Nutraceutical and Functional Food Regulations in the United States and around the World - Chapter 1: Nutraceuticals and functional foods: innovation, insulation, evangelism, and evidence

What factors overcome innovation inertia, compelling a nutrition business entity to develop products that promise and deliver consumer-relevant benefits? In the absence of innovation, and amidst the stream of invention, can an enduring bioactive ingredient or finished good be created that enjoys an extended life cycle? When such innovations are achieved, what recourse does the innovator have to exclude ostensible duplicates and protect the investment? Within a global climate of regulatory underenforcement and ubiquitous messaging of unsubstantiated claims, can a viral spread of science-driven enterprise manifest and infect even 25% of the industry? Will consumer-centric legal actions eclipse the might of governmental agencies and inject a decisive, otherwise lacking swiftness? Will a brand emerge that enjoys an inspiring evidence base on each bioactive or finished good? Where does the ripe, high-hanging fruit rest for the pioneering innovator brand and company willing to climb where others avoid it?