Nutraceuticals under the spotlight

Lutein, beta-carotene, zeaxanthin, astaxanthin, bilberry are eye health ingredients under the spotlight in a new European Health Ingredients Market report.

According to the study's authors, business analysts, Frost & Sullivan: “The rising prevalence of lifestyle-linked eye diseases has caused the global food ingredients market to leverage the consumer s need to protect their eyes through enhanced nutrition.

“The focus on eye health has become a primary concern in today's health conscious food industry. Eye health is a key component of a healthy life and the market for eye health ingredients witnessed growth in 2007, spurred by the incidence of eye-diseases such as glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, and childhood blindness. As a result of the scale of visual impairment problems, many consumers are making lifestyle changes, switching to nutrient-rich diets that will aid in protecting visual acuity, preventing cataract and blindness, and safeguarding their eyesight from harmful exposure to ultraviolet rays. Since 2007, the European market for eye health ingredients has been dominated by antioxidants. Key eye health ingredients in use in 2007 included lutein, beta-carotene and zeaxanthin.”