Health food products have been around for a long time. However only recently has the market for them grown so much. By catering to the changing needs of their customers health food companies are in effect serving a highly lucrative market. But in order to do this health products must first be able to appeal to the desires, interest and attitudes of a select group of people, the health food store customers.

Health food companies know that the typical health food store customer is usually a health conscious or athletically inclined person. Therefore, many health food companies appeal to the desires, interest and attitudes of the typical health food store customer by labeling their products with special words/phrases, listing their ingredients, and by using before and after photographs.

On many health food products words such as "organic" or "all natural" commonly appear in bold print. Obviously these words are a magnet for health conscious and athletic individuals. By using these words in their labels the health food products are appealing to the customers desire for healthier substances. Take for example the snack products in the health food store. I have observed that they often have some kind of display case around them. Words and phrases such as "made from 100% all natural ingredients", and "purely organic" often tend to stand out more than the products name. Thus, they clearly catch the customers interest simply by using these key words.

Many health food products make rather extraordinary claims about what they can do for you on their labels. Claims such as being able to lose weight "overnight" and "guaranteed to make you feel great" appeal to the typical health food store customers attitude of becoming healthier. Many of the health food products that I observed used quotes from people supposedly "right down the street" in your own neighborhood to gain the interest of the customer. An example was on a box of Dexitrim. Printed of the side of the box were quotes from people like Sally Hanzek of Waying, North Dakota and the Johnson's of Pound, Wisconsin who had "contributed" quotes like "After using it[Dexitrim] for only two days the pounds began to just drop off." And while the product offers no way for the customer to check with these people and verify success nevertheless these quotes help provide a basis for the claims health food products use to gain the interest of customers.

Another method by which health food products substantiate their claims and also appeal to the customers desire for a safe, reliable, and an effective product is to cite professional recommendations. This is particularly true of many vitamin and mineral supplements available at health food stores. Usually labeled with the terms "Doctor Approved", "Doctor Recommended", or "A leading consumer reports recommends..." these health food products are in effect attempting to justify their usefulness and fulfill a key desire of the health conscious or athletically inclined customer.

Listing the ingredients of a health food products is another major way of appealing to the desires, interest, and attitudes of the typical health store customer. On virtually all of the products that I observed either all of the ingredients or at least the major ones were listed on the front of the product. Knowing that the majority of health food store customers will read the ingredients and base their judgment of the products contents, health food products are specifically labeled in a way so as to immediately gain the interest of the customer.

The final method that I observed of how health food products cater to the desires, interest, and attitudes of the typical health food store customer is by using before and after pictures to actually show what the product can do for the customer. By using these visual images health food products are providing "concrete" evidence to customers that the is product proven to work and that without it they may end up like the people in the "before" side of the picture.

Health food products such as weight loss supplements and dietary plans very often use before and after pictures as a way of showing how much weight the product could help the customer to lose. Obviously appealing to the health conscious or athletically inclined persons desire to maintain a near perfect weight, these health food products use before and after pictures to convey the message that if they can help some one like Sandra Hunt of Wayward, Massachusetts to lose 35 pounds than they can surely help the customer lose just a few pounds. In addition these before and after pictures are used to reinforce the idea of how socially undesirable it is to be overweight by only using photographs of people who have loss a great deal of weight, thus catering to the attitude of the typical health store customer to always try to be as healthy as possible.

Health food companies continue to cater to the desires, interest, and attitudes of health conscious and athletically inclined people by labeling their products in special ways. By using special words and phrases health food products are appealing to the customers desire for healthier substances. By making special and extraordinary claims a health food product appeals to the customers attitude of becoming healthier. And by using before and after pictures of people who have supposedly tried and had success with a product, health food products appeal to the customers desire and interest to maintain a nearly prefect healthy condition. In labeling their products to appeal to the desires interest and attitudes of the typical health food store customer, health food companies and store will continue to cash in on one of the most profitably and growing market today.