Build a better dairy product

Not for nothing, but those of us in the dairy business know a thing or two about functional foods. After all, if Mother Nature herself could have formulated the prototypical functional food …Well, she did formulate the prototypical functional food, and she called it “milk.”

But even Mother Nature would engage in a little extra credit if she had the job to do all over again. For as inherently healthful as milk and dairy foods are — rich in protein, minerals, good-for-you fats and naturally occurring bioactives — today’s competitive market demands that any food, even dairy, go beyond basic nutrition to be truly functional. That’s why it’s encouraging to learn that suppliers are developing functional ingredients with dairy applications in mind.

“Functional foods and beverages are a growing segment of the market,” said Alison Raban, a food technologist at BI Nutraceuticals in Long Beach, Calif. “That gives ingredient suppliers opportunities to introduce new ingredients — or to reintroduce well-known but overlooked ones — to a growing marketplace.”

On the eve of the IFT annual meeting and food expo (June 25 to 28 in Las Vegas), now is the time to chew on some functional food for thought and taste what’s on the good-for-you ingredient menu.

’Tis the season

Functional ingredient suppliers often treat the summer tradeshows like the holiday season, filling their booths with surprises they hope will dazzle. This year is no exception. Laura Troha said that she and her colleagues anticipate having a major presence at IFT this year, promoting everything from conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and omega-3s to vitamin D and carotenoids, like lutein and lycopene. Troha is the Tonalin CLA product manager, human nutrition, at ingredient supplier BASF Corp., Florham Park, N.J.

Raban is also excited about the wares her company will offer, including high-fiber psyllium, quinoa for protein, whole-grain and gluten-free ingredients and products both familiar and unexpected. For example, while Raban notes that chia seeds are “mostly known in the U.S. for their use in Chia Pets, they’ve become a healthy, natural ingredient that formulators and manufacturers are incorporating into a number of different applications.”

She considers chia as well as quinoa a “great ingredient for adding whole-food functionality. Since both are also somewhat uncommon in the typical U.S. diet, they offer uniqueness and excitement to products that aren’t only healthy but interesting.”

Baobab has a similar effect. Raban said not only is it high in many nutrients (like vitamin C), but also “its unique back story can entice consumers, as well.”

And consumers are enticed, for very sensible reasons. As Peggy Steele observes, “Interest in functional foods is driven by several major factors in the U.S., including the ever-growing body of research that links diet with health, growing waistlines, the aging population and the rising cost of healthcare.” Steele is the global business director of health and nutrition probiotics. Danisco Health & Nutrition, Danisco USA Inc., Madison, Wis.

No wonder consumers are leaning on diet to keep a lid on things. As Steele said, “Consumers want to stay well, thereby avoiding trips to the doctor and missed days of work and school. Women, often in their role as family caregiver, are particularly interested in keeping themselves and their families healthy.”

Food manufacturers would be wise to answer that interest with products that have functional benefits to meet this demand, Steele said. 

“I recently read about a study conducted by Packaged Facts that showed that 63% of U.S. grocery shoppers purchased a food or beverage in the past year to address one or more specific health-and-wellness conditions or concerns.”

Tops among them are cholesterol management and digestive health. Raban has seen interest in fiber and protein tick up, as well.

“General awareness of omega-3 fatty acids is growing, and formulators now have plenty of delivery options outside of fish oil,” Raban said. For example, vegetarian and vegan product formulators and manufacturers can use chia or flax seeds as alternatives to marine-based omega-3s.

The audience for these ingredients runs the gamut.

“Any consumer looking to improve overall nutrition is part of the target, but baby boomers are a huge segment. Also, with millennials gaining more wealth, they will continue to expect high-quality and fascinating functional ingredients that provide nutrition and add excitement to a product,” Raban said.

Courtney Kingery, marketing and customer development manager at ADM North American Oilseeds, an ingredient supplier in Decatur, Ill., said her company surveyed 30 members at a local gym. Based on the responses, the company identified a group of “dedicated athletes,” primarily age 45 and older who visit the gym more than five times a week on average. The athletes are motivated by weight maintenance, staying active, staying healthy and staying young, Kingery said.

“This group looks to their food choices to support those goals. Products and ingredients that promote a balanced approach are in high demand.”

Perfect match

But it takes a certain chemistry — literally and figuratively — to make a happy marriage between a functional ingredient and a dairy application, especially to today’s hyper-connected shoppers.

“Now that consumers are spending more time researching the foods they buy, functional ingredients need to do more than just sound great,” Raban said. Namely, the ingredients need to  differentiate a product on two fronts — nutritionally and from a marketing perspective.

And they need to make sense. For even though manufacturers can muscle a healthy halo onto a “junk” food, such fortified products frequently incur consumer — to say nothing of regulatory — skepticism. And that helps explain why dairy offers such an intuitive platform for functional benefits.

Kingery calls dairy the ideal vehicle for functional ingredients for two reasons. First, dairy-based products have an inherent halo of health, she said. Buffing the shine on that halo with functional ingredients is something consumers “get.” Second, the typical shorter shelf life and cold storage of dairy are ideal environments for many functional ingredients.

Just consider that good-for-you classic, yogurt. As Raban said, “Yogurt, and Greek yogurt more recently, are seen as having a long past of healthfulness. And now that consumers are increasingly concerned with nutritional value, formulators and manufacturers can expand on yogurt’s wholesomeness with other functional ingredients. For example, those who include fruit on the bottom could incorporate chia seeds into the fruit prep not only to differentiate the product but, more importantly, to add some nutritional benefits like omega-3s and fiber, as well.”

Cultural studies

Or they could double down on the probiotic cultures that made yogurt such a functional archetype in the first place. The benefits of probiotics range from improved digestion to immune support. “Consumers are just beginning to make the connection that good digestive health strengthens the immune system and promotes overall good health,” Steele said.

She said that yogurt manufacturers like Dannon have raised the awareness of the digestive benefits of probiotics. But, “there’s still education to be shared to help broaden consumers’ understanding of probiotics’ benefits to digestive and immune health. Sharing the science behind the ingredients and showing proven efficacy can go a long way toward getting consumers to understand the value of a strong immune system and a healthy digestive system,” Steele said.

And given multiple studies showing that specific probiotic strains can reduce bloating and cold symptoms, there is genuine promise behind probiotic-rich dairy foods’ benefits.

For probiotics to deliver, they need to be added at a particular level of potency, as well as remain live and active, Steele warned.

Researchers have established efficacious levels for different strains and purposes, and probiotic users should work with their suppliers to target the levels most appropriate for their applications.

Suppliers can also help dairy processors manage environmental conditions in the applications themselves to better sustain the probiotics. Among the biggest challenges to keeping cultures live and active are low pH and high temperature. Steele said that for probiotics to survive processing, they should be added at a point in the process when there are no more heating steps and the product has been cooled. Distribution and storage temperatures should remain in the refrigeration range, too. And if processors can adjust pH above 3.8, they’ll “greatly” enhance survivability, she said. At lower pH levels, high overages may be necessary to achieve desired shelf life.

Of sturdier fiber

Other factors that can affect probiotic survival include the application’s water activity, its oxygen content, the presence of metabolic carbohydrates, mechanical stress during processing, inoculation practices and the effects of additives like colors, flavors and salt. That’s a lot for a manufacturer to consider, and it may make working with low-maintenance prebiotics feel like a breeze.

Generally speaking, prebiotics are soluble fibers that go undigested but feed the probiotics they often appear with. But even though we can’t digest them, that doesn’t mean they don’t do us any good. As soluble fiber, prebiotics help top off our intake of this nutrient of concern, singled out in the latest USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans because we don’t get enough of it. And prebiotics confer the same heart-disease reduction risk that has earned soluble fiber in general an FDA-approved heart-health claim.

And as Americans seize on satiety as an elusive silver bullet for trimming pounds, prebiotics may have something to offer.

“Because of the societal need for weight management, the benefit of satiety is very appealing. Ingredients that provide a ‘fullness’ effect and digestive health benefits are doubly appealing” Steele said.

The prebiotic fiber polydextrose fits that description. The trick lies in what Steele calls polydextrose’s “complex structure,” which ferments only slowly and incompletely throughout the colon. In addition to providing satiety, this “leads to many positive health benefits, including optimal pH within the colon, reduced carcinogenic compounds throughout the colon, improved bowel function and minimal gas production,” she said. In contrast, other prebiotic fibers are digested quickly and completely in the upper portion of the colon, which can cause significant gas production and result in digestive stress.

Polydextrose appears to be as easy on formulations, as well. Steele calls it “highly flexible” and available in liquid and powder forms with excellent process and shelf stability. She said her company’s brand “has found success across all segments of the food and beverage industry, where it is recognized for its clean taste, ease of formulation and low cost in use.”

Thanks to its bulking properties and energy contribution of 1 kcal per gram, polydextrose can also help manufacturers replace sugar and fat without compromising flavor or mouthfeel. In fact, a wide range of fibers are showing up in dairy products. Depending on the fiber used, the enhanced mouthfeel could make the product more indulgent tasting without the negative of added fat, Raban said. She thinks fiber fortification offers exciting possibilities.

“A fiber-fortified, skim milk-based smoothie would not only give consumers the nutrition associated with milk, but would add to the fiber content as well,” she said. “And since most fibers are easy to formulate with, it gives the dairy industry a great opportunity to expand a small segment of the market.”

Composition skills

The popularity of satiety-inducing ingredients speaks to the ambient concern consumers have about weight. Troha points out that Euromonitor International values the weight management food and beverage markets in 2012 at $144 billion globally. By 2015, Euromonitor predicts that the market will hit $162 billion at constant 2010 prices. But satiety isn’t the only weight-management game in town.

“Consumers clearly see the benefits of getting rid of body fat, and not just getting rid of weight,” Troha notes. “While dieting continues to be a growing frustration, consumers are hungry for safe, natural alternatives to improve their body composition.”

Enter CLA, isomers of linoleic acid found primarily in ruminant meat and milk, and in eggs. Studies demonstrate that CLA can decrease both the number and size of fat cells. It does so by inhibiting lipoprotein lipases that store triglycerides in fat cells while goosing carnitine palmitoyltransferase, which increases fat metabolism. Meanwhile, CLA may also increase the rate of fat cell death. The upshot: improved body composition.

But while grass-fed animals are the best sources of CLA, supplying fully three to five times the CLA of grain- and silage-fed livestock, most Americans consume meat and milk from the latter. Consumers are increasingly aware of this, and of how “changes during the past 30 years in how cattle are raised, combined with the trend toward low-fat dairy, have greatly reduced the amount of CLA we get through our diets,” Troha said. “So if consumers want to get enough CLA, they will consider fortified foods or supplements.”

Fortunately for those who crave dairy, CLA makes a handy addition to milk-based products. In fact, Troha calls dairy “an ideal vehicle for CLA, as it’s a natural fit as an existing component of dairy foods.” Formulators will find that her company’s ingredient has “minimal effects on taste,” she adds, and withstands heat treatment and low-pH environments common to some dairy applications.

Intended for use at up to 3 grams per day, the ingredient is GRAS in milk and flavored milk products, yogurt products and coffee creamers, and in soy milk beverages, fruit juice products and meal replacement beverages and bars. Permissible patent-protected use claims include that it helps reduce body fat, maintain lean body mass, increase or enhance relative lean body mass and improve body composition, Troha said.

Heart smart

With all the concern about body composition and weight management, do other functional benefits risk going unsung at this year’s IFT expo? Not likely. For one, Kingery’s company will spotlight heart health and cholesterol reduction by way of its plant sterol esters.

“Because plant sterols are structurally similar to cholesterol,” she explains, “they decrease cholesterol absorption in the small intestine. As a result, plant sterols generally produce a significant decrease in serum LDL cholesterol levels” of up to 10%.

FDA acknowledges that by granting a health claim on foods that contain at least 0.65 grams of sterol esters per reference amount commonly consumed (RACC) and that meet other qualifications, such as being low in saturated fat and cholesterol.

 “In addition to the FDA’s health claim for plant sterol esters,” Kingery adds, “FDA has indicated in a public letter that certain food products containing free plant sterols may also qualify for the health claim.”

Either way, sterols in dairy will please key consumer groups, Kingery said. “The opportunity is the growth in the over-50 population and their increased focus on healthy lifestyles,” she said. Her company’s ingredient is a water-dispersible addition to its sterol ester line, developed for dispersion in skim milk.  It allows the cholesterol reduction of sterols to be incorporated into fat-free systems,” she said, adding that it makes the ingredients “easy to work with in almost any application.”

All in the mix

“User-friendly” ingredients like these have been a boon to dairy processors eager to amp up functional appeal. But Raban cautions dairy processors to maintain a close eye on how functional ingredients behave with each other and in the context of an overall formulation.

For example, minerals may need to be added either before or after acidification to avoid creating any insoluble compounds that will negatively affect the finished product, she said. Further, because milk requires heat treatment for both refrigerated and shelf-stable distribution, formulators and manufacturers have to take this into consideration when determining which functional ingredients to add, when and at what levels.

 Processing exigencies may necessitate overages of heat-labile nutrients to deliver what the nutrition facts panel promises, for instance. Changes in pH as a result of fermentation or acidification can trigger untoward reactions in proteins and minerals, not to mention flavors and colors. As with any formulation, knowing your ingredients is vital.

“That is one reason that having good relationships with your suppliers is so important,” Raban said.

Strong supplier relationships also ease the task of navigating the rocky regulatory landscape surrounding functional dairy.

“To be honest,” Steele said, “I think the greatest challenge in bringing any functional food to market — dairy included — is going to be regulatory.” 

Despite the growing body of evidence supporting the efficacy of functional ingredients, questions about the boundary between fortified foods and pharmaceuticals persist. Steele insists that manufacturers should position their foods and beverages “as healthy but not linked to a particular disease state. Focusing on treating or mitigating a disease state is when products cross the line from being a food to a drug. And this tends to be when an issue arises and the FDA steps in.”

It is wiser to stick with generalized — yet substantiated — structure/function claims that describe the relationship between an ingredient and its effect on a normal structure or function of the human body. Again, this is an area where collaboration with suppliers pays dividends.

 “True collaboration,” Steele said, is “when dairy processors and ingredients suppliers work hand-in-hand. We know our ingredients intimately and processors know their products intimately. Together we can ensure that end products not only taste great but deliver the promised functional benefits throughout their shelf life.”