Rebecca Wright05.01.06
Traditionally, green food products have found fertile ground in the natural channel, and some have even made the successful crossover to conventional channels, but mainstreaming green foods may not be as easy as some previously anticipated.
According to David Browne, director of content services, SPINS, San Francisco, CA, green food product sales in the natural channel are outpacing sales of green foods in the conventional channel by a ratio of 40:1. "It's unusual these days to have a subcategory with such a huge discrepancy in sales in the natural channel versus the conventional channel, as so much of the supplement industry is represented fully in both and often sales in conventional outlets vastly exceed sales in the natural food stores," he said.
Green food products in the natural channel are currently growing at 20%, posting $40 million in sales, while growth in conventional channels has slowed to less than .5%, posting just $1.6 million in sales. The top selling green food ingredients in the conventional and natural channels, according to SPINS data, are grasses (wheat and barley), spirulina blue green algae and chlorophyll/chlorella (see Table 1).
Mr. Browne says over the last five to seven years there has been some expansion for green food products in conventional outlets, but for the most part, growth has been quite flat over the last two years, while growth in the natural foods channel has actually picked up the pace.
So what's problem? Are the health benefits touted for green foods too vague? Are they too expensive for mainstream consumers? Are green foods not sexy enough? Is it their appearance or taste? In fact, it is all of the above.
For years the green foods category has been content serving the natural foods consumer because they are educated enough to understand the product, and let's face it, they also have deeper pockets.
In order to truly take the category mainstream, however, SPINS' Mr. Browne says there are a lot of factors to consider. "The really complex formulations that exist in the natural channel may not readily translate to the conventional channel because the price points are too high and the health benefits too vague," he said. "This situation is not likely to change unless prices give and there is more science and media exposure related to the health benefits."
Mr. Browne went into further detail. "When I think of something like fish oils, the driving success of those products directly relates to the large body of evidence substantiating them for specific health conditions. In this vein, I believe consumers may be more motivated to purchase some of these products," he explained. "With green foods, on the other hand, there is not quite the body of science that exists as for fish oils and health claims focus mostly on general rather than specific health benefits."
Despite poor performance with mainstream consumers, Susanne Fässler, marketing communications manager, Frutarom Switzerland Ltd., Wädenswil, Switzerland, is still optimistic about green foods' potential. "This is a great category in which to be involved because 'green' really symbolizes freshness and healthy," she said. "It is very positive."
But Ms. Fässler was also of the opinion that more research must be conducted on products in this category. "There is not a lot of evidence for green foods in general yet but this where Frutarom is very strong. We are looking to put evidence to the products we sell, especially in the case of our latest green oat product," she explained. "From our point of view, just being involved in the green foods category is not sufficient enough. Our goal is to build the evidence behind specific ingredients in the green foods category."
Currently a lot of green food products are positioned to make up for various nutrient deficiencies in the diet. Thanks to the revision of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines last year, which increased the recommended amount of fruit and vegetable intake, green foods are experiencing a slight resurgence. Add to this the constant health messages tied to the increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and the risk reduction for certain diseases, and it seems green foods may soon find their place in the minds of mainstream consumers.
Mitchell May, PhD, founder, Synergy Production Laboratories (SPL), Moab UT, offered his point of view on what motivates consumers to take green foods. "A lot of consumers gravitate toward green foods because they are trying to make up for deficiencies in their diet. Consumers are more aware of these deficiencies because authorities worldwide now promote a universal message to eat five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day. This is the most fundamentally sound thing they can do for their diet, health and well-being," he explained. "Simultaneously, less than 20% of people actually get the appropriate number of servings and when you take away things like ketchup and French fries, this percentage drops even lower. It is very sad when consumers don't realize that doing something so simple can have such a profound impact on their health and well-being."
To make up for lack of nutrients, Dr. May says a properly formulated green "super food" can supplement an individual's diet to help them get to that much needed five to nine servings per day. "Green foods really fit the health bill perfectly when it comes to what dietary supplements were intended to do all along-supplement the diet with nutrients that you might not be getting," he commented.
Bob Capelli, vice president of sales, Cyanotech, Kona Coast, HI, offered a similar perspective. "The green foods market is definitely in an upswing primarily because consumers are looking for things to take that lie closer to what they would get in foods to supplement their diets," he said. "In other words, the information about the health benefits of eating five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables is really starting to resonate with a majority of consumers who would like to get all the nutrients they can out of fruits and vegetables but often don't. This is where green food products can really play a role."
David Sandoval, founder, Organic By Nature, Long Beach, CA, really feels like green foods are starting to shed their niche reputation and appeal to a broader audience. "Green food products are starting to attract a wider range of consumers, not just the hard core wheat grass consumer. Now it seems elite athletes are turning to green foods, along with organizations like the U.S. army."
Describing the growth of the market over the last several years, Mr. Sandoval added, "There have been degrees of growth, some periods more rapidly growing than others, but the trend has never reversed." The reason growth never dipped into the negative, Mr. Sandoval claims, is because green foods are the closest thing to a panacea that exists among any individual food.
"If you look at the reason why people suffer from malnutrition, the most common denominator is lack of green plant intake. Green foods have the widest area of potential application and as consumers learn more about them, there will be more growth spurts in the market," Mr. Sandoval said. "Green foods have the greatest chance for success over any other supplement category because they are needed more by a wider group of people."
Lance Sigal, division manager, Finished Goods Sales & Marketing, Earthrise Nutritionals, Inc., Irvine, CA, offered another view. "I see an increase in consumers taking supplements for the wrong reasons," he said. "While most consumers take these products as a replacement for deficiencies in their diets, whether that is fruits or vegetables, they really need to consume these things AND supplement their diets with products like green foods at the same time."
Last year, controversy surfaced in relation to the manufacture of organic spirulina. To resolve matters, Earthrise and Cyanotech teamed up to address the concerns. According to Cyanotech's Mr. Capelli, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) informed both companies that it was going to lump them in with other "dirt" farmed products like vegetables and other produce in terms of organic certification. "As a result, NOSB disallowed the use of a mined, water-soluble form of natural nitrogen, which was previously allowed in organic spirulina farming," he said. "The problem is, the fertilizer (our nitrogen source) has to be water-soluble because spirulina grows in water."
So Earthrise and Cyanotech had the option of growing their algae right next to the spirulina and using that as a nitrogen source, or using cow manure, which Mr. Capelli said is risky because of the bacteria and heavy metal counts.
The NOSB gave the companies a three-year extension at the end of 2002, which ended in October 2005. "At that point," Mr. Capelli said, "after studying our options for few years, we decided there was no safe or economical way to grow organic spirulina under the new organic regulations, so we ceased production."
Since then, both Cyanotech and Earthrise have noticed a couple of Asian producers considering this their opportunity to grab market share. "We just want people to understand that there are safety and quality concerns with some of those 'organic' spirulina products," Mr. Capelli explained. "Companies should make sure they do their due diligence before buying some of these products because if they don't they may have some problems down the line."
Most experts admit that green foods are really just scratching the surface of mainstream markets. Complicating matters is the fact that virtually anything green can be considered a "green food." For clarification, Mr. Sandoval offered, "Green foods as an umbrella category includes green sea plants like spirulina, sea kelp and chlorella, and then it includes land vegetables like broccoli, spinach and kale." He seems to think that as people become more aware anything colored green is therapeutic, there will be an ever-expanding number of recognized green foods.
For now, however, experts like Hartley Pond, vice president of technical sales, VDF/Futureceuticals, Momence, IL, believe the market needs to move one step further to establish the precise health benefits for specific green foods. "There are a lot of people with the attitude that if it smells like grass and tastes like grass, then it must be healthy. But I think consumers these days want to be able to pinpoint why and how these things work," he said. "That's why showing that things work in biological systems is very important. The green foods market is crying out for some standardization or proof of how these products work and I think this is something that has not been articulated as well as it could be."
Organic by Nature's Mr. Sandoval offered an interesting point of view on green foods and anemia. He believes there is a realization within the scientific community that green foods can reverse this condition. To back this up, he used an example from research published in The New England Journal of Medicine, which suggests most deaths are not attributable to the death certificate cause. "While the disease may be listed as the cause of death, the actual reason why the disease was able to defeat the body relates to the weakness of the red blood cells," he explained. "Anemia is a condition in which the strength of red blood cells is reduced. Red blood cells carry oxygen and nutrients to the white blood cells. The white blood cells are the defender cells but when you cut off the transfer of oxygen and nutrients performance is greatly compromised (i.e., like an army without a supply line). When people suffer from borderline anemia, which is very prevalent across society today, it greatly contributes to the debilitating effect of any condition. The good news is, green foods are widely recognized as helping tackle anemia issues."
Paula Bickford, PhD, is a professor of Neurosurgery at the Center for Aging and Brain Repair at the University of South Florida, Tampa, FL. She is currently carrying out research on green foods like spirulina. "We do a lot of aging studies involving the brain, and some of our recent work has focused on fruits and vegetables, including spirulina," she said. "Our preliminary studies are showing that spirulina may play a role in inflammation and oxidative stress. But perhaps our most interesting findings come from a recent study looking at Parkinson's disease and the effect spirulina has on this condition. It appears that spirulina works to improve the regenerative capacity of the brain."
Synergy's Dr. May believes there is a very strong trend toward companies interested in sourcing quality raw materials as they pertain to green foods. Unfortunately, he says, there is also a disproportionate amount of poor quality green food ingredients and green food products on the market. He also finds it encouraging that companies are increasingly looking for green food ingredients that are certified organic. "This is very pleasing to me because I think it is the antithesis to have a green food product formulated with materials that are irradiated, filled with pesticides, over heated or fumigated," he said, adding, "These practices counter the purpose of a green food because they negate the properties that are inherent in a properly formulated green food product."
Dr. May discussed the downside of the green foods sector, but added a silver lining. "There are hundreds of green super foods in the marketplace, but unfortunately a lot of them are 'knockoffs' formulated with poor quality ingredients, rather than organic, minimally processed products. Green super foods are the ideal product to have as organic to ensure the purity, quality and value for the consumer," he added. "Thankfully, the products formulated properly are spreading quite rapidly because consumers can detect a noticeable difference in their health. Consumers should be able to 'feel' their green foods working, not just hope or wish they are doing them good."
Frutarom is going a step further with its green oat product by positioning it for mental health issues, rather than just antioxidant potency and general well-being. "Green oat preparations have been used in the area of mental health since medieval times. So what we are doing now is putting some of its traditional use to the test," said Carla Wullschleger, product manager, Frutarom. "Our development of the green oat product started over two years ago with bioassays."
Ms. Wullschleger says the company looked at several thousand green oat plants and tested them for their bioactivity and safety profiles through in vitro assay systems, focusing on the central nervous system. "The first thing we needed to determine was what type of green oat plant possessed positive effects on mental health. We screened a variety of plants for their pharmacological effects. Through that screening we found physiologically relevant inhibitory activity of two enzymes that are closely connected to mental health-monoaminoxidase B (MAO-B) and phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE 4)."
Ms. Wullschleger claims these two enzymes are quite popular in the pharmaceutical industry today. "There are several clinical developments for phosphodiesterase inhibitors. In fact, they are currently being investigated for their antidepressant activity and cognitive enhancement capabilities," she said.
Now that the product is launching, Ms. Wullschleger says Frutarom is going to commence studies in animals to establish efficacy for indications related to cognitive support and concentration based on the bioactivity shown in some of the in vitro studies.
In turn, Frutarom's Ms. Fässler hopes the awareness of green oat will grow. "We already have a head start with the positive association consumers have with oats in general. Now we just have to concentrate on cultivating the awareness of the 'green' part of the equation," she commented.
Cyanotech's Mr. Capelli believes green foods will continue to grow and thrive because of the naturalness of the product and the wide array of health benefits they can offer. "Consumers are looking to take things that are as close to real foods as possible," he said. "They really want to be able to supplement their food with food."
For the future, Mr. Sandoval sees green foods being put into special sections of stores that focus on specific conditions. "When people start associating green foods not just with overall health and wellness but also specific health issues like osteoporosis, osteoarthritis or restoring clarity to skin, I don't think anything can hold the category back," he said.
SPINS' Mr. Browne believes the green foods segment will continue to be a double-digit growth segment in the natural channel. "As awareness grows, it seems consumers will make it a point to travel to natural food stores to purchase these products. As a result, the existing products in this channel are going to continue to be successful," he said. "The question is, will companies bother to aggressively promote within the conventional channel as well."
The awareness of green foods has not spread as far as it is going to, according to Synergy's Dr. May. "Green food products, for now, are probably more at home in the health food channel where consumers are a bit more familiar with them," he said. "But the category will expand its reach to mainstream America once consumers start taking products that work and recommending them to others. The market for green foods in mainstream America is not fully developed yet, but it certainly has huge potential."NW
According to David Browne, director of content services, SPINS, San Francisco, CA, green food product sales in the natural channel are outpacing sales of green foods in the conventional channel by a ratio of 40:1. "It's unusual these days to have a subcategory with such a huge discrepancy in sales in the natural channel versus the conventional channel, as so much of the supplement industry is represented fully in both and often sales in conventional outlets vastly exceed sales in the natural food stores," he said.
Green food products in the natural channel are currently growing at 20%, posting $40 million in sales, while growth in conventional channels has slowed to less than .5%, posting just $1.6 million in sales. The top selling green food ingredients in the conventional and natural channels, according to SPINS data, are grasses (wheat and barley), spirulina blue green algae and chlorophyll/chlorella (see Table 1).
Mr. Browne says over the last five to seven years there has been some expansion for green food products in conventional outlets, but for the most part, growth has been quite flat over the last two years, while growth in the natural foods channel has actually picked up the pace.
So what's problem? Are the health benefits touted for green foods too vague? Are they too expensive for mainstream consumers? Are green foods not sexy enough? Is it their appearance or taste? In fact, it is all of the above.
Growing Pains
For years the green foods category has been content serving the natural foods consumer because they are educated enough to understand the product, and let's face it, they also have deeper pockets.
In order to truly take the category mainstream, however, SPINS' Mr. Browne says there are a lot of factors to consider. "The really complex formulations that exist in the natural channel may not readily translate to the conventional channel because the price points are too high and the health benefits too vague," he said. "This situation is not likely to change unless prices give and there is more science and media exposure related to the health benefits."
Mr. Browne went into further detail. "When I think of something like fish oils, the driving success of those products directly relates to the large body of evidence substantiating them for specific health conditions. In this vein, I believe consumers may be more motivated to purchase some of these products," he explained. "With green foods, on the other hand, there is not quite the body of science that exists as for fish oils and health claims focus mostly on general rather than specific health benefits."
Despite poor performance with mainstream consumers, Susanne Fässler, marketing communications manager, Frutarom Switzerland Ltd., Wädenswil, Switzerland, is still optimistic about green foods' potential. "This is a great category in which to be involved because 'green' really symbolizes freshness and healthy," she said. "It is very positive."
But Ms. Fässler was also of the opinion that more research must be conducted on products in this category. "There is not a lot of evidence for green foods in general yet but this where Frutarom is very strong. We are looking to put evidence to the products we sell, especially in the case of our latest green oat product," she explained. "From our point of view, just being involved in the green foods category is not sufficient enough. Our goal is to build the evidence behind specific ingredients in the green foods category."
Currently a lot of green food products are positioned to make up for various nutrient deficiencies in the diet. Thanks to the revision of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines last year, which increased the recommended amount of fruit and vegetable intake, green foods are experiencing a slight resurgence. Add to this the constant health messages tied to the increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and the risk reduction for certain diseases, and it seems green foods may soon find their place in the minds of mainstream consumers.
Mitchell May, PhD, founder, Synergy Production Laboratories (SPL), Moab UT, offered his point of view on what motivates consumers to take green foods. "A lot of consumers gravitate toward green foods because they are trying to make up for deficiencies in their diet. Consumers are more aware of these deficiencies because authorities worldwide now promote a universal message to eat five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day. This is the most fundamentally sound thing they can do for their diet, health and well-being," he explained. "Simultaneously, less than 20% of people actually get the appropriate number of servings and when you take away things like ketchup and French fries, this percentage drops even lower. It is very sad when consumers don't realize that doing something so simple can have such a profound impact on their health and well-being."
To make up for lack of nutrients, Dr. May says a properly formulated green "super food" can supplement an individual's diet to help them get to that much needed five to nine servings per day. "Green foods really fit the health bill perfectly when it comes to what dietary supplements were intended to do all along-supplement the diet with nutrients that you might not be getting," he commented.
Bob Capelli, vice president of sales, Cyanotech, Kona Coast, HI, offered a similar perspective. "The green foods market is definitely in an upswing primarily because consumers are looking for things to take that lie closer to what they would get in foods to supplement their diets," he said. "In other words, the information about the health benefits of eating five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables is really starting to resonate with a majority of consumers who would like to get all the nutrients they can out of fruits and vegetables but often don't. This is where green food products can really play a role."
David Sandoval, founder, Organic By Nature, Long Beach, CA, really feels like green foods are starting to shed their niche reputation and appeal to a broader audience. "Green food products are starting to attract a wider range of consumers, not just the hard core wheat grass consumer. Now it seems elite athletes are turning to green foods, along with organizations like the U.S. army."
Describing the growth of the market over the last several years, Mr. Sandoval added, "There have been degrees of growth, some periods more rapidly growing than others, but the trend has never reversed." The reason growth never dipped into the negative, Mr. Sandoval claims, is because green foods are the closest thing to a panacea that exists among any individual food.
"If you look at the reason why people suffer from malnutrition, the most common denominator is lack of green plant intake. Green foods have the widest area of potential application and as consumers learn more about them, there will be more growth spurts in the market," Mr. Sandoval said. "Green foods have the greatest chance for success over any other supplement category because they are needed more by a wider group of people."
Lance Sigal, division manager, Finished Goods Sales & Marketing, Earthrise Nutritionals, Inc., Irvine, CA, offered another view. "I see an increase in consumers taking supplements for the wrong reasons," he said. "While most consumers take these products as a replacement for deficiencies in their diets, whether that is fruits or vegetables, they really need to consume these things AND supplement their diets with products like green foods at the same time."
The Organic Spirulina Issue
Last year, controversy surfaced in relation to the manufacture of organic spirulina. To resolve matters, Earthrise and Cyanotech teamed up to address the concerns. According to Cyanotech's Mr. Capelli, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) informed both companies that it was going to lump them in with other "dirt" farmed products like vegetables and other produce in terms of organic certification. "As a result, NOSB disallowed the use of a mined, water-soluble form of natural nitrogen, which was previously allowed in organic spirulina farming," he said. "The problem is, the fertilizer (our nitrogen source) has to be water-soluble because spirulina grows in water."
So Earthrise and Cyanotech had the option of growing their algae right next to the spirulina and using that as a nitrogen source, or using cow manure, which Mr. Capelli said is risky because of the bacteria and heavy metal counts.
The NOSB gave the companies a three-year extension at the end of 2002, which ended in October 2005. "At that point," Mr. Capelli said, "after studying our options for few years, we decided there was no safe or economical way to grow organic spirulina under the new organic regulations, so we ceased production."
Since then, both Cyanotech and Earthrise have noticed a couple of Asian producers considering this their opportunity to grab market share. "We just want people to understand that there are safety and quality concerns with some of those 'organic' spirulina products," Mr. Capelli explained. "Companies should make sure they do their due diligence before buying some of these products because if they don't they may have some problems down the line."
Quality, Safety & Efficacy
Most experts admit that green foods are really just scratching the surface of mainstream markets. Complicating matters is the fact that virtually anything green can be considered a "green food." For clarification, Mr. Sandoval offered, "Green foods as an umbrella category includes green sea plants like spirulina, sea kelp and chlorella, and then it includes land vegetables like broccoli, spinach and kale." He seems to think that as people become more aware anything colored green is therapeutic, there will be an ever-expanding number of recognized green foods.
For now, however, experts like Hartley Pond, vice president of technical sales, VDF/Futureceuticals, Momence, IL, believe the market needs to move one step further to establish the precise health benefits for specific green foods. "There are a lot of people with the attitude that if it smells like grass and tastes like grass, then it must be healthy. But I think consumers these days want to be able to pinpoint why and how these things work," he said. "That's why showing that things work in biological systems is very important. The green foods market is crying out for some standardization or proof of how these products work and I think this is something that has not been articulated as well as it could be."
Organic by Nature's Mr. Sandoval offered an interesting point of view on green foods and anemia. He believes there is a realization within the scientific community that green foods can reverse this condition. To back this up, he used an example from research published in The New England Journal of Medicine, which suggests most deaths are not attributable to the death certificate cause. "While the disease may be listed as the cause of death, the actual reason why the disease was able to defeat the body relates to the weakness of the red blood cells," he explained. "Anemia is a condition in which the strength of red blood cells is reduced. Red blood cells carry oxygen and nutrients to the white blood cells. The white blood cells are the defender cells but when you cut off the transfer of oxygen and nutrients performance is greatly compromised (i.e., like an army without a supply line). When people suffer from borderline anemia, which is very prevalent across society today, it greatly contributes to the debilitating effect of any condition. The good news is, green foods are widely recognized as helping tackle anemia issues."
Paula Bickford, PhD, is a professor of Neurosurgery at the Center for Aging and Brain Repair at the University of South Florida, Tampa, FL. She is currently carrying out research on green foods like spirulina. "We do a lot of aging studies involving the brain, and some of our recent work has focused on fruits and vegetables, including spirulina," she said. "Our preliminary studies are showing that spirulina may play a role in inflammation and oxidative stress. But perhaps our most interesting findings come from a recent study looking at Parkinson's disease and the effect spirulina has on this condition. It appears that spirulina works to improve the regenerative capacity of the brain."
Synergy's Dr. May believes there is a very strong trend toward companies interested in sourcing quality raw materials as they pertain to green foods. Unfortunately, he says, there is also a disproportionate amount of poor quality green food ingredients and green food products on the market. He also finds it encouraging that companies are increasingly looking for green food ingredients that are certified organic. "This is very pleasing to me because I think it is the antithesis to have a green food product formulated with materials that are irradiated, filled with pesticides, over heated or fumigated," he said, adding, "These practices counter the purpose of a green food because they negate the properties that are inherent in a properly formulated green food product."
Dr. May discussed the downside of the green foods sector, but added a silver lining. "There are hundreds of green super foods in the marketplace, but unfortunately a lot of them are 'knockoffs' formulated with poor quality ingredients, rather than organic, minimally processed products. Green super foods are the ideal product to have as organic to ensure the purity, quality and value for the consumer," he added. "Thankfully, the products formulated properly are spreading quite rapidly because consumers can detect a noticeable difference in their health. Consumers should be able to 'feel' their green foods working, not just hope or wish they are doing them good."
Frutarom is going a step further with its green oat product by positioning it for mental health issues, rather than just antioxidant potency and general well-being. "Green oat preparations have been used in the area of mental health since medieval times. So what we are doing now is putting some of its traditional use to the test," said Carla Wullschleger, product manager, Frutarom. "Our development of the green oat product started over two years ago with bioassays."
Ms. Wullschleger says the company looked at several thousand green oat plants and tested them for their bioactivity and safety profiles through in vitro assay systems, focusing on the central nervous system. "The first thing we needed to determine was what type of green oat plant possessed positive effects on mental health. We screened a variety of plants for their pharmacological effects. Through that screening we found physiologically relevant inhibitory activity of two enzymes that are closely connected to mental health-monoaminoxidase B (MAO-B) and phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE 4)."
Ms. Wullschleger claims these two enzymes are quite popular in the pharmaceutical industry today. "There are several clinical developments for phosphodiesterase inhibitors. In fact, they are currently being investigated for their antidepressant activity and cognitive enhancement capabilities," she said.
Now that the product is launching, Ms. Wullschleger says Frutarom is going to commence studies in animals to establish efficacy for indications related to cognitive support and concentration based on the bioactivity shown in some of the in vitro studies.
In turn, Frutarom's Ms. Fässler hopes the awareness of green oat will grow. "We already have a head start with the positive association consumers have with oats in general. Now we just have to concentrate on cultivating the awareness of the 'green' part of the equation," she commented.
Green Predictions
Cyanotech's Mr. Capelli believes green foods will continue to grow and thrive because of the naturalness of the product and the wide array of health benefits they can offer. "Consumers are looking to take things that are as close to real foods as possible," he said. "They really want to be able to supplement their food with food."
For the future, Mr. Sandoval sees green foods being put into special sections of stores that focus on specific conditions. "When people start associating green foods not just with overall health and wellness but also specific health issues like osteoporosis, osteoarthritis or restoring clarity to skin, I don't think anything can hold the category back," he said.
SPINS' Mr. Browne believes the green foods segment will continue to be a double-digit growth segment in the natural channel. "As awareness grows, it seems consumers will make it a point to travel to natural food stores to purchase these products. As a result, the existing products in this channel are going to continue to be successful," he said. "The question is, will companies bother to aggressively promote within the conventional channel as well."
The awareness of green foods has not spread as far as it is going to, according to Synergy's Dr. May. "Green food products, for now, are probably more at home in the health food channel where consumers are a bit more familiar with them," he said. "But the category will expand its reach to mainstream America once consumers start taking products that work and recommending them to others. The market for green foods in mainstream America is not fully developed yet, but it certainly has huge potential."NW
