Imagine hearing the following product critique, "Product X has a rich, deep, satisfying and long-lasting taste." What manufacturer would not want those words spoken about its product?
You may not be aware, but in early March, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published Healthy Beverage Guidelines. Written by an independent panel of nutrition experts, the guidelines are designed to help consumers enjoy all types of beverages by providing them with the information necessary to make informed choices.
Practically all of the world's tea is grown in places that require an American to have a passport to visit. That has not kept tea from being a very significant part of the American culture and diet.
Overall fruit and vegetable consumption is on the rise for the first time in nearly 15 years, with a combined increase of 1% in annual eatings per capita between 2002 and 2004, according to a report issued by Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH), Wilmington, Del. (Note: the number of times the average person consumes a fruit or vegetable item annually does not measure volume.)
Moms want "nutritious" and kids want "fun." And cheese is the answer on both scores. Innovative food companies are stretching the limits to produce cheese in new shapes, colors and flavors that appeal to children. At the same time, a new federal regulation has expanded the options for fortifying cheese with added vitamin D, while new technologies improve the efficiency of vitamin incorporation.
Over the past 20 years, nutrition research has greatly expanded our understanding of the role that nutrients, foods, and ingredients play in health and disease. This has led to an increasing trend of health-related claims on food labels as a marketing tool to communicate diet and health information to consumers.
Product developers typically stabilize dairy systems in order to provide thickness, thus increasing viscosity; retard or prevent separation of dispersed components such as cocoa powder, fruit puree, etc; inhibit crystallization; and/or form gels. Food-grade gums are capable of all this, among other functions.
Editor's Note: A very low-calorie diet can help the heart age more slowly, according to researchers who recently released what they call the first-ever human study on the subject. The findings confirmed earlier studies on mice and rats that demonstrate the cardiac benefits of a restricted-calorie diet.