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Fat threat over-egged
Health & Beauty drive sales
Currying favour? India heats up
Food waste rises up agenda
Obesity
Fat threat over-egged
Obesity kills only about 26,000
Americans a year, less than one-tenth of the reported 365,000 on which the
US Surgeon-General based his controversial call to action in November 2001.
The new figures come from the same
source, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and are based on a
technical reassessment of the original data.
Speaking at a specially convened
press conference yesterday, CDC director Dr Julie Gerberding said obesity
and overweight remain critically important health threats.
The restated figures show obesity
causes only about 25,814 deaths a year in the US. They also show that those
that are overweight but not obese are less likely to die than those who are
skinny or at "ideal" weight.
But these conclusions have also drawn
fire. Scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health, the American
Heart Association and the American Cancer Society say the study included
people with cancer and heart problems and who therfore weighed less. This
makes fat people look healthy by comparison, they said.
And a new study by University of
Missouri- Columbia biomedical researchers Frank Booth and Simon Lees
suggests every US child and adult will be obese by 2044 and 2058,
respectively, if the current progressive rise continues.
Gerberding said people need to look
at the overall evidence of harm from excess pounds. Obesity raises the risk
of some cancers, diabetes and arthritis, and raises blood pressure and
cholesterol, which in turn raise the risk of heart disease. "It's not
healthy to be overweight," she said.
Other medical professionals remain
worried. "We really can't afford to become complacent about this
epidemic of obesity,” said one.
A food industry lobby group, the
Center for Consumer Freedom, continues to claim that the CDC knowingly
exaggerated the risks from obesity.
Wellness
Health & Beauty drive sales
Health and Beauty accounted for 10%
of total UK supermarket sales in 2004, with Wellness a key factor in driving
sales.
Speaking at the IGD Health and Beauty
Conference, IRI’s Tim Eales and Martin Wood said toiletries, now a £4bn
market, is still showing growth, with value sales up by 1.9% compared to
2003. However, there is evidence that prices are dropping and new products
contributed less than in previous years.
Comparing volume growth in the
toiletry and medicine markets, the latter lagged toiletries. Total OTC value
was up +0.7% but this came from products associated with Wellness, up by
6.6%, rather than from those treating Illness, which were down 0.9%, they
said.
“The average level of price premium
for new Toiletry products fell dramatically in 2004 despite almost 75% of
new brands being priced above the category average. The value contribution
of those new brands priced below the category average, however, more than
doubled in 2004 compared with 2003,” they said.
Within OTC
the top three fastest growing categories in 2004 (based on values sales %
change) were Feminine Care/Lub Jelly (10.5%), Medicated Mouthwash/Sprays
(9.9%) and Vitamins and Minerals (8.3%). Consumers are buying more products
that have preventative or wellness, rather than treatment, functions.
NPD contributed less to total
medicine sales. Of the top 10 new launches only Cura Heat was completely
new. The rest were brand extensions (Gaviscon Cool, Canestan Duo), rebranded
products (Senekot Hi-Fibre) or the result of switching (Zanprol).
IRI reports that since the abolition
of RPM, promotions have increased across OTC. In Cold/Flu, Cough Liquids and
Hayfever promotions have doubled since 2003. The depth of the price cut is
constant and high but actual promoted prices are falling as the everyday
price also drops. Although demand is stronger, promotional effectiveness is
falling, which indicates that there are too many promotions not gaining
enough in return.
Markets
Currying favour? India heats up
The Indian processed foods market
will hit £70 billion this year, according to a new study from Research and
Markets.
With a population of more than one
billion to feed, the Indian food processing market is one of the world’s
largest in terms of production, consumption, and export and import
prospects. Once a net importer of food, India is becoming an importer food
exporter. The change is due to new policies that encourage commercial
production and investment.
Analysts say the total market for
food processing goods in India will yield approximately US $69.4 billion in
2004-2005, of which value-added produce comprises US $22.2 billion.
Processed food exports and value-added agricultural produce will see faster
growth.
They expect the food-processing
market in India will attract investments worth more than US $32.1 million by
2010.
Waste
Food waste rises up agenda
Britain throws away more than a fifth
of its food; Japan reportedly throws away as much as Britain spends on food
each year. Small wonder that how to profit from food waste is to come under
the spotlight at a conference in September (see Events) .
According to recent reports, Japan,
the world’s biggest importer, throws away some $101 billion worth of food
a year. This is as much as Britons spend on food, of which they junk some
$36 billion a year, or about $780 per person.
By some estimates, the food the
Japanese throw away could feed 50 million people a year. Not only is the
Japanese government concerned about the effect of this on landfill sites,
but also on the environment, given that the country imports 60% of all its
foods. This also makes it the worst offender on the Food Miles shame list
from the UK’s environmental group Safe Alliance. Japan’s food miles are
three times those of the US, which has twice the population.
The government aims to cut food
thrown away by food businesses by a fifth, using the 2001 Food Recycling
Law. The farm ministry estimates this at some 10 million tons of food waste
annually. About half of the four million tons ditched by manufacturing
plants was recycled, while six million tons from the foodservice sector was
burnt or went to landfill sites.
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