Snap, crackle, psyllium

Prepared Foods, Nov, 1998 by Bob Swientek

The functional foods category just got its biggest booster shot to date. On November 5, Kellogg's announced the launch of a new line of grain-based products containing psyllium seed husk - a natural soluble fiber that has been clinically proven to lower cholesterol.

Tradenamed Ensemble, the line of functional food products includes bread, dry pasta, frozen pasta entrees, cereal, baked potato crisp snacks, cookies and frozen mini loaves (snack cakes). The products will hit store shelves in March '99 in five Midwestern states. A national rollout is planned for the fall of '99.

With a heavy use of type, the Ensemble's front package graphics stress its benefits with a health claim: "Ensemble: Kellogg's family of great tasting food made with a natural soluble fiber that actively works to lower cholesterol. The food you enjoy, now even better."

Supporting text for the health claim appears on the backs of packages. On its cereal box, for example, is a statement declaring that "More than 50 clinical studies showed that soluble fiber from psyllium seed husk found in Ensemble Honey-Nut cereal, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease."

Sixteen products in the 21-item Ensemble family contain psyllium. Coincidentally, only these 16 products carry the health claim.

In February, the FDA approved Kellogg's petition for the psyllium fiber health claim. It's doubtful that Kellogg's would have launched the line without the health claim approval.

Even without a health claim, many food companies are getting their messages out about the healthful properties of their products. In addition, dietary supplement makers use structure/function claims (less stringent than a food health claim) to promote their products.

Many of the components in dietary supplements are now being added to food products (See Cover Stow on p. 42). In contrast, dietary supplement products, such as Hain Foods' Kitchen Prescription Chicken Broth with Echinacea and New Morning's Organic GinkgOs, look a lot like traditional food products.

A 1997 report by the National Health Council found that most consumers get their medical and health news from television. Doctors were the secondary source, followed by magazines/journals, newspapers and family/friends.

Tropicana's efforts to promote the health benefits of its juices are reflective of many food companies' public relations strategies (See article on p. 59).

Recently, a Tropicana-funded study conducted by the Medical College of Wisconsin showed that daily consumption of two glasses of orange juice increased blood folate (folic acid) levels and decreased serum homocysteine, an amino acid that has been strongly linked to heart disease.

Clinical studies involving food products, such as the orange juice experiment, are picked up by the mass media and disseminated to millions of consumers.

Many food companies attend medical-related conventions to spread the results of clinical studies and nutrition research to doctors, dieticians and other health professionals. Armed with this information, these health authorities can influence their patients' dietary habits.

With a seemingly daily dose of diet and health messages coming from a multitude of sources, are consumers confused? Yes...according to a 1997 Food Marketing Institute Shopping for Health study.

About 80% of the respondents think it's very or somewhat likely "the experts" will have a completely different idea about which foods are healthy and which are not within the next five years.