Food Processors Take on Heart Disease

Diet’s Role Acknowledged

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently acknowledged the pivotal role of diet in cardiovascular disease, the number one killer in the U.S. This motivated the U.S. Department of Agriculture to get involved in nutritional modalities to help reduce and prevent the onset of cardiovascular disease in America. Collaborative work by the National Institutes of Health centers in complementary and alternative medicine has enhanced understanding and helped raise awareness of the physiological mechanisms and the role of genetics and lifestyle choices.

Americans are demanding healthful foods in unprecedented numbers. Vending machines now dispense yogurt in schools, and more than a hundred legislative actions related to preventing or reducing obesity were passed successfully in 2003.

“Heart-healthy” and “cholesterol-lowering” claims--once perceived as offering unique competitive advantage--are now common features of supermarket shelves. Sales and offerings of heart-healthy bars, cereals and beverages has grown significantly over the past several years—a clear indication of the proactive efforts of consumers to manage their cardiovascular conditions in a variety of ways.

Marketplace evidence includes successful new food products such as Rice Dream Heartwise rice milk from Imagine Foods, Garden City, N.Y. This heart-healthy non-dairy beverage is enriched with vitamins A, D and B12 and the same amount of calcium as dairy milk. It also contains Minneapolis-based Cargill’s CoroWise, a plant-based extract containing phytosterol esters, which are believed to help reduce the risk of heart disease.

Three Marketing Strategies

The marketing of wellness foods for cardiovascular health is defined by three primary strategies. One strategy focuses on leveraging hidden nutritional assets and involves identifying the intrinsic benefits of existing components of the food and employing excellent nutrition marketing to get the word out. General Mills, Minneapolis, used this approach to apply a permitted claim for the heart health benefits of whole grains to its popular breakfast cereal brands Cheerios and garnered double-digit volume growth.

Another strategy focuses on employing nutrition science to identify and demonstrate the effectiveness of specific ingredients with heart health or cholesterol-lowering potential, and then developing foods with these ingredients. Almost always these ingredients are added to foods that do not naturally contain these ingredients in any significant quantities. Innovative extraction and processing technologies and the growing awareness of the ingredients’ health benefits have made this approach particularly successful in garnering consumers who seek more from their favorite foods.

For example, Bioriginal (Saskatchewan, Canada) successfully marketed FibrOmega, its shelf stable dietary fiber derived from flax seed, to food processors aiming to enhance their “heart healthy” status with healthy fats and soluble-to-insoluble fiber ratio. Unique, patent-protected ingredients manufacturers like Bioriginal are able to help create brands which can command premium prices from consumers anxious about their cardiovascular health.

Federal regulations have spawned a new approach, which involves replacing foods ingredients that have been flagged as being high-risk for heart disease. An example is the current market focus on replacing trans fats in bakery products and snacks. “Trans fat free” labels allow food products such as cookies and sweet baked products otherwise forbidden in the diets of those at high risk of cardiovascular disease.

Antioxidants Lead the Charge

Numerous studies conducted over the past several decades have determined antioxidants to have significant cardio protective effects—both individually and synergistically when used in combination with other antioxidants. (See "Oxidation Reduced to Its Radical Essentials," for more details on how antioxidants work.)

Antioxidant vitamins and minerals and phytochemicals, such as flavonoids and carotenoids, have been shown to help reduce oxidative stress. Indeed, consumers are driving the popularity of foods and beverages with antioxidants: antioxidants were the third most popular supplement in 2003 and one of the top five marketing aids for processed foods and beverages, according to the Natural Marketing Institute (NMI), Harleysville, Pa.

Heart Helpful Ingredients The heart is a busy organ, requiring proper nutrition and care to ensure performance and prevent age and lifestyle-induced deterioration. Research, specifically in the realm of cures and treatments, point to antioxidant vitamins and minerals and several specialty ingredients, including lutein as having the ability to improve lipid levels, lower blood pressure and generally enhance overall cardiovascular wellness. Particularly effective are: Vitamin E, a term that embraces a group of essential fat-soluble vitamins including four tocopherols and four tocotrienols, occurs naturally and in alpha, beta, gamma, and delta forms. Being fat-soluble, vitamin E works particularly well in the lipophilic environment of the heart to help protect cells and LDL from free radical oxidation. The natural d-alpha form is most efficient according to Ram Chaudhuri, senior executive vice president, research and development, Fortitech, Schenectady, N.Y. Ester ETM, from Zila Nutraceuticals, Prescott, Ariz., is a vitamin E phosphate complex made by joining natural d-alpha tocopherol with a phosphate molecule to protect the antioxidant function of vitamin E during absorption, transport and storage in the body. The natural form is claimed to be better retained than synthetic forms, which are reportedly selected and secreted faster by the human body. CSPHP or C-fraction soy protein hydrolysate from Kyowa Hakko (U.S. headquarters in New York) promotes healthy cholesterol levels by interfering and thereby, blocking cholesterol absorption in the intestine. CSPHP may be used as an ingredient in a number of food products and has already been approved as Foshu in Japan. Vitamin C popularity is second only to that of its fat-soluble counterpart, vitamin E, according to the Natural Marketing Institute. Leucoselect Phytosome is a complex containing a standardized of procyanidins from grape seeds and phospholipids from soy beans produced by Indena USA, Seattle, Wash. The compound protects LDL cholesterol under oxidative stress and has been effectively demonstrated in clinical studies with heavy smokers. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is naturally produced in the body and is popularly known for its role in creating cellular energy from the body’s power-producing cells, the mitochondria. Oxyphyte Heart Blend is a blend of tea catechins, particularly (-) -epigalocatechin gallate (EGCG) and (-) -epicatechin gallate (ECG), both of which inhibit LDL cholesterol. Available from RFI Ingredients, Blauvelt, N.Y., the blend is intended to help beverage and candy makers enhance the potency of heart healthy formulas. These are just the tip of a massive iceberg of ingredients promising cholesterol-lowering ability/improved heart health and which are debuting in the market or on the verge of being launched.

Sales in 2003 of antioxidant combinations of vitamins A, C and E increased 2.6% in the mainstream retail category and 23.2 percent in the natural products category, according to SPINS/ACNielsen, Schaumburg, Ill. Atlanta-based food giant Coca-Cola responded to consumers’ demands with cholesterol-lowering Minute Maid HeartSmart juice, containing plant sterols and at a comparable price to other products in the company’s juice range.