UK retailer Marks & Spencer is set to launch its own-brand functional food and beverage products in the UK from 12 March.
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The ‘& More’ range includes 20 commonly eaten foods that incorporate soya protein. Other functional ingredients like betaine, fructo-oligosaccharides, isoflavones, selenium, vitamin C and E have been included to supplement its claim relating to heart health.
Products in the range include milk, cereals, sandwiches, soups, yoghurt, cereal bars, smoothies, pasta sauces and dried pasta.
A ten-week clinical trial on products containing soy protein was carried out independently by the Cardiothoracic Unit of St Thomas’s hospital in London. Full results of the trial are due to published later this year, but research on soya protein in the diet has already been proven to lower blood cholesterol.
The range will include a generic claim on all products that state eating the foods ‘helps maintain healthy cholesterol levels’. The products will also carry information relating to the clinical testing of it product claim.
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By GlobalDataMarks & Spencer’s entry into the functional food arena comes despite the high profile demise of Novartis Consumer Health’s Aviva range in the UK and the failure of the sector to capture the public’s imagination.
The range is expected to attract a higher price but given that the Marks & Spencer consumer base expects to pay for premium value, the product may succeed where others have failed.
