The majority of consumers do not believe the health claims of functional foods, a report claims.

The report, from Datamonitor, said that six in ten consumers did not believe the health claims, even though sales of functional foods reached £419m in the UK in 2004.

John Brand, consumer markets analyst at Datamonitor and author of the report, said: “Unless companies make labelling clearer and more believable, most people will never be persuaded to make the switch to functional foods and drinks.”