Wellness Foods - October 2007 - (Page 16)

Beverages açai; antioxidants; berry extracts; caffeine; cane sugar; chamomile; electrolytes; gelatin; gotu kola extract Nutraceutical beverages are extending beyond helping us feel better to helping us look better, too. By Kantha Shelke, Ph.D. T o formulate beverages with botanicals and nutraceuticals to promote skin care and beauty enhancement from within means ensuring greater bioavailability but avoiding negative flavor. Scott Borba, CEO of Borba Skin Balance Waters (www.borba.net), Los Angeles, is one of many processors turning to the relatively new microencapsulation technology to help deliver natural botanicals once used in topical skin care in a beverage form. To account for the sedimentation of the vitamins and minerals, and to ensure dispersion when the bottle is shaken, Borba uses gelatin technologies. Soft, solid flecks of the vitamins and minerals (much like the tapioca suspensions in bubble teas) stay suspended to allow for a measured mixture of bioactives in each sip. Borba Age Defying Water is an açai-based beverage with grape seed, green tea extracts and vitamins C and E. Ardea Beverage Co. (www.nutrisoda.com), Minneapolis, promotes Radiant, a member of its Nurtisoda line, as a new “beauty” beverage. Radiant is “designed to help improve the skin’s natural elasticity and firmness for healthy, youthful skin.” The drink contains skin-health nutrients such as L-lysine, L-proline and L-arginine plus extract of gotu kola (Centella asiatica), a carrotlike root of the pennywort plant, to “help stimulate and maintain the body’s production of collagen.” The focus on beauty still concerns weight. Chicago-based market researcher Synovate (www. synovate.com) studied consumer interest in wellness and functional beverages and reported a definite decline in beverages associated with higher sugar content and fewer nutrients. For the first time, diet cola had a decrease in consumption. Kraft Foods Inc. recently entered the zerocalorie, enhanced water category with its brand extension Fruit2o (www.fruit2o.com), Tarrytown, N.Y. The new line of noncaloric flavored waters straddles both health and beauty and is formulated with B vitamins, antioxidant vitamins (A, C and E), caffeine and electrolytes. It comes in four health-directed varieties: Energy, Hydration, Immunity and Relax. The waters are also variously infused with superfruits such as pomegranate and berries, chamomile and hibiscus. XanGo Inc. (www.xalojuice.com), the Lehi, Utah-based creators of mangosteen juice beverages, introduced Xalo its mangosteen-aloe combination with grape seed extract and green tea for digestive health and revitalization of skin. One does not have to turn to the exotic for healthful beverages. John Folts, professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, Madison, Wis., recently reported research findings that concord grape juice lowered blood pressure, cholesterol and inhibited atherosclerosis in a laboratory group. In previous studies Folts determined concord grape juice helps expand the brachial arteries plausibly through nitric oxide production and accommodates increased blood flow while reducing the tendency for the blood to clot. Phytonutrient compounds, especially from fruits, herbs and spices, are being used more and more for their beneficial pharmacological or physiological effects. They promote antioxidative action in cells by maintaining low levels of reactive intermediates, as anti-inflammatory agents by inhibiting prostaglandin synthesis, as anticancer agents by inhibiting cell proliferation and limiting gene expression to regulate disease formation and progression. High costs of pharmaceutical products that are also associated with adverse side-effects is another reason for growing consumer confidence and perception that healthful foods and beverages are better by being less toxic, more efficacious and affordable. Expect the category of beyond-health-to-beauty foods and beverages to grow simply because of the desire of consumers to maintain a higher quality of life. 16 | October 2007 www.wellnessfoodsonline.com Food Processing’s Wellness Foods™ http://www.borba.net http://www.xalojuice.com http://www.nutrisoda.com http://www.synovate.com http://www.synovate.com http://www.fruit2o.com http://www.wellnessfoodsonline.com

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Wellness Foods - October 2007 Diluting the Messages Healthbites New Ingredient Profiles Power Up! Ingredients for Energy and Immunity Beverages for Beauty Potassium Rocks Get Smart with Omegas On the Shelf Marketing to Facts vs. Myths

Wellness Foods - October 2007

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