Ezra points out that potassium is very important in a healthy diet. The beverage specialist emphasized that the average US diet doesn’t have nearly enough potassium in it, which usually found in fruits and vegetables.

Researchers specified that they used Vita Coco products, as the company sponsored the study. Therefore, the findings are specific to the company’s unique products, according to Kapica. The researcher pointed out that Vita Coco does not use coconut water from concentrate. They also prefer controlling their own coconut production, resulting in products with the full nutritional content of the fluid in the coconut.

According to the Power Brands specialists, an 8.5 oz serving contains only 60 calories, which is half the amount found in the typical full calorie soda. On top of that, Ezra adds, Vita Coco also contains 515 mg of potassium plus almost double the daily recommended intake of Vitamin C.

Research used dietary data provided by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) in What We Eat in America (2007-2010) and it involved over 11,000 participants, aged 19 and over. The study analyzed the effects of using Vita Coco products instead of a wide range of products, including sports/energy drinks, carbonated soft drinks, milk drinks, coffee & tea, water, alcohol and misc. beverages. They discovered significant differences in the intake of sugar (14 grams less) and calories (36 kcal less), while increasing nutrient absorption: vitamin C (by 186 mg ), calcium (by 49 mg), phosphorus (by 12 mg), magnesium (by 53 mg), iron (by 0.4 mg), sodium (by 120 mg) and potassium (by 805 mg).

The sixteen companies, which include Kellogg, General Mills, and Coca-Cola, are all member companies of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (HWCF) which oversaw the study. The combined sales growth of 82% was calculated using product and sales data from each of the companies over a five-year period, from 2006 to 2011.

The growth of lower-calorie products was proven to be four times that of higher-calorie products, increasing more than $1.25 billion. Beverages in this category also fared better than foods, showing that reducing calories and sugar content in beverage formulation has proven to be quite profitable for many companies in the industry.

The study was led by Hank Cardello, director of the Hudson Institute’s Obesity Solutions Initiative. In a press release, Cardello took note of the growing preference for low or reduced calories: “The Hudson study shows that food and beverage companies are making progress in meeting burgeoning consumer demand for lower-calorie products,” he said. “There is now a fundamental business reason to do so. The food companies that get this are acting in their shareholders’ best interests — not just in consumers’ best interests. A crucial way to accelerate a decline in the national obesity rate is to show food companies where the growth is.”

Beverage formulation is likely to undergo significant changes in the future as these trends continue. In the last few years, the push to take excessive sugar and calories out of our beverages has expanded in many directions, resulting in everything from nationwide public health campaigns to full-scale product line innovations. This powerful trend is likely to have an ongoing impact not only on company sales, but the beverage industry as a whole.

In a recent study this year by SymphonyIRI InfoScan, whiskey bypassed vodka sales by $1.5 million. However, vodka showed an increase of 61% in new product launches in 2012 while whiskey only had a 58% increase in new product launches.

These studies have also shown that consumers are willing to pay for quality when it comes to the brands they love. Higher-end whiskeys showed an increase in sales in 2012 and accounted for 57.4% of all sales in the whiskey category.

Upon further research, Power Brands Consulting notes that flavored vodka is on the rise with a 25% increase. There are well over 175 varieties of vodka available on the market, including unique flavors such as root beer and cookie dough. Consumer love of flavored spirits is evident when considering that 46% of all spirits on the market have some sort of flavor component to them. Even flavored whiskeys are available, such as Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey Whiskey and Crown Royal Maple.

In addition Power Brands Consulting has noticed an increase in premixed cocktail sales such as Beam Inc.’s brand Skinnygirl which grew in sales by almost 45% in January 2013. Skinnygirl is considered the fourth bestselling premixed cocktail brand. Brands like Skinnygirl are targeting the female consumer under the age of 30.

Despite the economic recession in the United States, the spirit industry continues to see an increase in sales as brands release innovative products and flavors. New consumer groups, such as health conscious consumers, are being targeted through the use of all natural ingredients, and lower calorie options.

Spirit sales will continue their pattern of success and should expect to see a 5% to 7% increase in sales over the next ten years.

The CEO explained that a lot of the big pharmaceutical companies (such as Pfizer, Bristol Myers-Squibb and GSK) stopped investing in the research and development (R&D) of new drugs and they are now heavily focused on producing consumer products. As a result, the food and beverage industry, the supplement industry and the pharmaceutical industry are becoming more interconnected and they are inching closer to what he calls the “Holy Grail of science”: a product that provides the same nutrition as food, but with added health benefits.

Bromley predicts that not long from now, colas and other beverages that are perceived to be harmful will be reinvented to actually be health beneficial. He singles out joint health and glycemic value improvements as important selling points in the future, but mentions that companies are still being reserved with making any claims related to glucose, glycemic value or diabetes. Bromley points to the shift in focus from resveratrol’s anti-aging properties to its effect in reducing blood glucose and the recent introduction of curcumin (associated with improved glycemic value) and other similar ingredients in supplements as evidence for his claims. He believes that once beverage producers can claim heart and diabetes health benefits for their products, they will be more appealing to this large demographic group (resulted from the disease’s exponential spread).

According to Darin Ezra of Power Brands such developments will assist beverage startups in fully-matured and very competitive market segments. Ezra explained that it is impossible to compete with The Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo. over conventional beverages but added-value health benefits and extra ingredients could work in the startups’ favor. Bromley explained that most of the small companies end up being bought out within three to five years, as larger companies prefer acquiring an already popular brand to developing a new one. When startups target a market with no competition, they can experience higher margins and quickly build a following and at it is at that point that they are bought out, Bromley added and gave as an example Zico Coconut Water.

According to Darin Ezra, Bromley’s company VIRUN experience the market’s need for differentiation after they developed an Omega-3 and Vitamin D enhanced beverage, CocoFit, manufactured with natural coconut water and faced pressure to differentiate after Omega-3s (which represent an important share of VIRUN’s beverage business) were introduced in more of the firm’s products.

In supermarkets alone, hot and cold tea sales have made a big splash over the past 5 or 6 years. Growing about 58%, tea sales rose from $2.4 billion to $3.8 billion in total sales over this period. Beverage Marketing Corp reports that last year alone tea sales increased 5%, securing the tea beverage category as the 4^th fastest growing.

Splash goes the tea, but this time we’re not talking about a revolution, but rather the booming industry that is specialty teas. Coffee shops from across the spectrum report that tea sales have been on the rise for a while now. With hot tea sales growing an estimated 18% and iced tea sales growing about 5%, according to year end reporting in February 2013, the overall industry has seen an approximate 23% increase in sales and this is enough for most companies to get their marketing attention.

For the past five or six years now, supermarkets have reported an increase of about 58% in tea sales, climbing from $2.4 billion to $3.8 billion in total tea related purchases. A report made by Beverage Marketing Corp indicates that in 2012 alone tea sales jumped 5%, which locked tea in as the fourth best selling type of beverage on the market. The top three beverage categories are said to be bottled water, energy drinks and ready to drink coffee brands.

Darin Ezra, a beverage consultant at Power Brands Consulting reviews the launch of the Ultra Pink line extension. Ezra believes that the reason for the cancellation is that Monster Energy’s line-up already includes many low-carb flavors and that a new addition to this category wouldn’t differentiate itself enough from the other products. The new Ultra Pink line, which was revealed last December, was presented as a new zero-calorie flavor that was going to be focused on female customers.

Marty Molina, also a consultant for Power Brands Consulting, agrees with his colleague that Monster has many low-card flavors, pointing out that Monster Energy has more than five different product lines catering to the low-carb market, including the Absolutely Zero, Zero Ultra, Monster Lo-Carb and Import Light. The newly launched Ultra Blue line extensions will be another zero-sugar product in the company’s line-up and Molina thinks that Monster might be saturating this particular market.

Monster Beverage is a new member of the American Beverage Association (ABA) and as a result they plan on listing caffeine levels for more than 90 percent of their products, even though they are not legally required anymore. In February, the company decided to reclassify its products, previously listed as dietary supplements, as beverages, which aren’t legally required to have their caffeine levels listed.

The new line extensions launches for Ultra Blue and Ultra Pink are among the first launches coming from Monster after the reclassification, but with only Ultra Blue hitting the market we can observe a caffeine level of 140mg in a 480ml can.

Even though international brands, like Red Bull, have entered the market and total sales of imported energy drinks have reached 100 million liters a year, consumers still prefer the local brands that developed around their preferences. The leading energy drink in both Australia and New Zealand is “V”, which is produced by Frucor Beverages in New Zealand and it account for more than 33% of all the energy drink sales in both markets. Originally from Australia, Mother Energy Drinks (now owned by The Coca-Cola Co.) is another popular drink in the region which, like V, is virtually unknown anywhere else in the world.

V Energy is one of New Zealand’s most popular energy drink brands.

The Australian and New Zealand markets also developed strong preferences for different product packaging, compared to other international markets, noted Darin Ezra, also a beverage consultant at Power Brands. Ezra points out that in the two countries, the most popular energy drink can is the 500ml one, after Mother’s successful re-launch in 2008. The larger can now accounts for almost 40% of volume sales, closely followed by the 250ml can, while on a global scale the 500ml energy can represent less than 5% of total sales.

Local energy drink Down Under also popularized non-refillable glass bottles, which now account for over 15% of the region’s market share, while global sales of single-serve glass bottles are much lower. Customers find these products more convenient during the hot summer period, when they spend more time outdoors where screw-cap bottles are more functional, according to Ezra. Resealable products are also preferred by female customers, who helped popularize this product in the last ten years since both Red Bull and V have launched sugar-free alternatives.

Market research firm Canadean reports that energy drinks with no sugar account for 7% of all the sales in New Zealand and Australia, which is higher than the global average but has stayed the same since 2003. Canadean informs that customers in the 18-35 age range, which represent the target market for energy drinks, are not particularly concerned with a product’s calorie content, instead focusing on the energy boost provided.

The research firm also reveals that the energy drinks market In Australia and New Zealand has been growing continuously since 2003, producing a market that is now four times bigger than ten years ago. Even though growth has slowed down in recent years Canadean still expects that total volumes sold will exceed 220 million liters in 2018.

A spokeswoman for the American Beverage Association disagrees, “Most energy drinks contain about half the caffeine of a similarly-sized cup of coffeehouse coffee and the body of evidence does not suggest that energy drinks cause adverse health outcomes.”

However, a letter from the doctors to the commissioner of the FDA, Margaret Hamburg referred to the beverages as “highly caffeinated energy drinks,” and commented on many concerns to the safety of them, including scientific, political, and consumer issues. The group of eighteen who signed the letter stated, “As researchers, scientists, clinicians, and public health professionals who have studied and conducted research on energy drinks, we are writing this letter to summarize the scientific evidence on this issue and encourage action.” Among these professionals is Amelia Arria from the University of Maryland Public School Health, Mary Claire O’Brien of Wake Forest School of Medicine, and Roland Griffiths of John Hopkins University School of Medicine. They studied the levels of caffeine in the beverages, and their links to death, visits to emergency rooms, heart issues, seizures, childhood obesity, and other issues. In the studies, which the professionals conducted themselves, the effects of mixing energy drinks with alcohol were also noted. It is a study which Power Brands is taking a keen interest in.

A lot of thought goes into that simple drink you enjoy repeatedly. A lot of thought that you may or may not realize or ever question and it is business like Power Brands Reviews that often perform those kinds of questions. The reason they question everything there is to question about the beverages you buy is because they are beverage people. Power Brands Consulting is a business all about beverage and helping people turn their unique beverage ideas into beverage realities.

Power Brands reviews every project we receive with care, so you know you’re getting the best service possible. We carefully guide our clients through what can be a daunting process. Our project managers are the best in the business, and they review all aspects of beverage development with their clients – from formulation work done in the lab, to lay flats designed by our graphics team. We are proud of the work we do for our clients, and we want to help you make your perfect beverage today.

Power Brands Reviews knows that people are aware that there is more to drink than just a carbonated beverage or bottled spring water. There has been a growing demand for a drink that promote a healthier image and that is where Power Brands Reviews comes through to shine. They have helped to bring many beverage ideas into reality such as shot drinks, functional beverages, and even relaxation drinks.

And Power Brands Consulting is very knowledgeable about the beverage industry. They have professionals to answer all questions regarding the formulation of a new beverage, the designing of the beverage, and the marketing. Power Brands Reviews have even received awards as a company for their various roles in new beverage production and creation. So if you’ve ever envisioned your business creating its own unique beverage, then look into Power Brands Consulting.