Affordable plant sterols reach Argentine mass market
Materials reach Argentine retail outlets this month and are
positioned to be affordable even for price sensitive customers.
The company, founded in 2003, announced at the beginning of this year that it was repositioning in order to develop end-user applications for the use of its locally-sourced sterols in consumer products with a view to improving public health.
A local bread producer will use AOM's Advasterols in its entire range of whole grain breads. AOM's Alejandro Luis Abad told NutraIngredients-USA.com that although the dose may not be as high as premium products, the products will be only one or two per cent more expensive than ordinary breads.
The aim, he said, is to reach "a broader section of the population".
Also aimed at the mass market, a flour producer will be offering flour premixes with Advasterol.
A local supplement maker will be offering a dietary supplement with Fitoadapt, containing Advasterol, but Abad said this contains a higher dose of sterols and has a price to match its position as a specialist product.
Sterols are plant-derived compounds that have been shown to have a cholesterol-lowering effect on humans. According to the InterAmerica Heart Foundation, the English-speaking Caribbean, Canada, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay come close to the United States in having the highest mortality rates for all cardiovascular diseases in the Americas. In the US, 37 percent of all deaths in 2003 were down to coronary heart disease.
While there have been some sterol-containing products on the Argentine market in the past, these have tended to be at the premium end and have not had much market penetration, according to Abad.
Throughout the development of the first products, AOM has worked closely with WHO-affiliated organisation Propia, which has sterols as one of seven dietary recommendations to help meet health needs in the area.
Propia has already undertaken work to promote the use of omega-3 and omega-6 in food products.
It is planned that the newly-created category sterol in South American will expand into new food types, as AOM is in discussions with manufacturers in Argentina, Uruguay and Chile to develop fruit juices, pasta, cereal bars, snacks and dairy products.
These products are expected to reach the market by the beginning of 2007. AOM's current annual sterol capacity is 200 metric tons. It has plans to expand this over the next 12 months.
