Functional foods to fight cardiovascular disease pandemic
A pandemic of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is sweeping the world. That was the stark message to delegates attending the Hearts and Minds symposium in Brussels last week, where new research into the effects of ‘functional’ cholesterol lowering ingredients was revealed.
Jogchum Plat, assistant professor at Maastrict University, presented research into the effects plant stanols and sterols (the cholesterol lowering ingredients in food) have on a diabetic person after eating. Although not yet published, the results showed that eating plant stanols significantly reduced bad LDL cholesterol in people with type II diabetes.
At the end of a three-week study, the subjects - some of whom had been eating cholesterol lowering margarine and some of whom had not (the control group) - went to the university in a ‘fasting state’. Their cholesterol levels were tested and they were then given a fatty shake containing plant stanols (or without stanols for the control group) before their cholesterol levels were measured again.
Tests showed that at around 3.3 mmol/litre, the cholesterol levels of those who had been eating the cholesterol lowering margarine were lower than those of the control group, whose levels were 3.8 mmol/l.
Other new research has showed that Benecol cholesterol lowering products had the best effect when consumed with food and that their effectiveness is actually compromised when eaten on an empty stomach.
The aim of the symposium, organised by Raisio, the company which supplies the cholesterol lowering ingredients to the Benecol brand, was to highlight the need for the key players in the functional foods market to work in unison to stem the rise in CVD. Professor Hans-Ulrich Klor from Giessen University, argued that key players, including the food industry and governments, needed to convince the European Commission to support putting the “right” ingredients into food. He referred to the Lyon Diet Heart Study, which showed that changing lifestyle could have a major impact on CVD.
“It is very difficult to change people’s eating habits,” said Klor. “So functional food is the way out of this dilemma.” But, because of disputes over what the term ‘functional food’ means, he argued it should only be used where there were substantiated health claims.
Meanwhile, Raisio has revealed that its research and development team is working on the possibility of adding a probiotic to one of the brands supplied by Raisio ingredients, of which Benecol is the largest.
- Raisio is also building a soy milk factory in Turku, Finland, which marks the company’s first entry into the soy market. The factory come on stream next year, producing both soy and oat drinks under the Go Green brand.
