2008 will go down in history as the year the U.S. banking system fell to its knees. But, at least within the U.S. nutrition industry, it is also likely to be known as the year food manufacturers tapped into Americans’ growing awareness of the connection between diet and health with a barrage of functional food and beverage launches. From Kraft’s LiveActive line of probiotic foods to Kellogg’s Live Bright Brain Health Bars to Unilever’s Promise Activ SuperShots for Blood Pressure, consumers were greeted this year by a plethora of new functional food and beverage offerings—with each claiming to provide a new way for Americans to eat or drink their way to better digestive, cardiovascular, cognitive or general health.

The growth of U.S. functional food and beverage sales in 2007 likely helped to fuel this year’s product explosion. According to Nutrition Business Journal research, U.S. consumer sales of functional foods rose 9.4% to $34.3 billion last year and made up 5.8% of total U.S. retail food sales in 2007.

NBJ takes an in-depth look at U.S. functional food sales as part of its annual Healthy Foods issue, which publishes later this month. To order your copy or subscribe to NBJ, go to www.nutritionbusinessjournal.com.