FMCG Innovations and Trends by Sophia Nadur

The promotion of gluten-free diets among people without celiac disease should NOT be encouraged , a long-term prospective cohort study reports. ( Link ) The British Medical Journal reported in May 2017 findings from health research conducted on 100,000 people over a 15+ year period. Professor Benjamin Lebwohl et al.'s study had as its objective " to examine the association of long term intake of gluten with the development of incident coronary heart disease ". The research findings concluded in part with this statement: " .....the avoidance of gluten may result in reduced consumption of beneficial whole grains, which may affect cardiovascular risk. The promotion of gluten-free diets among people without celiac disease should not be encouraged." Wheat and other whole grain food have been a staple in the human diet for thousands of years. However, gluten, a storage protein in wheat, rye, and barley, triggers inflammation and intestinal damage in people ...

Tg Green Tea co-founder, Sophia Nadur, in Singapore discussing how to harness the goodness of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda wellness ingredients in creating beverages that folks want. Read her interview with Gary Scattergood, Editor-in-Chief at William Reed Business Media Ltd, Food Asia, in NutraIngredients Asia. http://www.nutraingredients-asia.com/Manufacturers/Functional-beverages-in-Asia-Start-ups-need-to-redress-the-health-balance For more info, please connect with me via LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophianadur/

The global ready-to-drink tea market reached 37 billion liters in 2016: up 40% since 2011, and market consultancy Zenith Global predicts this impressive growth is set to continue with global consumption expected to reach 45 billion liters by 2021 (growing 7% per annum). Increased consumption has been driven by consumers’ rising health awareness, with RTD teas offering an attractive alternative to carbonated soft drinks. In Asia – by far the biggest market for RTD teas – functional benefits are also a key characteristic of the market. RTD teas will continue to evolve with exotic flavors and more sophisticated offerings. But the category will also face increased scrutiny over its health positioning, with some RTD teas containing as much sugar as carbonated soft drinks. Tg green tea, a new British brew, is set to take on global behemoths in the race to healthify the category. www.drinktg.com

"Consumers want to eat more healthfully, but they can't do it alone. They need help from food & drink manufacturers to formulate products with good-for-you ingredients. They need help from retailers to stock right-priced healthful assortments."  Nielsen 2016 Global Health and Ingredient Sentiment Survey. In North America, " Groundhog Day " is the day when the groundhog is said to come out of its burrow at the end of hibernation. If the animal sees its shadow—i.e. if the weather is sunny—it goes back into its hole, which signals 6 weeks more of winter weather. If it's cloudy and he doesn't see his shadow, spring is not far away! "Groundhog Day" has another, more colloquial, meaning. When someone says " It's like Groundhog Day " today, they mean the day is one in which people say the same things and do the same things over and over. I had a " Groundhog Day " moment earlier this week while waiting on a train ...

There has been a lot of discussion, especially in the past couple of years, about the amount of sugar we’re consuming as a nation - especially from soft drinks. That’s actually what got Sophia, my co-founder, and me wanting to develop the  Iced Tg  range. Our Tg green teas  do contain added sugar . In total,  less than 2 teaspoons  of it per bottle but, before you click the “delete Tg from consideration” button, give us  2 minutes ! Just how much sugar is in  my drink ? Take a bottle of your favourite soft drink and look closely at the  nutritional table  on the back of the pack. Look closely at the number in grams of sugar that is in the drink in your hand. The vast majority of drinks contain much more than  7g of sugar  per bottle and many of them you’d never expect are loaded with 4 or more teaspoons of sugar! Look carefully because even a drink that has a flash on front of pack  “No added sugar”  can pack...

What is Pokémon Go? Really, you don't know? Pokémon Go is a free smartphone app that was developed by Niantic Inc ., a San Francisco software development company that started life as an internal startup at Google . Since July 6th 2016, it's been downloaded by millions of folks all over the US, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand with launches in new countries happening weekly. In Pokémon Go , you take on the role of a Pokémon trainer in the search for 700+ Pokemons (fictional characters created in a mid-1990s Nintendo game for GameBoy ) to train to battle each other for sport. The augmented reality game uses your phone’s GPS location to place your character and other game elements in a map of of your current location. By changing your location (through walking, running or.....ahem....driving), you can virtually "catch" wild Pokémons that are near you, train them to make them more powerful, and later battle your Pokémons to take control of local gyms...

China a huge food & beverage market China is the world’s largest food & beverage market worth over £360 billion ($550 billion / €440 billion). Increasing disposable income and urbanization, an improving logistics system, growing concerns about food safety as well as an expanding taste for foreign foodstuffs are positive indicators for exporters wanting to capture a share of this exciting market. Of course its fragmented distribution infrastructure and growing local competition present a host of challenges to UK food & drink brands, however partnering with local experts and taking care to respect & nurture "guanxi" will go a long way to encouraging success.  Will the Great British Food Unit help turbo-charge UK exports? In 2015, UK food & drink brands exported £238 million ($357 million / €285 million) worth of tea, pork, processed milk and other food stuff to China, making the country a top 10 export market for the first time. Still, that o...