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Boring products take gloss off cosmetics sales
New software cuts NDP costs, time to market
Researchers develop antimicrobial food packaging
Goldilocks did the right thing
Eve’s recipe for an Ipanema figure
Cosmetics
Boring
products take gloss off cosmetics sales
A dearth of innovative new products
with appeal consumer messages held sales growth for 2002 in the US
cosmetics and toiletries market to two percent, according to a new study
by market researchers Kline & Company.
This was the second consecutive
year of low single-digit growth after averaging about five percent a year
for five years.
Although the whole economy is
sluggish, the researchers said there have been few big product launches in
all C&T categories.
"Lots of companies are holding
off on introducing new products to avoid compounding losses. But
innovation and heavy promotion of new products are critical in this
industry, and companies that cut spending in these areas risk getting
caught in a downward spiral of declining sales," said Carrie Bonner,
project manager for Kline's consumer products practice.
Kline found that new product
launches increased by one-fifth from 2001, but have not been able to
inspire the market or to create new segments. “More has not meant
better,” said Bonner.
"Consumers are always looking
for innovation and originality in C&T products, and recent launches
just haven't provided anything too different than what was already out
there."
Kline believe things are picking up
in hair care. L'Oreal and Unilever are both making a major push with their
Garnier Fructis and Dove lines, respectively. Both these lines are already
available in Europe, which illustrates that marketers are thinking
globally. More recently, Procter & Gamble bought control of the German
hair care firm Wella.
“By bringing products that are
already established elsewhere to the US market, companies can offer
newness without the costs of additional product development,” Bonner
said.
NPD
New
software cuts NDP costs, time to market
A new set of software tools will
help drug and supplement companies understand and improve cost and time
efficiencies in the development and manufacturing of tablets, claim the
makers.
US-based BioInnovators’ new tool,
Excipio Economics, assesses the economic impact of new high-functionality
excipients (the non-drug part of a dose), compared to conventional
excipients, across the complete formulation and manufacturing processes.
It also allows users to integrate economic and technical criteria into
excipient and process selection.
Users can create an interactive
computer model that inputs a company's data and produces an integrated
analysis of tablet development metrics across many processes. The model
shows how choices in formulation can affect cost, productivity and
profits, helping planning and decision-making of tablet development from
the start.
Packaging
Researchers
develop antimicrobial food packaging
Plastics films impregnated with
antimicrobial agents may soon be wrapping meat and other food products.
Basque research house AZTI, working
with the French Agrotec centre, is developing so-called active packaging
for food. The aim is to extend the shelf-life of different foodstuffs
without changing their organoleptic (sense) qualities.
“The active container is one
which is capable of modifying the conditions surrounding the foodstuff in
such a way that it protects it and extends its useful life, improves its
safety and enhances its organoleptic properties at the same time
maintaining the quality of the product,” said the researchers.
They do this by building into the
package substances that absorb oxygen, ethylene, water vapour, carbon
dioxide, flavours or smells, and of substances that emit carbon dioxide,
as well as antimicrobial or antioxidant agents. These techniques help to
control the chemical reactions that limit the useful life of the product.
Agrotec is concentrating on
solutions for vegetable products, with Azti looking at meat products. So
far, Azti has found three solutions for cooked ham and pates: plastics
films with the antimicrobe agent fixed to its surface; edible antimicrobic
films; and the small sachets antimicrobic properties which can be included
in the food container.
Nutrition -
1
Goldilocks
did the right thing
Goldilocks’s theft of the
porridge was the right thing if she was to stay thin, according to new
research that shows that the risk of obesity is lower for kids who eat
oatmeal regularly compared to those who do not.
Researchers from Columbia
University and Quaker Oats found that porridge-eating can halve the risk
of getting far among two- to 18-year-olds who are overweight or at risk of
becoming overweight. Children who eat oatmeal are twice as likely to meet
fibre intake recommendations.
People who eat lots high-fibre
foods, such as oatmeal, from as early as age two could avoid obesity
throughout their lives, researchers suggested.
The data come from the most recent
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Researchers
analysed the study data from the NHANES sample of 9,814 children aged two
to 18.
Nutrition -
2
Eve’s
recipe for an Ipanema figure
 Want
the body you can show off on Ipanema beach? Eat an apple or an pear before
every meal, say Brazilian researchers.
Researchers from the State
University of Rio de Janeiro recently published in Nutrition, the
results of their investigation into the impact of fruit intake on weight
loss. They report that overweight women who ate just 300 grams of apples
or pears, or three small fruits a day, lost more weight on a low-calorie
diet than women who didn't add fruit to their diet. In addition, the fruit
eaters ate fewer calories overall, boosting their weight loss efforts.
The researchers suggest several
theories as to why this should be. First, fruits like apples and pears are
"low energy-density" foods, that is, they have a relatively low
calorie count compared to other non-fruit foods. Second, a high-fibre diet
makes you feel fuller for longer. Finally, a high-fibre diet decreases
total calorie intake, thus contributing to weight loss.
For 12 weeks the researchers
followed 35 overweight women from Brazil's low-income population, who had
with high cholesterol. Participants ate a standardized, low-calorie diet,
and kept dietary records. They were randomly assigned to supplement that
diet by eating either 300 grams of apple, 300 grams of pear or 60 grams of
oat cookie three times per day, while eating a total of six meals per day.
Researchers studied the various
diets' impact on total energy intake, weight loss, glucose levels and
cholesterol levels. The fruit group lost more weight, consumed fewer total
calories and had lower blood glucose levels than the oat group, while the
oat group showd a greater though statistically insignificant decrease in
cholesterol compared to the fruit group.
Picture
courtesy of US Apple Assocation. |
