Features

Nutraceuticals are food or components of food which provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition including the prevention and treatment of diseases. There has been an increase in life expectancy of individuals and this trend is likely to continue globally. In parallel to this modern day life styles are associated with growing levels of stress, poor eating habits, lack of exercise and these have contributed to an increase in chronic disorders such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, digestive disorders etc.

Obesity is directly related to an accelerated onset of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts that there will be more than 1.5 billion obese people globally by 2015. The UK has the highest percentage of obese adults (62.2%), followed by Germany and Spain where over 50% of the population is overweight. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) which includes myocardial infarction (heart attack), hypertension (high blood pressure), hypercholesterolaemia (high cholesterol) and cerebrovascular disease (stroke) is the number one cause of death in developed countries. Many factors pre-dispose to CVD including poor diet. The European population is aging fast and will challenge the resources of health care providers. The WHO estimates that about 16.6 million people around the globe die of CVD each year and the prediction is that this may rise to 11.1 million by 2020. As far as digestive health is concerned it is estimated that currently 1.0 million people in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK are suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Another issue linked to this is the growing prevalence of food allergies.

This is also placing a huge financial burden on health care providers and many governments are urging the public to take care of their individual health and improve their life style especially by changing their diet.

Nutraceuticals should be able to contribute to the prevention of the chronic diseases mentioned above and there are many players emerging in this area and they all contribute to the health and wellness market. All these organisations have to address three key issues of technology (1) establishment of scientific assessment standard for prevention of diseases (2) establishment of assessment system for disease prevention by human trials and (3) establishment of seamless system to transfer stage from basic research to industrialisation. Consumers are seeking novel food products which can enhance their health and factors currently influencing the growth of the nutraceutical sector include regulatory issues, consumer opinions, and the need for more conclusive research into new and novel ingredients.

The issue of regulation is an important one for all concerned. Within the European Union there are two categories of claims on foods: nutrition claims and health claims. The nutrition claims deal with content claims and comparative claims whilst the health claims deal with functional claims based on generally accepted scientific data and on newly developed scientific data. It’s likely that regulatory issues have put financial pressures on some nutraceutical companies and this may have led to a slowing down of the introduction of novel products. However, the regulatory issues also provide a new window for marketing and promoting nutraceuticals especially those directed at chronic diseases associated with age. The companies need to comply with the legislation and have a unique opportunity to work with government agencies and health providing organisations such that the nutraceuticals can be effectively marketed and directed at those who will benefit the most. To achieve this the companies need to significantly invest in research and development, advertising and promotional activities and effectively communicate the benefits of nutraceuticals to the consumers staying within the legislative boundaries and this will be linked to ethical marketing which the consumers are also seeking. In times of hard economic realities nutraceuticals have a role to play in maintaining health of the general population thus contributing to the savings in health care costs. This is the key to success in the European and worldwide nutraceuticals market.

Professor Khalid Rahman
Professor of Physiological Biochemistry Liverpool John Moores University.