Growing niche for fortified water

JUDGING from the growing number of products on the shelves, functional foods and drinks are set to keep cash registers ringing in the years to come. Rising income levels, increasing health awareness, changing lifestyle and an ageing world population are fuelling demand in an industry with a worldwide market value estimated to reach $149 billion by 2018.

To grab a larger share of the market, manufacturers must add “more functional ingredients and increase the health value of their products,” advised Singapore Food Manufacturer’s Association honourary president Wong Mong Hong. Functional beverage companies are no doubt doing just that and introducing novel and varied offerings that promise not just health but even beauty benefits.

A product for everyone

The selection caters to just about everyone, parents, young children, the busy executive, and sports and health enthusiasts. With better access to health information, consumers are increasingly aware of the value of water and keeping themselves hydrated for proper body functioning and optimum health. But industry watchers say not all palates prefer their water au natural. And with increasing disposable income, customers are looking for added value and variety in drinks. The result: a range of products enriched with flavours, vitamins, collagen, and oxygen content that lay claim, amongst other things, to improved energy and vitality, healthy cell and tissue regeneration, delay in the ageing process, aid in muscle recovery, and reduced fatigue.

Drink up oxygen

Oxygenizer is a Malaysian brand marketed in Singapore. It is manufactured by RO Water Sdn Bhd, a company that prides itself in being the first-reverse osmosis water manufacturer in Malaysia to receive ISO 9001 certification in 2002. In 2005, it was awarded ISO 22000 and the Achievement of Sterling Quality HACCP Certification.

According to the company, the environment is becoming so polluted that even the air we breathe no longer contains as much pure oxygen as it used to. “This rapid decline of available clean oxygen also results in the loss of oxygen in food and water so clearly, the average person is not getting as much oxygen as he should. Oxygenizer supplements oxygen deficiencies whilst meeting daily water intake requirements. As a result, our immune systems perform more efficiently and unwanted illnesses and diseases are kept at bay.”

Oxygenizer is said to have up to 36 times more oxygen than ordinary tap water, with health benefits that include strengthened and balanced immune system, healthy cell and tissue regeneration, anti-bacterial and anti-viral effects, increased mental clarity, delay in aging process, reduced effects of lactic acid after workouts and aid in muscle recovery, decreased blood acidity, enhanced uptake of vitamin supplements and faster recovery from injury and strenuous exercise.

Doubling as TCM

Cool Rhino and Three Legs are under the family-owned Wen Ken Group of companies, which have been manufacturing Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for more than 74 years. Its cooling water, which is marketed to relieve body heat as it contains gypsym fibrosum, is allowed for sale as Chinese medicine to quell fever. The company aims to reduce health care costs and promote healthy lifestyle through its natural health products. Most of its fully automated facilities are compliant with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards. In 2008, the clean, sleek design of its Cool Rhino Cooling Drink won the Malaysia GoAdidas Predator Accelerator