A blueberry drink a day can help keep stress away, suggests a study which found blueberry’s antioxidant power improved the cognitive performance of adult rats exposed to stress.
'Kids throw milk at each other...it's a waste of public money'
Students in Sri Lanka are not eating healthy diets and are shunning school milk programmes due to social and cultural factors, and until these are tackled the country’s double burden of malnutrition will remain, experts say.
Probiotics, functional dairy and natural colours – combined with Asia’s rapidly changing lifestyle and health needs – are among the top factors driving industry growth in the region.
Savvy product differentiation and strong consumer demand are driving growth in specialist tea sales, but botanical drinks such as tree waters have yet to find favour, according to retailers and analysts.
We pinpoint six of the must-know food, nutrition and consumer trends taking shape in Japan, from superfoods to sports nutrition, ahead of one of the country's biggest trade shows, FoodEx Japan, which takes place next month.
Spanish firm Reig Jofre’s nutritional supplements line Forte Pharma is looking towards South East Asia for expansion, after establishing a firm foothold in Hong Kong and Macau.
Probiotic soy milk improves several indexes of kidney function in type 2 diabetic patients with nephropathy – a major complication of diabetes and the foremost cause of end-stage renal failure.
The lack of a coordinated national approach to the Australian obesity epidemic is “unacceptable”, according to the Chair of the Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges, who is calling for more clinical trials to assess solutions and a soft drinks tax...
The glycaemic response (GR) to beverages does not vary depending on Asian ethnicity, with Chinese, Indian and Malay displaying similar responses, a first of its kind study has established.
Prebiotic soluble fibre dietary supplement MyFy is the first product to be launched by Galaxy Scientific Nutrition in India to address the country’s significant shortfall of fibre intake.
A new study indicates that Korean teenagers who regularly consume energy drinks are at “great risk” of mental health problems, particularly when consumed in combination with junk food, researchers claim.
Adding Tiliacora triandra gum, from the indigenous Thai vegetable ‘Yanang’, to maltodextrin could create an excellent protector of probiotics, researchers have revealed.
Treatment with green tea extract (GTE) has been found to reduce hepatic inflammation in mice with the fatty liver disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).
The demand for ‘clean label’ products, especially in North America and Europe, is continuing to affect consumers’ acceptance of fortified foods, meaning manufacturers should focus their efforts on Asia, Latin America and Africa.
A greater emphasis should be placed on enhancing the bioavailability of key nutrients in foods by focusing on synergies to help fight under nutrition, say researchers from the Indian Council of Medical Research.
A novel combination of prebiotic galacto-oligosaccharides could significantly improve absorption of certain minerals, according to new research in rats.
Water extracts of a fermented tea, known as Pu-erh tea, could help to reduce oxidative stress and protect the liver against damage caused by a high fat diet, research in rats has found.
Researchers say a review and meta-analysis suggests, but cannot establish, that industry-sponsored nutrition studies may be more likely to have favourable conclusions compared to independent studies.
By Natasha Flynn, business development manager, HealthDirection
With more than 30,000 businesses generating sales of over A$4bn (US$3.1bn), the Australian complementary medicines industry has created a highly competitive landscape.
University of Sydney and Ramazzini Institute researchers are claiming widespread bias in industry-funded research into artificial sweeteners, arguing those financially backed by business are far more likely to have favourable results.
The food industry needs to stop looking at challenges such as obesity, malnutrition and waste as costly challenges and see them as the opportunities for creating “$2 trillion of added value” as it strives to increase global production by 70% before 2050.
The controlled release of tea polyphenols into finished food products could help create new functional foods and reduce oxidation without the need for synthetic antioxidants, say researchers.
‘Significant progress’ has been made in rolling-out voluntary Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA) nutrition labelling in Asia over the past four years, but more work is needed to educate consumers and emphasise their benefits to small and medium-sized enterprises...
Manufacturers in China should be looking at moving past traditional soy-based drinks by incorporating multiple types of plant protein in functional beverages, says Mintel.
Indian consumers are increasingly aware that all fats are not bad, are demanding more products that offer “complete wellness” and are becoming increasingly opening to exploring alternative proteins and natural sugars.
Caffeine combined with artificial bright light improves the driving performance and alertness of chronically sleep deprived young drivers, according to a Queensland University of Technology study.
A focus on functional health benefits has allowed India to become the world’s largest market for malt-based hot drinks, according to Euromonitor International.
Probiotics manufacturers are increasingly witnessing the rising importance of Asia-Pacific as growing awareness of the health benefits of “good” bacteria continue to drive global growth.
