Chen Guilan, a middle-aged woman from a village in northwest China's Gansu Province, says she felt better, both physically and spiritually, after eating a special nutritionally-enriched flour for just six months.
Promoted by the Chinese government as part of a trial program to improve rural people's nutrition, the flour, which is fortified with vitamins and minerals, has provided some 30,000 farmers like Mrs. Chen with the benefits of nutritionally-enriched food for the first time in their lives.
However, consuming such nutritionally enhanced food has become routine for more and more well-off Chinese in recent years, bringing a new “health food” business sector into being.
According to an industrial index released here in Beijing on Tuesday, China's health food sector is growing strongly and enjoys bright prospects, with strong consumer demand and investor enthusiasm both evident in 2005.
The nutrition industry index, the first of its kind developed in China, was arrived at by the Center for Public Nutrition and Development (PNDC), under the State Development and Reform Commission, after interviewing 100 enterprises about developments in their businesses during the last five years.
The index is divided into four subsidiary indexes, which cover sales; demand; investment; and policy development. Of these the market demand index tops the others, clocking in at 192.3, which is near to index’s limit of 200. The sub-index showing the next most impressive results is that indicating investment growth, which the PNDC index rates at 176.9 out of a possible 200.
Unofficial statistics indicate that around 38 percent of China’s citizens have consumed nutritionally-enriched products and 85 percent are willing to give them a try.
(Source: Xinhua)