Fred Brouns – Maastricht University, The Netherlands: What’s hot in the world of health ingredients?
“Marketers often run ahead of the science that is required to make substantiated benefit claims. Plus many cases of food fraud have led to consumer mistrust.”
“If you don’t have the money to properly communicate the science, don’t start the business.”
“Messages about healthy eating don’t seem to be working. People go for price and how attractive the food is.”
“Instead of spending money settling class actions, use the money to hire good scientists and nutritionists to work with the marketers at the start.”
“More gluten in ancient-type wheat compared to modern wheat. Statements by paleo people that ancient grains are better are simply not true.”
Yves Desjardins, INAF, Université Laval, Canada: Modulation of the gut microbiota by plant polyphenols –
“Polyphenols have short residence time in the body. We excrete them rapidly, so what are we doing with them?”
“We have shown for the first time that cranberry polyphenols alter the gut microbiota and reduce low-grade inflammation.”
Sophie de Reynal, Nutrimarketing, France: Overview of the latest trends in brain function & cognitive health
“In 2050 there will be 2 billion people over 60. Burden of age-related cognitive decline and brain health will only get heavier.”
“Consumers want natural remedies for cognitive function. They have concerns over side effects from medications… teas are proving popular in this space.”
Sally Frautschy, PhD, UCLA, USA: Effect of curcumin on bioavailability - fat & curcumin in Alzheimer’s Disease
“Fat is a big factor in Alzheimer’s Disease risk. Obesity increases AD risk by 42%.”
“It is unlikely that one compound is going to affect all the pathways linked to AD, but curcumin acts at multiple steps to reduce pathogenesis in several AD models.”
“UCLA data showed that low dose curcumin mediates phagocytosis but high dose doesn’t.”
Patrice Cani, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Belgium: Obesity and type 2 diabetes: a novel insight into the gut microbiota
“With the microbiome, we are a superorganism. Bacteria have metabolic and biolgocial functions that cannot be performed by our human metabolism.”
“We’ve found that prebiotic feeding changes more than 100 Taxa of bacteria, some have never been measured before.”
“Akkermansia muciniphila – this gram negative bacteria may control gut barrier function.”
Johan Garssen, Danone Research Center, The Netherlands: Role of non-digestible fibers in the management of non-communicable diseases
“Non-communicable diseases are the leading cause of death globally.”
“We should stop working in silos. We should work together. That’s how we’ll find a solution.”
“In the 1980s the gut was not seen as an immune organ… that was only 30 years ago…”
Loïc Bureau, Universite de Rennes, France: Between advertising and science, a 20-year review of weight loss ingredients: what teachings?
"Consumers want miracle: They want to eat & lose weight!"
Dr Michael Müller, University of East Anglia, UK: From nutrigenomics to nutrition systems – their role in immune-metabolic plasticity and health
“We are what we eat, have eaten and what we host.”
Chris Schmidt, Euromonitor International, USA: Trends in major sports nutrition markets and demographics
"Sports nutrition pushes to close the gender gap"
“Protein products dominate sales globally in the sports nutrition sector.”
“Sports nutrition is a US$ 8.8 billion industry!”
Anni Vanhatalo, University of Exeter, UK: Effect of dietary nitrate on skeletal muscle energetics and exercise performance
“Nitrate affects muscle tissue, reducing the amount of oxygen needed by muscles during activity.”
“Effects of nitrate on exercise tolerance: 15% increase in constant work-rate exercise and 5% in incremental exercise.”
“More is better? Not always! Better results were obtained with 140ml of beetroot juice than with 280ml for sport performance.”
Stephen Daniells, NutraIngredients-USA: Trends, opportunities and challenges in the inflammation and immunity market
“Data from the CRN’s 2013 annual survey shows that, in addition to the ranking of immune health equally with healthy aging and energy, is that use drops off as consumers age, which is unlike all of the other categories except for energy.”
“Interest in immune health supplements among boomers is high, but their confidence in the products to effectively boost their immune system is low. Why? Unconvinced by the science? Still associate immune health with pharmaceuticals? Are they confused by the products?”
“The cross over between sports nutrition and immune health could be a huge growth area. We’re already seeing companies put probiotics into protein products – boost immunity and may enhance amino acid uptake.”