Modern Woes - Thanks to smart phones, wireless LAN and the Internet, the pace of business has picked up rapidly over the last years. While staying connected in business has become child's play, staying connected to one's nutritional health has been put on the back burner - a problem that is seen worldwide, not just in emerging economies. DSM Nutritional Products has long been working to meet the needs of global trends such as early-life nutrition and life-long health and wellness - an effort that was recently rewarded when the United Nations named DSM CEO Feike Sijbesma as their Humanitarian of the Year. Brandi Schuster and Phillip Praet took a look behind the scenes of the business unit, and asked its global head of marketing Gareth Barker about the trends driving the industry - and what issues are moving consumers.

CHEManager Europe: Hi Europe & Ni will take place in November in Madrid for the first time this year. During the last two years, the Spanish market grew rapidly by approximately 11%. Can you explain how important the Spanish sector will be in the upcoming years, particularly concerning nutritional products and health ingredients?

G. Barker: The Spanish market was always a very innovative market place for health-oriented functional products. Big dairy players use Spain as their preferred country for first launch of a new product. Holiday travellers will see the new product and request it also at their home country. So the importance of Spain is not so much regarding the accessible market defined by the number of inhabitants but rather by his importance to stimulate an innovative health food culture.

Despite the commercial crisis, your company managed to increase net sales and operating profits.
What makes this area of business resistant to economic downturn?

G. Barker: Food and supplement marketers are fully aware of the global key trends of early life nutrition and lifelong health and wellness. DSM Nutritional Products, with its most broad portfolio of vitamins, carotenoids, functional ingredients and Quali-Blends is best suited to serves these marketers with both the ingredients and the know-how on science and regulatory.
The economic downturn increased even the consumers' awareness to actively think and invest in their daily health, wellness and beauty.

Where do you see the most potential for growth?

G. Barker: Even in industrialized nations, there is still a significant nutritional gap that the consumers reach the recommended daily intake some vitamins, such as A or D. We expect that the demand for supplements and fortified food will continue due to consumers' interest to stay healthy and fit for the challenges of daily business life. In addition to these "busy life" consumers, the aging population also has a great deal of trust in daily supplementation.
Another fast growing segment is infant nutrition and products for children. European consumers are very open to investing in helping their offspring grow up healthy, tall and smart.

The worldwide population is growing rapidly and also getting older and older. How has the demographic shift affected your business?

G. Barker: The growing population will significantly increase the market request for health-oriented products in all relevant segments: staple-food fortification, infant nutrition, beverages, food and dietary supplements. The aging population of most countries will have the money to invest in their healthy future by doing more out-door sports and accepting supplements as a proven form to effectively fill the gap arising from daily nutrition.

What other trends have you identified as drivers?

G. Barker: The consumers of the future will be driven to get more transparency regarding the origin of the products, their quality, as well as the reliability of the promise/health claim message. Sustainability of the future - giving also the children a chance to have a solid and healthy Mother Earth - is also very high at consumers' wish list.

One of the most important topics for DSM is sustainability. During the Nutrition Forum 2010, which was organized by your company, 160 representatives from 40 countries talked about that issue.
Where can the nutrition industry begin to ensure sustainability?

G. Barker: Many companies in the nutrition industry have already begun to invest in environmental sustainability, for example by trying to cut carbon emissions, save on energy use, reduce water consumption and minimize waste production.
However, more industry members need to start thinking about the positive side of the coin - instead of just reducing carbon footprint, more effort should be focused on humanitarian activities. The sustainability of our society also plays a pivotal role in the overall definition of this term, and companies need to commence activities that benefit people as well as the environment. DSM is proud to be highly active in this field, with our partnership with the World Food Program as just one example of our presence in this area.