The first in a wave of controversial "medicinal" health foods - pharmaceutically enriched preparations which breach the divide between low-fat off-the-shelf products and prescription drugs - will appear in supermarkets early next year.
Although packaged and sold as regular goods, the enhanced foodstuffs have more in common with antibiotics used in the treatment of allergies, cancer and heart disease. The research teams behind the foods - called "nutraceuticals" by experts - say regular consumption can bring tangible benefits independent of other lifestyle or dietary factors.
However, health awareness campaigners have cautioned against the marketing of nutraceuticals as a blanket protection against illness. They have also expressed alarm at the absence of regulatory controls over what is, in consumer terms, unknown territory.
Unilever, manufacturer of Flora margarine, plans to introduce an enhanced dairy spread within months pending final approval from the EU's novel foods committee. A rival product from the Finnish company, Benecol, which has been on sale in Scandinavia for more than three years, is expected to appear in Irish shops early 1999.
The Unilever product is enriched with sterol oils from soya beans, while Benecol contains an oil derived from pine wood pulp called stanolester
Both companies say that the margarines can inhibit cholesterol build-up by themselves, with a consequent reduction in the incidence of heart disease. In a one-year trial 150 people with high cholesterol levels who consumed 24 grams of Benecol each day experienced cholesterol fall-off of between 10 and 14 per cent.
The spreads will be just the first in a flood of foods boasting discernible health benefits to flood the market. Products in the pipeline include bio-yoghurts and fermented milks designed to lessen the risk of bowel cancer .
Experts disagree on the potential benefits of nutraceuticals. Prof Brian Pentecost, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, has said that enhanced dairy spreads properly administered could reduce dependence on costly cholesterol-reducing drugs. But Ms Aoibheann O'Connell, senior nutritionist with the Irish Heart Foundation, said they should not be depicted as miracle cures.