India is now showing a great interest for value-added nutrition through nutraceuticals and functional foods. The market brims with probiotic foods, fortified foods like Omega 3 acids, peptides enrichment, carriers for photochemical & sterols, minerals carriers and rich sources of conjugated linoleic acids (CLA). This has led food scientists to develop traditional foods on new platform, say experts.

There is greater demand for real-food solutions and new process technologies for condition specific product development and novel ingredients adding to the importance of nutritional science.

Now there is also more unison of nutritional ingredients with pharma ingredients. Like for instance, cancer researchers in the US and China have created a hybrid compound with Curcumin or turmeric that kills multiple myeloma cells . This has led to development of nutraceutical co-crystals which are emerging novel crystalline forms with altered physicochemical properties, points out experts.

There are immense opportunities with functional dairy foods. In fact , dairy beverages will remain a preferred delivery vehicle for non-dairy bioactive ingredients due to convenience, flavour and nutritional value. Innovative dairy beverages are targeting functional foods for obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, child and elderly nutrition. Functional foods are now seen to become indispensable. The key aim of such products is to provide enough nutrients to meet metabolic requirements to modulate various functions in the body and play curative roles for some diseases, said Dr. Bikash C. Ghosh, senior scientist, National Dairy Research Institute Bengaluru.

The key  drivers for functional foods are the population demographics, rising medical costs increased incidences of non communicable, chronic diseases and consumer awareness of food-health relationships, said Dr. Ghosh.

Functional foods can be produced by eliminating the component causing deleterious effects e.g. allergenic proteins etc. It can be developed by increasing the concentration of naturally present components e.g. fortification or processing interventions . Further, it could also be created by adding a component that is not normally present e.g. non vitamins antioxidant, prebiotics, fibres. Besides, it can be manufactured by replacing the component, usually macro-nutrients whose intake in excess causes deleterious effects like fat increasing non-availability or stability of a component known to produce functional effects to reduce the diseases -risk potential, informed Dr. Ghosh.

The Indian nutraceutical sector is on an upward growth path and driven by the dynamics of a consumer driven market, according to Frost and Sullivan.

The global nutraceutical market was worth nearly $160.6 billion in 2013 and is estimated to grow to nearly $241.1 billion by 2019, with an estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of seven per cent t from 2014 to 2019. North America and Asia-Pacific led the nutraceutical market and together accounted for 67.7 per cent of the market in 2013. These markets are nearing maturing, with exceedingly high per capita spends on nutraceuticals products This is forcing the nutraceutical manufacturers to look at developing countries such as India and China, which have considerably lower per capita spends on nutraceutical products, as key growth regions for their nutraceuticals portfolio.

In India the nutraceutical market is estimated at Rs. 5000 crore. The nutraceutical research in India is for the product to prevent malnutrition and anaemia, said Dr. V Prakash, former Director, CFTRI and Director, Research, Innovation & Development of JSS Mahavidyapeetha.

There are leading Indian players like British Biologicals, Parrys, DSM Nutrition, Herbalife, Amway, GSK, Pristine Organics, Green Chem, Phytotech extracts well entrenched in the nutraceutical space. In India the nutraceuticals market is still at a very nascent stage. Global companies like Abbot , Nestle Nutrition and Yakult Danone, among others forayed into India to set up manufacturing sites and establish their own procurement. Indian biodiversity and ayurveda roots bring it to prominence as a rich natural ingredient procurement area.

However, other Asia Pacific countries such as China, Japan, Brazil and Australia are key growth regions where the demand for nutraceuticals is huge. Also they are the key target markets for manufacturers. Globally, U.S. and Europe are the largest markets. Germany is the largest market in the European region.

The biggest driver could be that these countries are the best destination for innovations in the nutraceutical ingredient industry.

Strict legislation against the use of chemical ingredients in food products and more usage of ingredients derived from natural products is another reason why these markets are flourishing in this sector. Rising disposable income coupled with growing awareness about health & wellness are also major drivers for augmented nutraceuticals demand in Asia-Pacific countries.

Fortification, alteration, enhancement are few of the technologies which are used for nutraceuticals. To improve the bioavailability of nuetraceuticals, patenting of new delivery systems is a new trend like in nanotechnology which is a rapidly evolving interdisciplinary field based on the manipulation of matter on a submicron scale.

Recently it has been found that Cactus plant’s spectrum, which is anti-cancer, anti-viral, anti-diabetic has a rich source of fibre and edible pulp. In cactus pear, taurine is a major contributor, which is fast becoming an active constituent of nutraceuticals.