NutraIngredient’s Snack Size Science brings you the week's top science. This week we look at the potential of vitamin D to prime the immune system and offer protection against colds and the flu: A ray of scientific sunshine on a dark winter day.
The influential UK-based consumer welfare advocate, Which?, has poured scorn on some functional foods, despite the fact 59 per cent of its highly sceptical members buy omega-3, probiotic and other functional foods.
UK start-up Evgen Limited has joined with a noted Danish vegetable researcher to bring broccoli extracts to market that have demonstrated anti-cancer potential.
Probiotics pioneer Yakult says preliminary research indicates the interrelationship of the nervous systems of the gut and the brain could confer cognitive benefits when probiotics are consumed.
One of the world’s leading probiotics specialists says consumers are interested in probiotic cheese products but cheese manufacturers and probiotic suppliers need to get their scientific house in order and clarify their marketing messages.
Probiotics have had a rapid rise to public prominence in North America since Danone launched probiotic drinkable and spoonable yogurts on the US market in 2005, but probiotic cheeses have won little favor, according to Euromonitor research.
Dairy drinks promoted with a health benefit in tow now account for more than 70 per cent of global launches, according to food market analyst, Innova Food.
The global functional foods market will be worth about €175 billion by 2012 – a 25 per cent jump over 2007 levels of €120bn, according to Euromonitor International data.
Swedish probiotics specialist, BioGaia, has turned in an impressive set of financial results for 2008, maintaining the 30 per cent-plus growth it has achieved annually for the best part of this decade.
French dairy giant Danone’s US subsidiary, Dannon, has been told to alter advertising for a yogurt product by the voluntary advertising watchdog, the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (NAD).
The cost-benefit ratio for including gut health promoting inulin in bread formulations could bring added-value gains for bread-makers, delegates will hear at a forthcoming industry conference.
Dutch scientists have reported that the potential immune system enhancing effects of probiotics may be due to an activation of specific genes in the walls of our intestines.
Unilever has teamed up with Finnish dairy and ingredients supplier, Valio, to launch a probiotic spread in Germany and Sweden with “strengthening natural defences” as the central selling point.
After little more than two years, Danone has pulled its beauty-from-the-inside spoonable yoghurt, Essensis, from French retail shelves, despite a re-launch in 2008.
Nutrient profiling, the system that will govern which foods and supplements can make health claims and which can’t, may not be adopted by the summer, according to consultancy, European Advisory Services (EAS).
Danish ingredients giant Chr Hansen has purchased Urex Biotech, a Canadian company it has long worked with to bring probiotic supplements to a market demonstrating growth rates of more than 10 per cent internationally.
Consumption of a combination probiotic and prebiotic supplement for two weeks was found to improve the gut and immune health of a group of seniors, according to a study conducted by Danisco.
Alberta, Canada-based Bioneutra has applied to the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) for European Union Novel Foods approval for a prebiotic, isomalto-oligosaccharide sweetener.
As we wind down the online printing presses here at NutraIngredients for 2008, it seems appropriate to cast our eyes forward and locate those trends that are likely to battle for the functional foods and supplements spotlight in the coming year.
Scientists have found a proprietary probiotic strain, BLIS K12, can deliver immunity and respiratory benefits that go beyond previously investigated oral health potential.
Canada-based scientists report the successful incorporation of Lactobacillus reuteri RC-14 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1, potentially offering a new probiotic product.
A drinking straw innovator, a leading probiotics supplier and the world’s biggest aseptic beverage packager have teamed up to deliver a probiotic drink that has attracted the interest of the world’s biggest beverage companies. Shane Starling met with...
Chr Hansen has launched two new probiotic cultures which it says allow manufacturers of low-fat yoghurt to add the healthy bacteria to their products while also maintaining a thick, creamy texture.
A health claim submission linking probiotic consumption and gastro-intestinal health has not been supported after scientific assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
UK-based Leatherhead Food International (LFI) is seeking commercial interest for a research project that will explore the potential of probiotics to deliver oral health benefits.
The probiotic straw is a concept that has been a long time coming but one which may be about to move from its current niche status into the mainstream, according to Swedish probiotics supplier, BioGaia.
The latest batch of European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) opinions has surfaced with the assessor giving the thumbs up to three claims revolving around calcium, vitamin D and bone health.
A functional food and cosmeceutical ingredient derived from French maritime pine bark has been certified for Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) by the country’s health products association.
Quercetin, the compound most commonly associated with onions, may boost the immune system and protect against flu, according to results of a study with mice.
Cognis’ six-month old alliance with fellow German ingredient innovator, InterMed Discovery, has yielded its first fruit with Cognis licensing an ingredient that will target the weight management sector.
French supplier Roquette is moving beyond its protein and carbohydrates core area by investing in a five-year project to bring microalgae extracts to market.
Wild blueberries have greater antioxidant content than common fruits such as apples, bananas, red grapes and strawberries according to Cornell University researchers.
World-leading inulin and oligofructose supplier, Beneo-Orafti, has engaged in co-branding in meat products for the first time with its prebiotic ingredients.
One quarter of Spain’s foods are functional, making it one of Europe’s most dynamic and successful market, according to a report presented recently to the EU-funded European Functional Foods Net.
Chr Hansen is refining its probiotic offerings with the intention of making cheese ‘the new yoghurt’ as a user-friendly, efficiacious probiotic medium.
A Guernsey-based company has been cautioned by the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for the second time since May for making false and misleading claims about its supplements.
Supplementation with a yeast fermentate can aid the production of healthy red blood cells, and boost immune health, according to the results of randomised clinical trial.
NutraIngredients examines the omega-3 marketplace in the final instalment of a series that has scanned the scientific, regulatory and supply issues surrounding an ingredient that would appear to have everything.
Australian researchers have designed a nanoparticle one thousandth the width of a human hair, which they say has demonstrated potential to protect antioxidants from destruction in the gut.
A group has been formed in the UK to pressure regulators into “lightening” the impact of the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (THMPD) which requires all herbal medicines within the European Union to attain THMPD registrations before 2011.
The world’s number one inulin supplier, Belgium-based Beneo-Orafti, has jacked the price of its inulin and oligofructose offerings for the second time in less than 12 months.
Japanese researchers in conjunction with the Yale School of Medicine have found the mushroom extract, AHCC, can strengthen the immune system and fight the onset of cancer among over-50s.
The European Food Safety Authority has kicked off the eagerly awaited health claim assessment process with a slew of claim rejections signalling a hard line methodology that may see thousands of claims submissions binned.
Swedish probiotics specialist BioGaia this morning announced a deal with Nestlé Nutrition that will see its proprietary Lactobacillus reuteri strain employed in infant nutrition products globally.
DSM Nutritional Products has announced an undisclosed double digit price increase across its Quali-Blends range that specialises in customised blends of key vitamins and minerals.
Algal-sourced omega-3s have limitless potential, able to scale to meet the needs of our planet’s population with twice the potency – naturally – and all...
Algal-sourced omega-3s have limitless potential, able to scale to meet the needs of our planet’s population with twice the potency – naturally – and all...
