1 Prospects for Growth in Global Nutraceutical and Functional Food Markets: A Canadian Perspective

Abstract: There is growing recognition of the potential role for nutraceuticals and dietary supplements in helping to reduce health risks and improve health quality. In the global marketplace nutraceuticals and functional foods have become a multi-billion dollar industry and estimates within Canada suggest that the Canadian nutraceutical and functional food industry has potential to grow to $50 billion US. In this paper we examine current nutraceutical and functional food literature from a Canadian perspective to identify the potential for distinctive niche markets and growth of the industry in Canada as well as it’s potential contribution to international markets. Internationally, significant limitations to growth in this area are resulting from a necessity to properly label and assess the health effects of nutraceutical and functional foods. Food safety, quality, and a better understanding of interactions among foods, medicines and dietary supplements are central requirements in Canada for development of less restricted access to our national markets and for successful expansion into the international marketplace. Exploitation of genetic and ecotype variability associated with natural populations of nutraceutical and functional foods, in particular plants, has potential to allow us to develop niche markets distinctive to Canada which are of value to consumers throughout the world. Many variants of plants exhibit population-based broad range productivity for specific chemical constituents. Selectio