New products tackle diseases

Prepared Foods, March, 2005 by Claudia D. O'Donnell

* Cardiovascular health offers opportunities

* Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory key health properties

* Food-based nutraceutical components are one trend to watch

Autopian goal for most societies is that their citizens live long in health and peace, and that their children enjoy the same prospects. The achievement of such an idyllic existence depends on many factors, not the least of which is a well-crafted food supply.

Demographic data and other studies point to the importance of whole foods--grains, fruits, vegetables and judicious protein choices--to help avoid the ravages of cardiovascular disease, cancer and a multitude of other illnesses that plague mankind. However, convenience, taste and even economics lead consumers to choose diets of prepared foods, enhanced with supplements, to meet their dietary and medicinal needs. In response, researchers strive to identify individual healthful compounds that can be added to diets, and companies work to identify compounds--backed by sound science--that will attract customers.

Catering to Cardiovascular

According to a 2003 survey by HealthFocus International (St. Petersburg, Fla.), cardiovascular disease is one of consumers' top three health concerns--not only in the U.S.--but also in regions from India and China to France and the U.K. to Latin America.

Food and dietary supplement companies recognize this. In the 2004 Prepared Foods R&D Trends: Functional Foods and Beverages Survey, marketers and those in R&D ranked cardiovascular health at the top of a list of ingredients and health conditions offering a business opportunity.

In 2004, Mintel International's Global New Products Database (GNPD, Chicago) logged 334 new product records from around the world that referenced cardiovascular and/or heart health. (See chart "Helping Heart Health.") While dietary supplement products frequently use the term "cardiovascular" to describe their health benefits, foods rarely do so, instead preferring the more simple term "heart health."

Most functional foods offering heart health benefits do so based on being reduced in or free from deleterious components (such as fat), being a healthier alternative (olive oil rather than a hydrogenated margarine) and/or being composed of healthful components (e.g., with fruits, nuts and whole grains). However, some also are formulated with specific extracts or other beneficial compounds.

In the U.S., FDA-allowed health claims heavily guide food manufacturers. As a result, whole grains, dietary fiber, fruit ingredients and soy protein often are the basis on which foods make heart health references. Some supplements base their benefits--in part--on these components as well, such as PhytoCeutical Formulations' (New Orleans) OptiPro S with a "specially formulated blend of soy proteins," and Nature Made Nutritional Products' (Mission Hills, Calif.) B Heart Health supplements. The latter contains a blend of phytonutrients from a variety of fruit (berry) extracts as well as green tea leaf and grape seed. Vitamins B-6, B-12 and folate round out this product's ingredient list.

The use of folic acid (which lowers levels of undesirable homocysteine) in other dietary supplements such as Royal Numico N.V.'s General Nutrition Centers (Pittsburgh) GNC B-12 tablets and Atkins Nutritionals' (Hauppauge, N.Y.) Cardio-Folin with CoQ10 (which also contains folic acid and B vitamins) serve as a testament of how the supplement industry often is one step ahead of a more conservative food industry in regards to tracking and acting on clinical research that supports specific ingredients. The GNPD does not yet list a North American-introduced food claiming heart health benefits based on homocysteine reduction.

Other popular heart-helpful ingredients include coenzyme Q10, which is found in products such as Rexall Sundown's (Boca Raton, Fla.) CoQ-10 Plus L-Carnitine Dietary Supplement and Twinlabs' (Hauppauge, N.Y.) Twinsorb CoQ10, as well as omega fatty acids and vitamin E. Omega fatty acids and vitamin E also are promoted in a large number of heart-healthy foods. However, while research (and at least one FDA claim) gives a thumbs-up to a bright future for omega-3s, the meta-analysis study on vitamin E by a John Hopkins University (Baltimore) researcher will cause some marketers to pull this component from supplements positioned for cardiovascular health.

Conquering Cancer

The HealthFocus International study shows cancer concerns are nearly as widespread among consumers as cardiovascular health. However, foods and supplements positioning themselves as reducing the risk of cancer are very rare.

Using the term "cancer" to search the GNPD for U.S. consumable products introduced in 2004 that link an ingredient's benefits to cancer risk-reduction, only four products appear. Reasons why so few make the disease connection--compared to heart disease--are that the FDA allows few claims in regards to cancer risk reduction, and the term itself is far from consumer-friendly. Two companies making the association include Maximum International's (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) Aspen Naturally Lycopene Dietary Supplement that notes, "Lycopene is an antioxidant that protects the body against free radical damage. It also supports prostate health and protects against some forms of cancer." Laguna Tuna's (San Francisco) Fresh Seafood Pasta Sauces claim: "Each jar is said to have plenty of heart-healthy lycopene and cancer-fighting omega-3s because of its seafood ingredient properties." If the GNPD search is extended back to 1999 to include all global products, over 100 products making cancer-fighting type claims can be found. Beneficial components frequently mentioned include polyphenols (often contained in wine, grape seed, juice and cocoa); other antioxidants including those in green and white tea and blueberries; soybean-derived ingredients (isoflavones, soy protein); various dietary fibers including chitosan; certain mushrooms; beta-carotene, lycopene as well as carotenoids in general (including those in pink grapefruit); and, finally, Korean ginseng.