USA – A nutraceutical report carried out by US organisation Fluid Milk Strategic Thinking Initiative (FMSTI) has indentified 12 ingredients which could be added to milk to create new functional foods.

Among the ingredients (click on table link opposite) are beta glucan for good cardiovascular health, caffeine for alertness and lutein for healthy vision.

The study is part of FMSTI’s strategy to identify new market opportunities for milk and is being co-funded by MilkPEP, the milk processor education programme, and Dairy Management, an organisation responsible for promoting US-produced dairy products. A second phase of the study will begin in 2002 and will explore consumer acceptance of the fortification concepts identified in phase one. This will be followed by a final phase, which will examine barriers to production of fortified fluid milk products. Results will be available to processors in early 2003.