Prepared Foods and its NutraSolutions brand present this annual “Ingredients for Health” reference. It offers market data and information about commercially available ingredients that assist developers and formulators with products targets various health benefits. From ingredients such as chia seed and red tomato for antioxidant supplementation, to the colors, flavors and textures that make functional foods and beverages products attractive and palatable, this section offers a comprehensive range of new offerings.
Categories include:
Energy and/or Sports Performance
Food and drinks products marketed on an eye health platform are still relatively few and far between, although activity has increased markedly in recent years, as an ageing population starts to be increasingly concerned over issues such as age-related macular degeneration. Global launch numbers recorded by Innova Market Insights have more than doubled in the last few years and rose a further 75% in 2013.
Infant formulas and baby milks continue to dominate in terms of launch numbers, but milk drinks and juice and juice drinks also featured increasingly in terms of activity. In the US, eye health claims are especially emerging among baby food products and juice and juice drinks.
Individual ingredients featuring strongly include vitamins A and E, zinc, whey protein, beta-carotene and lutein. Lutein and zeaxanthin feature strongly as ingredients within the eye health supplements market, although usually in combination with other beneficial components, such as antioxidant vitamins A, C and E, B vitamins such as B6 and B12, blueberry extracts as a source of anthocyanins, omega 3 fatty acids and minerals such as zinc and selenium.
—Lu Ann Williams, Innova Market Insights, helpdesk@innovami.com, www.innovadatabase.com
Natural Zeaxanthin
Kemin and DSM have introduced OPTISHARP NATURAL, a natural brand of zeaxanthin. Kemin, pioneer of FloraGLO Lutein, and DSM, creator of OPTISHARP Zeaxanthin, are expanding their longtime lutein partnership to deliver high-quality, naturally-sourced zeaxanthin. OPTISHARP Natural, made from Kemin Industries’ ZeaONE brand of zeaxanthin, offers important benefits for eye health, cognition and skin health. The zeaxanthin ingredients will be marketed under DSM’s OPTISHARP brand as OPTISHARP Natural. OPTISHARP Natural is formulated from hybrid marigold flowers that are protected under patent rights licensed exclusively by Kemin and provide the same free-form of zeaxanthin found in most fruits and vegetables. –DSM Nutritional Products, www.dsm.com.
Targeted Eye Care
More than 28 million Americans over age 40 have eye ailments that put them at risk for vision loss and blindness. Children also are a prime target market for eye health ingredients, as the eye grows and changes in key stages of early development, and visual learning is prominent in a child’s educational development. WILD Flavors’ H.I.T.S.—Health Ingredient Technology & Solutions portfolio provides several targeted solutions for eye health. The H.I.T.S. portfolio includes Orange Vegeceuticals (carrot, pumpkins, sweet potato, chili pepper paprika and Reishi mushroom), acerola, beta carotene, bilberry extract, citrus bioflavonoids, grape seed extract, ginkgo biloba, green tea, lutein esters, omega-3 fatty acids (FAs) from fish, vitamins A and E, zeaxanthin and zinc.—WILD Flavors Inc., www.wildflavors.com
