Obesity: there's no magic bullet

I recently attended the Vitafoods International conference and exhibition in Geneva where hundreds of companies demonstrated the latest developments in functional foods including probiotics, prebiotics, satiating ingredients, vitamin supplements, antioxidants, beauty foods, heart enhancing products, naturals, nanotech, mental health foods ... the list goes on. But will these hi-tech functional foods help us stay young and beautiful?

A quick scan through the newspapers shows that obesity is the hot topic of concern. I read that Britons have put on 20M stone in a year as they 'comfort eat' their way through the recession. Another paper quoted Dr Tim Lobstein, who has called for a 'fat tax' on unhealthy foods because hundreds of thousands of children are suffering from liver disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol during their primary school years.

So, according to the media, we need to change our diet just to stay alive, let alone to stay young and beautiful! I do think that functional foods have a part to play in a healthy diet - if ingredients can stave off hunger for a while, perhaps people will eat less? But studies have shown that we eat for all sorts of reasons other than hunger. Stress, pleasure, socialising, and habitual behaviour are just a few examples.

After the Vitafoods conference, organised by LFI, I concluded that there is no magic bullet to solve the obesity crisis. Although, it seems consumers do have lots of weapons in their armoury to combat obesity and improve diet. Functional foods can also help improve gut health, reduce cholesterol, improve bone and skin health and help with weight management.

So to answer the question - do functional foods play a valuable role in staying young and beautiful? Yes. But eating less, exercising more and choosing a sensible mixture of healthy and indulgent foods are equally important.

Dr Paul Berryman Chief executive officer Leatherhead Food International​