Manufacturers show increasing concern for our wellbeing

While the main interest of the food ingredient industry is, naturally, in improving their businesses, there is a great social benefit in a population that looks after its own general health, which must take a considerable workload off its national health system.

Excessive salt intake is a Europe-wide problem and food consumers are increasingly aware that high levels of intake can cause high blood pressure, leading to cardiovascular difficulties. Limiting the intake of salt has therefore become a nutritional aim across Europe, with manufacturers obliged to reveal the salt content of their products.

In the Nordic countries, previous projects conducted at Norwegian municipal food control laboratories on the salt content in food revealed that a number of different analytical methods were in use, and that it was difficult to compare the obtained results. Laboratories used their own methods including flame atomic emission spectrometry, flame atomic absorption spectrometry, ion selective electrode for sodium and inductive coupled plasma atom emission spectroscopy were all used.

So a project group was set up, the Nordic Committee on Food Analysis (NMKL), which identified flame atomic absorption spectrometry as a viable means of determining sodium content in foodstuffs. It is an instrumental method of determining element concentration by aspirating a sample solution into an acetylene or nitrous oxide flame and passing light from the same element through the flame. The concentration of the element in the sample can be quantified by the amount of light absorbed by the element present within the flame.

This finding will enable much better comparison of results from different sources when analysing salt content.

Weight loss

Obesity is also of increasing concern and Danish researchers have provided the first clinical evidence to support a mechanism for the weight loss effect of dairy produce.

Lead author of the report, Professor Arne Astrup, at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Denmark (KVL), says calcium could reduce body weight by binding fat in the intestine and increasing its excretion from the body. The new study shows that fat excreted in the faeces increased 2.5times in people on a high calcium diet compared with when they lowered their calcium intake. This mechanism could be enough to explain a 4kg drop in weight over a year.

Astrup says: “I had this hypothesis that calcium could bind fat in the GI tract and had to find out if it could affect weight through faecal fat excretion. But it surprised me that it was so much. A short-term boost in dietary calcium increased faecal fat and energy excretion by around 350kJperday. This is a very solid finding and is seen across all of the subjects.

“The findings are important because this is the first human intervention study to support calcium's fat-binding mechanism through consumption of dairy products.“

High blood pressure may not have such a high profile in today's press but it is a widespread problem and dairy products designed to lower blood pressure have been introduced in Spain and Portugal under new licensing deals with Finnish functional dairy firm Valio.

The product launches will expose the blood pressure-lowering Evolus brand to much larger markets than before, helping to raise consumer awareness of such foods.

The company says its probiotic products have sold extremely well, and Finnish people probably now have the highest probiotic consumption in the world at around 6kgper capita each year.

Blood pressure is a promising target for functional food makers, with US researchers warning recently that more than 1.5billion people will have high blood pressure by 2025, or around one in three adults over the age 20.

About two thirds of strokes and half the incidence of heart disease are attributable to raised blood pressure, according to the World Health Organisation. Globally, high blood pressure is estimated to cause 7.1million deaths, about 13percent of the total and about 4.4percent of the total chronic disease burden.

The bioactive peptides in Evolus are produced by fermenting milk casein with certain lactic acid bacteria, widely used in cheesemaking, which splits casein to the ile-pro-pro and val-pro-pro tripeptides. These tripeptides are responsible for reducing blood pressure.

Brain health

Stress control and improved concentration are important human attributes and Degussa Food Ingredients is expanding its line of soy-derived phosphatidylserine (PS) products to push for greater use of the brain health supplement in foods.

The ingredient has previously only been used in memory-enhancing chocolate bars but the German firm believes that PS also has potential in foods targeted at young people for stress control and improved concentration.

The company said today it can offer non-GMO versions of the brain health supplement in concentrations up to 90percent. It has also developed new prototypes such as a chocolate bar and oat-based pellets to demonstrate how the stability issue associated with the ingredient can be overcome. It can also produce a water dispersible powder suitable for instant drinks or dairy products fortified with PS on request.

Phosphatidylserine is present in all biological membranes and is particularly concentrated in the brain. It regulates many metabolic processes including neuronal signalling but it cannot be synthesised by the body and changes in the western diet over recent years have led to a decline in dietary uptake of the nutrient.

In the field of general health supplements, French company Applexion has secured an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement to commercialise a new whey recycling technology developed by Food Science Australia and the University of Western Sydney.

Under the agreement, the company will design, build and sell a new dairy processing technology which converts the dairy by-product, whey, into a range of high-value products.

UWS and Food Science Australia's experts have pioneered the ion exclusion lactose technology that separates the lactose contained in whey and purifies it into a valuable pharmaceutical-grade product for use in medicines and health supplements. The new process is regarded as being an important solution to the problem of how to maximise the value of the 3.3million tonnes of whey generated each year by Australia's dairy manufacturers.

New certification

In other ingredient areas, German firm Finzelberg says it is the first plant extracts producer to gain GMP certification under new European rules for active agents in pharmaceuticals. This will also be of interest to companies working in markets that regulate supplements as food. The company is part of the Martin Bauer group that also sells extracts to food and beverage makers.

Dr Carolin Notheis, production manager, says: “Formulating with plants produced under GMP conditions reflects a higher level of quality in the finished product. It will allow supplement makers to demonstrate a quality level that ranks alongside that of pharmaceuticals and makes it easier to justify prices based on the quality.“

GMP certification reflects consistent quality standards in production, technology and quality control. They have long existed for pharmaceuticals but were only recently introduced for active agents. Outside of the European Union, these GMP regulations are known as the ICH Q7A standards, recognised by Europe, Japan and the US.

More than 100 of Finzelberg's GMP certificates have already been ordered by customers to be included in their product registration dossiers. Most Finzelberg products are regarded as active agents rather than pharmaceuticals.

But all ingredients need a delivery system, even though it is inherent in powder or liquid formulations, and advanced delivery systems are increasingly being required.

Chemicals giant BASF has invested e2 million in a German encapsulation business that claims to have developed a novel process that allows for efficient ingredient delivery. Cavis MicroCaps, set up in 1999, has developed a membrane technology consisting of several layers of natural material that coat microspheres containing ingredients for food or feed applications.

With yeast, for example, the fermentation takes place inside the capsule after sugar is transported through the membrane but it cannot happen outside.

The Multi Layer Capsules, made from algae, silica, calcium and oil, are also suitable for encapsulation of vitamins, minerals, probiotics and fatty acids. In the last case, companies can add oil-based ingredients to a dry application without facing the usual formulation issues when adding oil to dry matter.

A number of different encapsulation technologies are already available to food and supplement makers but Cavis believes that its membrane technology offers significant advantages over more commonly used methods. It says the process is very gentle and there is little loss in the materials.

The process is based on polyelectrolyte complexes, also used in products like contact lenses, but not yet seen in the food industry. Encapsulation allows manufacturers of food and beverages, as well as other consumer products, to add unusual ingredients to products not normally used in traditional processing. It can decrease costs for food makers, particularly those using sensitive ingredients like probiotics, where overages are frequently used to guarantee shelf life.

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