Top Editors ... Healthy ingredients at Vitafoods

Title: Healthy ingredients at Vitafoods
Date: 17/08/2007
Autor: Food and Beverage International

Vitafoods provides the focus for the nutraceuticals and functional foods industry in Geneva in May, and will provide the backdrop for an array of new product developments for this dynamic sector

Vitafoods, which is billed as the global nutraceutical event, will be celebrating its 10th birthday this year as it opens its doors from 8 to 10 May, in Geneva, Switzerland.
Already accounting for more than 5,000m2 of floor space - an increase of 20% on last year - the exhibition will, for the second year - run alongside the Finished Products Expo. There are 415 exhibitors taking part this year, 16% of which are new to the event, which will provide the venue for the industry's showcase of ingredients for nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, and functional food and drinks.
"As more and more people across the globe take greater interest in their wellbeing, diet disease links, and rising health care costs, this industry will continue to flourish," said Vicky Coope, event director, who pointed out that the langer players such as Danisco, Berkem and Chr Hansen were new to the show this year. "Vitafood's appeal has grown not only among visitors, but also among exhibitors, and this year the show will have an even higher number of leading international companies."
The Finished Food Expo is dedicated to showcasing the latest innovations in the field of health food, functional food and drinks and dietary supplements. Dynamic Health Laboratories, which manufactures liquid dietary supplements and health producís with weight loss benefits, for strengthening the immune system and for boosting metabolism, will be exhibiting at the show.
"This is our fifth year of exhibiting at Vitafoods and our second at Finished Products Expo where we'll be launching our new products including our new Gold range, which includes Goji Gold, Mangosteen Gold, and Acai Gold - all of which are organic certified and 100% puré," said Bruce Burwick of Dynamic Health Laboratories.
Berkem will be taking the opportunity to highlight its Powergrape grape extract, which is standardised ¡n Polyphenols and Flavanols for a wide range of functional foods and beverages.
"The extracten process used for Powergrape has been specially developed in order to obtain the best ratios between the various families of polyphenols and consequently to guarantee a unique and active ingredient," said Benoit Lemaire, business director of Berkem, which has various research projects underway to underpin the grape extract's impact on reducing oxidative stress ¡n sportsmen. A double blind, placebo-controlled clinical study ¡s underway to valídate the efficacy of Powergrape.
The aim of this clinical study is to associate Powergrape's supplementation to the improvement of performance and recovery capacity.

Kievit, which specialises ¡n the micro encapsulation and spray-drying of food ingredients will promote its encapsulated oils and fats for food and infant formula at the show. Its functional and innovative encapsulated ingredients provide foam, taste, flavour, texture, colour, energy and/or health benefits. Some of the producís that will be demonstrated on the stand include nutritional oil powders based on encapsulated LC-PUFAs (AFiA, ERA and DHA); extra stable encapsulated oil powders with high amounts of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids; nutritional oil powders with customer-specific acid profiles; base mixes for infant nutrition; and encapsulated MCT oil powder; as well as solutions for the development of creamers for soups, sauces, bakery applications, coffee creamers and cappuccino foamers with a healthy fatty acid profile.
Phytosterols
Blue California, an ingredient manufacturer in Southern California, is using the show to introduce its new, 40% micro-encapsulated phytosterols in powder form, for water-soluble applications. Available as white powders with a mild, characteristic odour, phytosterols (plant sterols) are normally insoluble in water and soluble in alcohols.
"The excellent water-solubility of our micro-encapsulated phytosterols, created using proprietary technology, ¡s expected to improve the absorption of these important plant sterols making dietary supplementation for cholesterol control safe and efficacious," said Cecilia McCollum, Blue California's executive vice president. "We are currently looking at conducting a complete bioavailability study to determine the degree of absorption and the effect on cholesterol from dietary supplementation with this new ingredient."
Flavoured gums will be the focus of the Bioríginal stand, where the company's new range of chewable flavoured softgels containing essential fatty acids (EFA) from both fish and plant sources will be introduced to the European market following their successful launch in the USA. The gums are available in fruity flavours and come in varieties that target specific health benefits such as skin health (formulated with GI_A), heart health (with ALA) and brain health (with DHA).
Ocean Spray will be building on 'rts cranberry health campaign at this year's event. It will be focusing on the latest research from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, which discovered that cranberry proanthocyanidins (PACs) offer a three-fold defence at molecular level to prevent bacteria adhering to cells. The study is designed to underpin Ocean Spray's research to prove that the cranberry's A-type proanthocyanidins work to reduce the risk of bacterial infection.
"We believe that the cranberry's huge nutraceutical potential still remains largely untapped and look forward to supporting the future research," said Arun Hiranandani, sénior manager, worldwide marketing, Ocean Spray ITG (Ingredients technology group). "The growing body of scientific evidence backing the cranberry's wide-ranging health benefits adds considerable weight to food manufacturera' ability to make claims for functional foods."
Claims
Claims in respect of vitality and well being are the focus of activity by Plantextrakt, which will ilustrate the positive antioxidant properties of selected herbal extracts in its eQ range. 'eQ - equalize your nutrient balance' is the company's latest concept for its extracts with health promoting properties and is based on four product lines: brain, body, beauty and vitality. Plantextrakt has recently completed a number of scientific research projects to provide evidence of herbal extracts' positive properties, which it will be presenting at the show.
Beverages produced according to the eQ concept are said to have convincingly natural flavours and taste of herbs, exotic fruit or green tea. Visitors will have the opportunity to taste ready-to-drink beverages in the eQ-brain line and eQ-beauty line. A high catechin contení coupled with the antioxidative capacity of green tea extract is the essential element of the eQ-brain line. The eQ-beauty line focuses on beauty from within and contains vascular protective extraéis taken from vine leaves and olive leaves.
CacliNea is the new producl launch planned for Ihe Bio Serae sland Ihis year. A prickly pear caclus powder, CacliNea acls as a powerful anlioxidanl due to its betalain content (a nalural pigmenl); and can also help lo reduce waler relention while preserving mineral subslances - a valuable tool for fhose seeking 'slimming solutions'. The product will be presented alongside Bio Serae's existing range of products including NeOpuntia, the lipophilic fibre also derived from cactus, which has been shown lo have a posilive effecl balancing blood lipid parameters, which are associated with Syndrome X diagnosis.
Lonza will be introducing a new quality seal for ifs special grade of nalural L-Carniline under ils Carnipure brand; Rousselot will demonslrate Ihe polenlial of its Hydrolyzed Collagen in Ihree different applicalion áreas; and fresh from ils acquisilion of Acalris Heallh al Ihe end of lasl year, Frutaron will be presenling a combined portfolio from the lwo companies including Ihe EFLA-Line; Ihe LJfeLine range, and the Seleclüne producl range.
Among a wealth of topics, Fortitech co-founder and chief sdentific officer, Dr. Ram Chaudhari, will be presenting a lechnical seminar al Vrtafoods on micronutrient fortfication and the chaltenges associated with fortification. During Ihe show itself, Fortitech Europe ApS will demonstrate versatilily and technical expertise with nutrient premixes in application samples, each largeted at specific health conditions.