Weight Management Could be Next Probiotic Trend

CHICAGOProbiotic product marketing is still fixated on digestive health and immunity enhancement, but the weight-management category is ripe for growth according to a new report, Emerging opportunities for ingredients probiotics in weight management" released by Euromonitor International. The market research firm called probiotics some of the most versatile functional ingredients ever, as well as some of the most popular" due to their strain-specific effect.

As the evidence that obesity may have a microbial component continues to mount, Euromonitor said, the potential for probiotics as a key functional ingredient in weight management-positioned food and beverage products may emerge to be substantial. They mention yogurt as a delivery form many consumers are already using for their probiotics, adding  the global volume consumption of probiotics rose from 26,539 metric tons in 2004 to 44,661 metric tons in 2009, surpassing omega-3s by more than three times.

Consumers are incorporating more probiotics in their diets, and Euromonitor said meal-replacement slimming products are one category that could promote probiotic ingredients to help boost sales. Euromonitors latest (and provisional) retail value sales estimate for 2010 pegs the meal-replacement slimming category at just shy of US$5 billion globally, but with a poor growth performance in key geographies. In Western Europe, calculated on 2010 fixed US$ exchange rates, the market declined by almost 10 percent over the 2005 to 2010 review period. Probiotics could be just what is needed to inject some life back into the category," it said.

It noted the meal-replacement products with probiotics currently on the market, such as Eat Smart Total Nutrition Shake from US-based iSatori Technologies, tout probiotics for digestive health benefits, rather than weight management. Naked Pizza, a New Orleans restaurant that plans to open 1,000 franchises across the United States over the next five years, uses heat-resistant probiotics (as well as prebiotics) in its trademarked Ancestral Blend crust. However, Euromonitor added probiotics in this case are not specifically leveraged as a functional weight-management ingredient, but it pointed out  employing the right strains and referencing this in the marketing, Naked Pizza's products' weight-management positioning could be strengthened.