Nutraceuticals – By: Dr. John Kyndt ( Head Scientist of the Renewable Energy Program at Advanced Energy Independence Lab) and Dr. Aecio D’Silva.
As we pointed out in previous posts and in our recent e-book (Algae Color the Future Green, 2012) Nutraceuticals are on the rise and commanding a multi-billion dollar market.
Nutraceuticals have gone from obscure to mainstream, and the market is expected to grow to more than $240 billion by 2015.
The term nutraceutical is contracted from the words “nutrition” and “pharmaceutical”, and refers to a food or food product that provides health and medical benefits. These benefits could be either preventative or actual curing a condition or disease.
The best known examples are dietary or herbal supplements, however more recently, nutraceuticals are emerging in the areas of genetically engineered foods and processed foods such as cereals, soups, and beverages.
There is already a substantial industry developed on omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and carotenoids. Scientists have known for years that these healthy, unsaturated long-chain fatty acids are essential for normal growth and metabolism in humans, and have preventative health effects in cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, the abatement of depression and the inhibition of cancer.
Nutraceuticals: A Healthy Opportunity in Different Categories
Nutraceuticals are generally classified in four main categories:
1.Dietary supplements: product that contains nutrients derived from food products
2.Functional foods: foods that have been either enriched or fortified (supplemented e.g. with vitamins or calcium)
3.Medical foods: foods intended for the specific dietary management of a disease or condition (established by medical evaluation).
4.Farmaceuticals: derived from melding of the words ‘farm’ and ‘pharmaceuticals’. These are medically valuable compounds produced from modified agricultural crops or animals through biotechnology (genetic engineering).
Of the four, functional foods are no doubt the fastest growing sector of the nutraceuticals, and it’s not expected to slow down.
Fueled by a growing demand, the number of companies looking to leverage the nutraceuticals movement is growing. Even large global food companies like PepsiCo and Nestle S.A. are creating divisions that deal exclusively with the development of nutraceuticals. This in itself demonstrates the mainstream food industry’s strong faith in the market.
A significant change in the industry came in 1994 when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), which allowed nutraceutical manufacturers to operate without falling under the rigorous FDA guidelines used in the regulation of pharmaceuticals.
However with the growth of the industry also comes the growing concern to increase the regulations and monitoring of nutraceutical production. There are clearly great business opportunities in this area but there are also significant challenges as companies will have to work around more regulations and minimize production costs.
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