Omega-3
"There is good evidence of the beneficial effect of n-3 fatty acids, also referred to as omega-3 fatty acids, in cardiovascular health," Young said at Leatherhead Food RA's annual conference on international new products earlier this year. "This has arisen from observations that populations which eat large amounts of oily fish or marine animals have low rates of coronary heart disease. Based on this evidence, a number of manufacturers and retailers have deemed it appropriate to enrich foodstuffs with n-3 fatty acids, although in Europe this activity has largely been confined to the UK."
Roche Vitamins has also developed an omega-3-rich ingredient, Ropufa, that is produced using new technology to eliminate the strong smell and taste of fish oil and provide good stability. Roche's technical applications specialists advise that incorporating Ropufa in foods and beverages requires customized formulations. The company is prepared to work with customers during crucial stages of new product development. So far, Ropufa oils and powders have been successfully incorporated into breakfast cereals, margarine, spreads, bread and infant foods.
One of the most innovative ways in which omega-3 has been incorporated into foods was developed by NutraSweet Kelco. Chickens are fed an enriched microalgal feed ingredient, DHA Gold, which is then passed on to the eggs when laid. Omega-3 DHA eggs won the Food Ingredients Europe award for Most Innovative Finished Food Product in 1996. Currently, the DHA-enriched eggs are marketed in Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway and Andorra, and more than 125 million have been sold. Licenses are now pending for the rest of Scandinavia and Italy, and the eggs are scheduled for sale in the US by the end of this year. In the future, not only laying hens but also broiler chickens, as well as pigs and cattle, are likely to be fed a diet enriched with DHA Gold, according to NutraSweet Kelco.
Rye grain has been hailed as a wonder grain by Finnish researcher Pirjo Pietinen, whose work was co-funded by the Finnish government, Harvard University and the National Cancer Institute in Maryland. This study found that increased intake of rye lowers heart disease risk, and work done by Helsinki University also suggests that it may even play a role in preventing breast cancer.
Professor Herman Adlercreutz of the University of Helsinki reports that soy may protect against cancer. "A well-known fact is that average life span in Japan is the highest in the world, and that hormone-dependent cancers and colon cancer are rare," he said. "Our conclusion is that genistein and some other isoflavonoids and their precursors in soy may play an important role in the diet
of the Japanese as cancer-protective substances."
The functional foods referred to so far are fairly mainstream. But there are numerous other substances with claimed health benefits that could be the stars of the future. Guarana, incorporated into health foods such as the highly successful Red Bull energy drink, comes from a woody evergreen plant native to the Amazon rain forests, to which many attributes have been applied, including prevention of fatigue, diarrhea, constipation and headaches. It is also said to have anti-stress, life-prolonging and even aphrodisiac properties.
There is no doubt that the development of functional foods, or positive nutrition foods, will continue to gain momentum. However, there are many difficulties to overcome in their formulation, processing and, above all, the legislative minefield that can be encountered.
Brøste - Feb. 1999
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