Functional soft drinks on the rise in Europe

The main driving forces behind functional soft drinks growth are consumers' increasingly proactive attitudes towards health.The 2007 West Europe Functional Soft Drinks (sports drinks,
isotonic drinks, energy drinks) report from drinks consultancy Zenith
International highlighted that the region's functional soft drinks market was
up by 6% last year, to around 4.45bn litres. It is a signified riese a 40% leap
on the 3.17bn litres recorded in 2001. The UK and Germany accounted for a
combined 66% of total volume in the region, with Italy, Spain and France
completing the top five.

Zenith forecast that, by 2011, functional soft drinks
volumes across West Europe will have risen by a further 30%, equating to at
least an extra 1.3bn litres.