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For most people, the concept of capsulized food' usually conjures up images of space travelers ingesting meals condensed into a compact pill. However, in modern-day reality, things are quite different. Capsulized foods are one of the most innovative nutritional advancements in recent memory, and will soon become a significant ' and highly valued ' concept within the healthy eating community.

To understand what capsulized foods are and how they are positively changing the way the world eats, it is helpful to see the problem that capsulized foods are designed to solve. In a word, that problem is: lack.

Despite the growing awareness of eating healthy, most attempts to provide people with healthy meal and nutritional products suffer from some kind of 'lack'.

There is a lack of convenience. Many foods are not packaged for convenience. Those that are convenient are oftentimes heavily processed and filled with artificial ingredients. And, preparing meals often requires a luxury of time many consumers do not have.

There is a lack of portability. This is a direct extension of convenience. Though a full-course meal may provide the right amount of low glycemic carbohydrates, unsaturated fats, and complete proteins, it is often tethered to the kitchen table.

There is a lack of sources. Our world is abundant with natural and processed foods. Yet, finding the right combination of those foods to meet our dietary needs is challenging for many. The array of choices adds to the confusion, and sometimes the food selections we want are not available to us. Whether one is on a low carbohydrate, low fat, or isometric diet, finding the right foods and incorporating them into our daily lifestyle requires effort.

There is a lack of nutrient-density. This refers to the amount of nutrition within a given food. For example, a soft pretzel weighing 60 grams has a low density of nutrition, whereas an egg also weighing 60 grams has a high density of nutrition. Ounce for ounce, many processed foods possess less nutritional value (or, density) than whole foods such as fruits and vegetables. However, many processed foods have great merit since they do provide dense nutrition in a small amount of food. The challenge is in identifying the foods that are rich in nutrients versus the foods that are not.

It is within this situation of lack that capsulized foods provide real eating solutions. Sometimes called 'compact liquid foods', capsulized foods are extremely portable, require no preparation time at all, and travel easily due to their small, durable, and lightweight containers. At the same time, capsulized foods are liquefied, which allows them to be quickly consumed. This is of primary importance to eaters who simply do not have time to prepare and then sit through a traditional meal. Capsulized foods are also extremely rich in nutrients, and in fact provide the highest nutritional value per fluid ounce of any food product on the market. As such, capsulized foods effectively solve the lack of convenience, portability, and nutrition-density in a single, cost-effective eating solution.

Yet there is another key aspect of capsulized foods that must be present; in fact, it is arguably the most important aspect of all: taste[i].

Research has proven that nutritional supplements of any kind will simply not have a lasting impact if taste is not a primary design consideration. True, while people are willing to tolerate foul-tasting cough medicine, they only do so because the frequency is a few times per year. Eating, however, is an activity ' and for many, an enjoyable activity ' that people engage in on a daily basis; several times a day, in fact. Asking people to tolerate unpalatable nutritional foods is simply not a reasonable expectation, and for years, any attempt to create capsulized food has been unable to overcome this hurdle. That is, until very recently. Manufacturers today understand that in order to develop a capsulized food ' a food that can become a staple in consumer diets -- taste is paramount.

Capsulized foods often provide a complete macronutrient- and micronutrient-enriched meal in a only a few liquid ounces. This allows consumers to go from hungry to satiated, and from undernourished to nourished in less than five seconds. And at around 100 to 200 calories, capsulized foods are suitable for those on calorie-reduced diets, or those who simply want to maintain their weight.

The defining target market for nutritional supplements is no longer elite athletes, but the millions of everyday people who have been exposed, some since birth, to sugary cereals, fast foods, potato chips, candy bars, and caffeinated soft drinks[ii]. This broad group of consumers is interested in healthy choices, but has proven its absolute power in punishing products that fail to reach the lofty bar set by taste buds. They also demand convenience, and capsulized foods deliver.

Eaters can now, through capsulized foods, enjoy the convenience, portability, nutritional-density, and taste that they have demanded for decades. This bodes well for not only the current generation, but future generations as well, who will have access to capsulized foods as viable and intelligent eating options.

REFERENCES

[i] Source: 'Taste Matters'. AFIC.
http://www.afic.org/Taste%20Matters.htm

[ii] Source: 'Sports Drinks and Energy Bars: Fuelling the Couch Potato'. Kalorama Information.
http://www.kaloramainformation.com/editor/viewcontent.asp?prid=373