Nutrition Research as a Driver of Innovation
There are many ways food companies can use nutrition as a driver of innovation. These include linking the nutritional value of a food with a pre-approved health claims, re-formulating to create ‘better for you’ line extensions, or combining various foods to achieve a particular functional benefit.
One of the strongest, yet often most overlooked areas that can assist with innovation, is by monitoring, understanding and applying the insights available from published nutrition research.
While consumer trends often guide innovation, nutrition research can often be one of the strongest infuencers of long term, future trends.
However companies frequently lack connections with the nutrition science, and the resources to source and understand it.
By establishing strategies that provide marketing and R&D with regular updates and a greater understanding of the published nutrition research, this area provides significant opportunity for feeding in new ideas that are backed by credible science and facts.
The following are all areas that provide opportunities for tapping into nutrition research as a driver of innovation:
Published nutrition research. Accessing published nutrition research in a manner that can be understood and applied, means accessing experts who can monitor this area and interpret it for you. This includes advising on the quality, strength and consistency of the research as this influences its application within the NPD process.
Commissioned nutrition research. Some companies may have access to funding that enables them to commission specific research trials of relevance to existing or new products that can further drive innovation. Small and medium sized companies may also have access to this area through partnerships with government or academia, for example, through the federal government’s national Linkage Projects Scheme .
Product analysis. Undertaking a full nutritional analysis of a product can provide an opportunity for identification of key nutrition attributes that can immediately be turned into health claims. This can lead to significant market gains with a relatively low investment.
FNA provides regular nutrition research updates to clients. If you would like further information on how this can add value to your innovation process, please get in touch.