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Ice Cream as a Functional Food Aging and health-conscious consumers are creating a demand for healthful foods and beverages. An onslaught of new nutritionally enriched product introductions will propel growth in this market. According to a recent U.S. government report, sales of these foods, which include everything from tea laced with ephedra, (an herbal stimulant) to calcium-enriched orange-juice are expected to reach $49 billion by 2010. This has led to the development of functional foods and beverages that are designed to use specific ingredients that produce or enhance specific functions. These products move beyond conventional, fortified, or enriched items, or products marketed as healthy because they are low in fat or sugar. Instead, these products contain ingredients that strive to enhance a specific physical or mental function or expand into the realm of 'positive enhancement' - used to boost energy levels or provide a desired mood or mental state. Functional foods include snacks and meal items. Snacks include chewing gum, confections/candy-like products, bars, frozen desserts, chips, cheese snacks, and sports nutrition chewables. Meal items include yogurt, margarine, salad dressings, pasta sauces, cereals, eggs, and soup. Functional beverages include bottled water, soft drinks/sodas, juices, fruit drinks, milk/dairy-based beverages, herbal drinks, mental enhancement drinks, sports/energy drinks, and teas (sports/energy drinks and teas are not always promoted as functional products, but they are included because they contain some of the same ingredients and perform some of the same functions as those beverages promoted as functional products).
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