Health wise

we all want to feel good and look our best. So it's no great surprise that products which help us to do this quickly and easily are shooting up in popularity.

The ever thickening soup of nutritional health messages from government and industry means that shoppers are now more health aware than ever before. And with time at an ever-increasing premium, products that can offer a dual benefit are in demand. Why buy standard bread when you can fill up on an inulin-rich loaf to help improve digestion at the same time?

It is much easier to persuade a consumer to replace something they already eat regularly with a healthier alternative, than to ask them to break a habit altogether, or form a new one.

Many of the first functional products to hit the market were designed to treat a specific medical condition - margarines to lower cholesterol, for example.

However, as time has passed manufacturers have realised that taking a more holistic approach is a route to success, and are launching a growing array of products which maximise health generally.

Dairy products such as cheese, spreads and milks are perhaps the most widely recognised functional products, and one area that has seen spectacular growth in the past five years is probiotic pot yogurts. These products contain live 'good' bacteria, which can help improve gut health and protect against bad bacteria. They can also speed up digestion and reduce bloating, making them a popular purchase for young and middle-aged women.

"Functional yogurts and yogurt drinks have seen phenomenal growth over the past five years with sales having grown by almost five-fold and four-fold, respectively, since 2002," says Müller UK marketing and R&D director Chris McDonough. "The two sectors have a combined annual sales value of £431m with yogurt drinks accounting for just over half of those sales," he adds.

Müller UK is upping the ante on its Vitality yogurt and yogurt drinks range with a no-quibble, full cash refund 'Try Me Free' offer throughout March.

The brand contains a mix of both pro and prebiotics (special bacteria which help live bacteria grow).

Rival Danone Activia is also tempting shoppers with a full money-back guarantee if they don't feel a difference in 14 days. The month-long trial also includes a £1.1m national press and online campaign.

Another manufacturer running an impactful advertising campaign is Yakult. The brand believes that educating consumers is vital to the success of functional products and its recent 'Planet You' advertising activity went further than before in explaining how bacteria works inside the body.

Yakult sales director Andrew Nash says: "Consumers need to be convinced by what health benefits the product offers. If consumers do not understand or believe in the product benefit, sales can suffer."

Nash believes that the functional foods market is likely to balloon in the years to come as shoppers become even more ingredient savvy. "This will present a number of opportunities for food manufacturers that are looking at ways to gain a share of the functional foods market," he says.

The ageing of the population also presents opportunities for growth. With osteoporosis affecting an estimated one in three women, and one in 12 men over the age of 55 years, products which benefit bone health are set to become big news, as are those tackling vitamin deficiencies and diabetes.

Functional products have also been shaking up the bakery aisle. Warburtons produces a wide range of breads with added benefits, such as extra fibre, seeds and nutrients. Warburtons' Healthy Inside loaf, for example, contains a prebiotic ingredient which helps kick-start digestion, while its 800g Wholemeal Fibre Boost loaf provides more than a third of the guideline daily amount of fibre.

Meanwhile, chocolate lovers will be thrilled by the fact that UK manufacturers are starting to explore the potential behind functional chocolate products. It's already a huge market in Japan, but one which up until recently UK manufacturers had chosen to steer clear of due to UK consumers' more traditional tastes, and the fact that

the words health and chocolate don't usually sit happily alongside each other.

One UK company determined to make the link is Prestat. It claims that just two squares of its dark or milk chocolate product Choxi+ will provide all the antioxidants the body needs for a whole day. The chocolate is processed in such a way that two to three times more of the natural antioxidants in cocoa are preserved.

Confectionery giant Mars is also testing the waters with its new CocoaVia product, launched in the USA last year. The product is made of dark chocolate high in flavanols, which can thin the blood in a similar way to aspirin. It's enriched with vitamins and cholesterol-lowering plant extracts