Market Potential for Superfoods Analyzed

According to a recent report from Datamonitor, New York, Superfood & Drinks: Consumer Attitudes to Nutrient Rich Products, the superfood food and beverage market is expected to double by 2011. The report builds on the momentum of several trends to point to potential growth opportunities for this market. Some of the current trends driving this include:

Superfood is a concept that has been popularized in the last two years;
Consumers are paying additional attention to diet and nutrition;
Consumers are increasingly opting for food and drinks with additional health-promoting benefits;
Consumers are increasingly incorporating more fruit into their diet;
Numerous superfood-status products are enjoying buoyant sales, especially in the United States where the concept is more widely promoted.

Some of the foods currently considered superfoodsalbeit without any sort of official definitioninclude a range of fruits like pomegranate, goji berries, açaí and blueberries, as well as other foods like dark chocolate, green tea and soy. The report notes that pomegranate is particularly hot these days, as evidenced by the 383% growth of new product releases containing the ingredient over the last two years compared to the previous six.

In addition to analyzing the market, the report goes into some details on possible directions for product development, pointing out that superfood products should avoid overly grandiose magic bullet claims, and perhaps not market the products on the basis of their superfood ingredients. Rather, the analysts note that the products might find a better audience by catering to the increasing desire for generally healthy products that fit into a nutritionally balanced diet from a diverse range of food types.