Vitamin claims too familiar
recent months as manufacturers seek to attract health-conscious
consumers.
But these claims are too easy and can be misleading, suggests the director of market research firm Productscan Online, Tom Vierhile.
"It's always been a popular claim but high vitamin claims have nearly doubled in the period from January to September," he told NutraIngredients-USA.com.
Yet often such claims are being made on products that are not generally considered healthy.
"Vitamins are an easy thing to add to products. It's actually a very conservative way for companies to jump on the nutraceutical bandwagon," said Vierhile.
"It's almost become a claim that is so common, it doesn't really have the punch anymore," he added, comparing it to claims for 'natural', also too familiar to the consumer.
So far this year, 18.1 per cent of all new food and drink launches in the US and Canada made a functional claim, a slight decline on the 19.1 per cent of products last year.
But 'high vitamin' claims have surged to 9.9 per cent of new products introduced in the US before August 31.
These claims also top the list of claims made across global markets, according to Vierhile.
But in most other markets, calcium is the next most popular nutrient to be cited, whereas in the US it is still protein. Protein claims are however expected to decline on last year, in keeping with the trend for low-carb foods.
Almost 800 SKUs are making 'high protein' claims this year, shows ProductScan data, making it unlikely that the 2004 number of 1508 will be equaled.
