especially in the next few years. What do you think?

Cheah Wai Loon.