Magnesium is attracting increasing attention in the functional foods and supplements industry. Several human studies have highlighted the beneficial effect of this important mineral on muscle functionality, bone health, hypertension, inflammation, asthma, headaches and even diabetes.

The global market for food ingredient commodities made from fermentation of carbohydrate feedstocks - most notably citric acid and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) - has recently become dominated by supplies from China.

It is said, we are what we eat, that is, when we're not busy digging our own grave with a knife and fork. Well, that's never truer for cardiovascular health. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines cardiovascular disease (CVD) as disorders of the heart and circulatory system, including heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure and hypertension; and poor diet, among other things, is a major risk factor.

Henry Ford made a car from it. It's used for building materials and biofuel. And it tastes like grass. Yet it seems we in the West cannot eat enough of it.

With a value of euro88bn, the EU bakery market is one of the most valuable sectors in the food industry after carcase meats and fruit and vegetable products. Its volume of nearly 32Mt means that we each consume an average 82kg of bakery products a year - or 225g every day.

A few jaws dropped when Chris Lightfoot decided to give up a glittering career in the restaurant business and try his hand as a development chef. A brief glance at his resumé should explain why... 1991-93: Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons under the tutelage of Raymond Blanc; 1993: Harvey's with Marco Pierre White (who won three Michelin stars aged just 33); 1994: Heatcotes Longridge with Paul Heatcotes and Andy Barnes;1994-96: Gidleigh Park with Michael Caines.

Jo Bruce likes to get things done. Whether she's helping a baker reduce saturated fat in a sponge or explaining enzymatic interesterification to a journalist who doesn't know his fatty acids from his elbow, Pura Foods' research project manager gets her kicks out of delivering tangible results.

The image of a woman who stays at home and bakes may seem more than a little outdated to some, but when it comes to the US, home baking ingredients mean big bucks.

Picture this business as a pile of stones, says the chief innovation officer at the world's largest chocolate company. "You pick one up, blow off the dust and realise, oh my God! I'm sitting on a diamond mine!"

No one who watched a recent UK TV documentary that followed in forensic, unflinching detail the humiliating descent into dementia of one ordinary family man can fail to be haunted by the cruel, protracted mind games that Alzheimer's plays on its victims. Nor by the frightening statistic that 60,000 people die from dementia each year in the UK, with many thousands more across Europe.

This year has been a very busy year from a regulatory perspective for the EU food sector. Legislation has been developed on additives, enzymes and flavourings. The Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation as well as the Regulation on the addition of nutrients to foods have become applicable.

Chr Hansen has set up a partnership with Swedish dairy co-op Norrmejerier to develop value-added foods and drinks containing healthy polyphenols. The polyphenols would come from lingonberries, bilberries and cranberries with other berries to follow, said the firms.

Cargill is lobbying regulators for an amendment to the European Sweeteners Directive so that manufacturers using erythritol as a sweetener would not have to put laxative warnings on packs. Erythritol has a superior digestive tolerance to rival polyols, claims Cargill. All EU Member States will allow the use of erythritol by February 2008.

Senomyx, a company using proprietary taste receptor technologies to develop novel flavour ingredients, is working with soy firm Solae to develop compounds that block the bitterness of soy products.

Dow Wolff Cellulosics has launched an enhanced emulsion technology - Methocel food gums - enabling the replacement of trans fats in baked goods. The gums closely imitate the mouthfeel of fats and permit precise control of formulation viscosity. They hydrate in cold water and gel when heated. They also bind, cling, thicken and add stability to food systems, claimed the company.

Tate & Lyle has struck a deal with Lipid Nutrition to include its PinnoThin and Clarinol weight management ingredients and Marinol fish oils and powders in Tate & Lyle's Enrich ingredients systems for soups, sauces and dressings.

Plant extract manufacturer Kaden Biochemicals has launched a new antioxidant-rich extract of the aronia berry that is also rich in proanthocyanidins.

The krill oil market is set to experience triple digit growth in the next few years as consumers learn about its unique health benefits, biotech firm Aker BioMarine has predicted.

The recent Food Ingredients Europe (FiE) exhibition saw a flurry of activity in probiotics, with new immune-boosting probiotic sticks from Chr Hansen and a cold and flu formulation from Danisco - both aimed at kids, plus a probiotic chocolate from Barry Callebaut and Lal'Food.

Aspartame giant Ajinomoto has raised the stakes in the battle of the high intensity sweeteners with the publication of a study suggesting that consumers prefer the taste of aspartame to sucralose.

The heart health category looks set to expand beyond cholesterol-reduction and blood pressure regulation, following a tie up between a London-based technology firm and Coca-Cola and Unilever.

ADM Kao is working on a battle plan to launch fat-busting DAG oils (diacylglycerols) in Europe in a range of applications from bottled oils to ingredients in a host of packaged goods.

Chr Hansen has launched NutriPhy Cranberry, a powder standardised to contain at least 4% of the proanthocyanidins that reduce the adhesion of certain E. coli bacteria to the urinary tract walls.

The number of new products launched in Europe containing almonds leapt 33% to 355 in 2006, while sales of bagged almonds also rocketed, according to the Almond Board of California (ABC).

Cherry cheer

From reports in the late 1990s suggesting that the hoodia gordonii plant could suppress appetite, to the media explosion following coverage on the US TV show 60 Minutes in 2004, hoodia has become the most infamous weight management ingredient in town.

The European Food Safety Authority is setting up a working group of 10-15 experts from the Member States to explore the risks and opportunities associated with nanotechnology.

Japanese firm Ariake has opened new factories in France and Belgium to make additive-free sauces, soup bases and bouillons.

Marigot has opened a new factory in Iceland to increase its production of natural mineral products.

Cognis has expanded sterol ester production with a euro10M investment at its plant in Illertissen, Germany.

Coca-Cola has opened a research facility in Beijing to draw upon traditional Chinese medicines to develop new wellbeing lines.

Production will commence at Chr Hansen's new euro40M cultures plant near Copenhagen in the spring. Growth rates in dairy cultures were in the double digits, said the firm.

Production has started at the first plant to produce highly functional, clean-label potato proteins for the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Sales of Essensis, the first major launch of a 'beauty from within' food in Europe, have not set the world on fire, according to market researcher Euromonitor.

Brands that present themselves as green are also widely perceived by consumers to be more healthy, according to researchers at brand agency Dragon Brands.

Food manufacturers should devote far more resources to addressing the nutritional vulnerability of older people and the impact that poor nutritional status has on quality of life, according to the former chief scientist at Nestlé UK.

The business case for bioethanol could be substantially strengthened were manufacturers able to isolate high value proteins from products of this process and sell them to the food industry, according to Danish biotech firm Upfront Chromatography.

Chocolate giant Barry Callebaut is aiming to double its business in China within two years, chief innovation officer Hans Vriens has revealed.

Cognis hopes to gain regulatory approval to start marketing foods containing the weight management ingredient conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in Europe by next spring.

Deals between food manufacturers, cosmetics firms, pharmaceutical companies, diagnostics firms and providers of 'wellness services' will drive growth in health and wellness in the coming decade, according to life sciences advisory firm TSG.

Aspartame and sucralose could face some serious competition by the end of the decade if a more 'natural' rival gains approval for use in food in the US and Europe, according to PureCircle, makers of Rebaudioside-A (Reb-A), a sweetener derived from the stevia leaf.

The expert panel tasked with assessing health claims under the EU Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation may have to outsource large chunks of the work in order to meet its challenging deadlines, its chairman has admitted.

Scientists at the University of Birmingham, UK, are in talks with leading food manufacturers about commercialising a technology enabling them to more than halve the fat in foods such as salad dressings by using air filled emulsions.