Health Foods Consumption in China and Unchartered Territory of Related Industry?

Abstract

A balanced diet can provide nutritious elements to meet the physical needs in human bodies which can make all body functions effective. Therefore, it is highlighted in Dietary Guidance for Chinese the book was commissioned by NHFPC and edited by China Nutrition Society (2011) However based on a national survey of 2004 The Chinese has the potential risk of lack of calcium, riboflavin, Vitamin A, and zinc following the Chinese dietary pattern. The iron deficiency is frequently faced due to its low bioactivity (Ge, 1995) the study of Zhu and Liao (2004) has confirmed that the prevalence of iron in Chinese infants and young children were at relatively high risk. Then the intake of health foods which are enriched in vitamins, minerals or fortified nutrients can help Chinese people meet the basic nutrition needs. After understanding the value of health foods, the market demands of health foods are discussed. The Chinese market of dietary supplements will represent a 105 billion RMB market in 2011 (ASKCI, 2012) China is already the second largest consumer of dietary supplements after the USA. However, the Chinese market specificity is its very strong segmentation with a lot of very small manufacturers. The 50 largest producers occupy only 1/3 of the market. Therefore, corresponding strategies with the aim of improving health foods industry through promulgating relevant policies were initiated by the government. Besides of the goals setting on food and nutrition development in 2020, the market size of health foods, which replaces the traditional dietary therapy (Ge, 2011), is distinctively expanding due to the fast economic growth and political development. Since 1997, 14,857 and 735 kinds of domestic and imported health foods were registered with CFDA respectively (CFDA, n.d.). It is forecasted that the market of health foods would be boosting in following years according to the under mentioned policies made.