A sweet tooth and a healthy body: a recent international consumer survey, conducted by Barry Callebaut, has shown that chocolate lovers want functional chocolate with proven health benefits.

Chocolate lovers are increasingly seeking health-enhancing treats to indulge their sweet tooth. According to a recent international consumer survey, conducted in January 2008 on behalf of Barry Callebaut, the world's leading manufacturer of high-quality cocoa and chocolate products, approximately one in every four consumers in Western Europe and the United States wants chocolate that offers extra physical or emotional health benefits.

Chocolate with the scientifically proven ability to improve the sense of emotional well-being ranks most highly on chocoholics' wish lists. Around 27% of them long for chocolate with mood-enhancing qualities. A quarter of all consumers want chocolate that can help them to relax after a stressful day at work (25%), and products with proven health-enhancing properties is a popular concept--with one in five (21%) consumers expressing an interest in chocolate that is scientifically proven to keep their heart healthy. Tooth-friendly chocolate received an interest score of 19%, whereas 17% the survey participants want chocolate that provides extra benefits to strengthen their immune system.

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Americans eat more functional chocolate than Europeans; more than one in three US consumers (35%) has already tried chocolate with additional health benefits, and 14% eat it at least once a month. The Swiss--12% of whom eat functional chocolate on a regular basis--closely followed the Americans. "These data show that functional chocolate is quickly gaining in popularity. Consumers are increasingly seeking chocolate that offers them clinically proven physical or emotional health benefits," said Hans Vriens, Chief Innovation Officer at Barry Callebaut. "The cocoa bean contains hundreds of different components that have potential health benefits. As an innovative trendsetter, Barry Callebaut harnesses and preserves the healthy components of the cocoa bean and uses them to develop chocolate with health-enhancing properties. Currently, our R&D team is working on a range of interesting new products, including a chocolate that is scientifically proven to improve emotional well-being by naturally enhancing the consumer's mood."

A Sense of Well-Being

In Western Europe, especially in Germany (36%), Switzerland (32%) and France (29%), consumers want chocolate with a proven ability to elevate their mood. The desire to be happier was closely followed by a yearning for chocolate with stress-reducing qualities, according to participants in France (28%), Switzerland (27%), Germany (23%), UK and Belgium (16%). In the US, these scores were even higher: 41% of American consumers are longing for chocolate that helps them to relax, and 38% want "feel good" chocolate that naturally induces a better mood.

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Physical Health Benefits

When looking at the extra proven health benefits chocolate can offer, the most popular were as follows:

* Chocolate that positively influences the cardiovascular system: US (41%), France and Switzerland (24%), Germany (15%), UK (13%), Belgium (12%)

* Chocolate that helps to maintain body weight: US (35%), France (26%), Germany (25%), Switzerland (21%), Belgium (16%), UK (14%)

* Chocolate that improves the memory: US (34%), France (29%), Switzerland (21%), Germany (15%), Belgium (13%), UK (12%)

* Tooth-friendly chocolate: US (32%), Germany and Switzerland (22%), France and UK (14%), Belgium (9%)

* Chocolate that enhances concentration: US (32%), Switzerland (22%), Germany and France (17%), UK (13%), Belgium (10%)

* Chocolate that strengthens the immune system: US (35%), Switzerland (20%), Germany (16%), France (14%), UK (12%), Belgium (7%).

Consumption on the Rise

Chocolate with natural added health benefits has clearly gained in popularity during the last year. Whereas a consumer survey in December 2006 still showed relatively low consumption rates, the results of the 2008 consumer survey were very encouraging. In the US, 35% of consumers have tried functional chocolate (compared with 13% in 2006), in Switzerland 23% (1%), in the UK 20% (1%), in Belgium 17% (3%), in Germany 12% (1%) and in France 7% (2%). On an international scale, the functional chocolate segment grew in value by 15% per year, on average, during the last 4 years, reaching $577 million in total sales in 2006 (according to Euromonitor International).

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Chocolate with the X-Factor

To meet the growing demand for healthy and functional foods, Barry Callebaut is continually researching and developing chocolate products that preserve the healthy components of the cocoa bean and offer an improved nutritional profile. Barry Callebaut has a track record of launching innovative chocolate products, such as ACTICOA, a special chocolate production process that preserves a guaranteed minimum level of cocoa polyphenols. Polyphenols are powerful antioxidants that help to keep the body healthier. Other examples of chocolate with clinically proven health benefits include probiotic chocolate that helps to maintain a healthy intestinal balance, sugar-reduced chocolate that uses natural cocoa fibres as a sweetener, tooth friendly chocolate that prevents caries and rebalanced chocolate with an improved nutritional profile (less sugar, rich in fibre, lower in sugar and/or fat and light in calories). All Barry Callebaut products are 100% natural and do not contain additives.

Survey Methodology

The consumer survey was conducted by Ipsos Belgium NV/SA in five European countries and the United States on behalf of Barry Callebaut.

* Enquiry period: 7-28 January 2008

* Countries surveyed: UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and the US

* Number of persons surveyed: approximately 1000 per country

* Method: telephone interviews in Switzerland and the US; personal interviews in all other countries.

Further information about the consumer survey can be found on the Barry Callebaut website (www.barry-callebaut.com).

For more information

Josiane Kremer

Corporate Communications

Barry Callebaut AG

Tel. [phone]

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www.barry-callebaut.com