• AP, Friday, November 11, 2005 3:15 PM

In a new trend, food marketers are beginning to view health problems as lifestyles rather than diseases, and have created a whole new demographic group comprised of people suffering from chronic illness. The group includes mostly aging baby boomers suffering from diabetes, obesity, and other conditions who spend significant amounts of cash on products other than traditional pharmaceuticals to treat their conditions. One of the prime examples is people with heart conditions, who eat whole-grain breakfast cereals that are displayed in a special "heart-healthy" section of the cereal aisle of their local grocery stores. More than 70 million Americans have heart problems, representing $71 billion in annual buying power. Also, the nation's nearly 21 million diabetics command around $14 billion, and about two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese.

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