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Feel Good Foods
Aug 19, 2020
Functional foods
We’re living in stressful times, to say the least. As most people are struggling to adapt and make sense of their new way of life, they’ve started looking for stress-relieving and sleep-improving solutions. It also goes without saying that marketers will have to adjust and address through both innovation and communication this growing demand in the current global market.
As a response to this new reality, a category of products has risen to meet the people’s demands: the functional foods.
Recent studies have shown that a big portion of the population is currently suffering from anxiety and sleep deprivation, is showing signs of clinical depression, or is worried about their financial situation or the state of the economy. Whilst people are getting worked up and anxious about their health and wellbeing like never before, some are turning to nutrition to help with their mental state.
This is where functional foods, which are foods that can potentially have a good impact on your physical or mental health, come into play. And while research on the topic have shown that people are yet to really adopt the idea of food helping their mental health, they’re at least giving an opportunity for the industry to expand in that direction.
From calming drinks and food for focus to bed-time snacks with sleep-improvement claims, it can be tough to understand what goes into these products due to all the different regulations on the food industry and the claims brands can or can’t make.
To shed some light onto the unknown, most ingredients in these functional foods fall into one of these two categories:
Adaptogens: plant-based and non-toxic ingredients, made known through Ayurvedic as well as Chinese traditional healing methods. They help against biological, physical or chemical stressors. Think of turmeric, or ginseng.
Nootropics: ingredients that enhance one function of the brain (or more). They can provide a feeling of sharper focus, boosted energy or mental calm. A popular nootropic is caffeine.
And with the almost urgency of the current global mindset towards finding mental health relief and solutions, specialized retailers but also some big-box stores found themselves adding “functional food” sections to their catalogues.
But one important downside of these products is the price. The expensive nootropics and adaptogens used in them instead of “basic” ingredients make the production cost much higher, which in turn increases the price on the shelf. It then becomes the consumer’s choice on whether or not they want to invest, while taking into consideration all the pros and cons of these drinks or foods.
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