Future Now
The IFTF Blog
Using Food to Change Your Mood
Too wired to go to sleep after downing an energy drink? There's a solution for that--anti-energy drinks--and they represent a fascinating, and increasingly popular choice in the world of functional foods aimed at helping people relax after a long or hard day.
According to Daily Finance, makers of relaxation drinks like say their drinks offer "vacation in a bottle." A representative for the beverage Drank says that:
What Drank provides, he says, is a way to unwind after work for people who might otherwise turn to alcohol. The good vibes kick in anywhere between 15 to 30 minutes after finishing off the drink -- and this relaxation state lasts about two hours.
Perhaps the most interesting insight into anti-energy drinks comes at the end of Daily Finance write-up from a beverage analyst named Jenny Foulds.
"I think the industry is trying to create a product for every consumer and every need state," Foulds says. "You might want to have an energy shot at the start of the day and something to help you relax at the end of the day." Indeed, it would be something of a closed loop, commercially speaking.
I think Foulds is dead-on, in terms of how consumers have begun to think about the impacts of food on the body. A recent study from PriceWaterhouseCoopers has found that consumer demand for functional foods--foods people eat to improve health or mood or physical function--is growing by as much as 20 percent per year in the United States. There are even beer brewers who claim to make beer to boost virility. The point is that we're looking to food to put us into certain states. Next week, my colleagues in the Technology Horizons program will be putting on their fall conference on the topic of Programmable Everything. And although food is still a crude tool, I think this is an early signal of how we're using food as one of many ways to try to program our minds and bodies.
(Image from Flickr found here.)