Functional food Russian market for a healthy lifestyle

Food products provide not only the normal development and vital activity of a person, but also contribute to the prevention of diseases. This is due to the fact that the compositions of these products, compared to conventional foods, contain an increased amount of essential nutrients, vitamins, antioxidants and other ingredients. Their release form is focused on replacing (or supplementing) traditional products or ready meals, so the development of this direction is of great importance. The paper examines the position of the Russian market of functional products. It considers the segmentation and structure of the Russian healthy food market in terms of product shares, as well as the structure of consumption of functional foods. The study presents data on the volume of production of functional products, gives a forecast on the volume of production of these products for the coming years. The preferences of consumers in the range of functional foods enriched with biologically active substances have been researched. The attitude of buyers to useful products in different regions is analyzed. The leading companies of the Russian and world markets, engaged in the production of functional food products and influencing global competition were named. The study emphasizes the possible protective role of some components present in food products against diseases. According to the authors, these premises explain the great interest of the food industry in products that, in addition to food ingredients, contain new “functional” properties that have a special impact on the consumer. In this area, ingredients of plant origin are of particular interest.