The European market for products that fight cholesterol has seen rapid growth this year, following clearance from Europe's novel foods regulators for the use of plant sterols in a number of food categories.
Cholesterol remains the single biggest modifiable risk factor for coronary heart disease, which kills more than 120,000 people every year in the UK alone. In the UK half of the population is said to have high cholesterol levels, making this a key market for functional food manufacturers.
Danone's entry to the UK cholesterol-lowering market will be backed by a £3 million TV ad campaign, launching at the end of next week, as well as a mail-out to around 750,000 consumers.
The French company, which launched its Danacol on the home market in April, is the world's leading producer of fresh yoghurt products. It sold around £56 million of fermented dairy drinks during 2003, making its Actimel probiotic drink the probiotic product leader, ahead of the Muller brand.
"This is still a very new category in the UK but if you follow the trend seen in probiotic drinking yoghurt, it is set to do very well," commented Fransisco Redruello, industry analyst at Euromonitor.
Per capita spend on drinking yoghurts in the UK is only $1.4 compared to $4.8 in Spain, he noted. "But drinking yoghurt in the UK has grown by 50 per cent in value terms during 2004," he added.
"The cholesterol-lowering properties of soya are also one of the reasons why soy drinks are doing so well. Cholesterol is becoming a paramount issue and is driving innovation at the moment," he continued.
Recent predictions from food industry executives polled by Reuters Business Insight suggest that by 2009, cholesterol-lowering foods will be the most profitable health food pushing current trends like low-carb well down the list.
Danone will come head to head with Unilever, which extended its low-cholesterol brand Flora Pro-activ in early 2004 through a new range of semi-skimmed milk drinks and yoghurts. Raisio's Benecol brand also has a significant share of the UK cholesterol-lowering market.