Nutritional Supplements: Flying With Wings

With the current popular trend of living healthy lifestyles, the nutritional health food market seems to be riding a bullet train of growth.

The volume of nutritional health food market sales is expected to grow to two trillion won this year, compared to 800 billion won in 1994. Experts forecast that the health food market will thrive on an additional 20 percent in growth each year because of various factors, including income increases, the growing number of elderly, and rising awareness on health and food. The Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) reported that the companies that provide nutritional food supplements have showed a 70 percent increase in growth from 505 companies in 1999 to 865 companies in late 2003.

The Age of Chlorella-

Aloe was the most popular ingredient for the nutritional supplements market until recently. According to a 2002 business performance report, aloe products took 70 billion won of the market share, kitosan took 35 billion won, chlorella took 24 billion won, schualen took 14.2 billion won, and enzyme products took 11.1 billion won.

However, chlorella has now surged to the top. Experts say that chlorella’s market share will reach 85 billion won at the end of this year, a marked jump from its 57 billion won market volume in 2003. And they predict chlorella products will thrive, reaching 105 billion won in sales next year. Chlorella is a single-celled freshwater algae containing five major kinds of nutritional ingredients, including dietary fiber, and different kinds of vitamins and minerals. It is called the world’s most powerful whole food.

The Daesang Group invented its own method of chlorella cultivation in 1993 and kicked off producing chlorella supplements in 1996. It has exported its chlorella products to Japan, where the chlorella market had been growing since the mid-90’s, and in 1999, its own brand “Daesang Chlorella” started to penetrate the domestic market. Its chlorella supplement products cost 85,000 won for three months worth of doses.

The Daesang Group announced that its first half-year sales volume of chlorella products has reached 40 billion won. Now it has taken up 70 percent of the domestic chlorella market. Recently, the CJ Group and the Lotte Group have entered the market to catch up with Daesang, and about 60 medium-sized businesses are importing chlorella supplement products.

CJ Nutra has introduced its “Chlorella 100” to the market. According to a CJ spokesperson, its new product has succeeded in increasing the absorption rate of chlorella to 80 percent from 60 percent by a new cell wall-smashing processing procedure. It costs 42,000 won for one month’s worth of doses.

Raw, Uncooked Food for Breakfast-

Many types of raw uncooked food have come to market, and its market share has been expanding. The market volume for raw uncooked foods for 2003 recorded 210 billion won, and export volume was $4.46 million (about 5.5 billion won). Now there are about 80 food and nutrition companies specializing in raw and uncooked food. Experts expect this market will grow to a volume of 300 billion won by 2005.

The Daesang Group’s “Cham Saengsik Slim” (saengsik means having raw uncooked food for meals in Korean) product features intact vegetables and 97 percent of its ingredients’ nutrition by using freeze-drying methods. It contains plenty of nutrition, with vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, and nutrition from vegetables, and 48 kinds of other quality ingredients including pure grains, raw vegetables, mushrooms, and seaweeds. In addition, it has an activating enzyme that maximizes the efficiency of nutrition digestion, said the Daesang Group.

The Eromlife Company put “Erom Cultured Wild Ginseng Saengsik” on the market last month, which contains cultured wild ginseng and 50 kinds of environmental-friendly agricultural and marine food items. If you eat a one-month dosage of this raw uncooked food, you’ll have the equivalent effectiveness of two wild ginseng dosages, says Eromlife. Also, it says that its cultured wild ginseng was of great help in preventing colon cancer and uterine cancer in its animal experiments.

The CJ Group also produced “CJ Morning Saengsik” for all people of working age who are busy in the morning. This raw, uncooked food item has grains, vegetables, seaweed, some traditional vegetables such as arrowroot, and licorice root, and the fruits of Chinese matrimony vines that help preserve stamina.

We’ll Help You Cut Down Your Body Fat-

As people put more emphasis on reducing body fat, the new market for low-fat products is rising, too.

“Fatdown,” presented by the CJ Group in September 2003, is soaring in the market, recording 40 billion worth of sales last year. According to CJ, the ingredient dipentide helps fat burn.

“Chegam” by Samlip Food Co. and “Beauty Line” by the Orion Group are special gums that help fat burning as well as decreasing your appetite.

Namyang Aloe Co., a specialized aloe dietary food company, has started to sell “Enebal,” a product that assists in reducing body fat and keeping one’s overall body energy balanced. “Enebal” is powder-type nutritional supplement that you can have without water, and the ingredient UG-10 from steamed red ginseng and aloe helps burn unnecessary energy that leads to body fat loss, said the Namyang Aloe Co.

“Fat Minus Dietary Fiber,” produced by the Pulmuone Group, is one fat-reducing product that boosts fat burning and prevents fat absorption into body. It contains the mate herb, popular in South America and Europe, extracts from lotus leaves, green tea leaves, and chikery fiber.

Jae-Yun Jung jaeyuna@donga.com