A leg up on rivals

Renowned for their ability to ease joint pain, particularly in osteoarthritis of the knee, glucosamine supplements have witnessed healthy sales worldwide. But with a constant stream of new products saturating the market, manufacturers are starting to consider new applications for the amino sugar and the food industry beckons.

The European glucosamine supplement market has a retail value of €95.5M, with the underdeveloped €10.4M eastern European market growing at 14.2% year-on-year, while the mature western European market, valued at €85.1M, is seeing more moderate growth of 4.6%.

Nevertheless, Euromonitor consultant Eleni Grammenou claims that there is further room for growth. She observes that consumers are after more than just a basic glucosamine supplement.

"The introduction of combination products such as Vitabiotics' Jointace [supplement] with collagen, glucosamine and chondroitin are undercutting sales for single glucosamine dietary supplements on the market," she says.

Fatty acid supplement manufacturer Igennus has latched on to this trend with the recent launch of Omegaflex, a joint health supplement containing omega-3, 6 and 9 long chain fatty acids and glucosamine, which the company claims work synergistically to keep joints and ligaments in good working order.

Nutraceuticals company Bio Serae has gone a step further. Instead of trying to improve its glucosamine offering, the firm has developed a complementary ingredient. Osteol is made from bio-active milk proteins, which the company says can boost glucosamine efficacy.

Another way to increase sales is by going vegetarian. "Glucosamine is traditionally sourced from shellfish, but one of the interesting areas in this field is the launch of vegetarian versions," says Adrian Lindridge, sales manager at supplement supplier TSI Europe. Clearly, this opens up the supplement to a wider target market, but in addition prices are relatively stable compared to shellfish, so suppliers needn't worry about the availability of raw material, he says.

the future of fortification

Cargill has a similar advantage with Regenasure - a glucosamine ingredient formed from the microorganism Aspergillus niger. The ingredient is cleared for use as a supplement in Europe, but Cargill has set its sights on the functional food industry. The ingredient was referred to the European Food Safety Authority last September for a risk assessment by the UK Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes and Cargill is hoping it will gain clearance by the summer.

But ingredients specialist S Black's development technologist for nutrition Jon Arzburger believes that launching glucosamine as a functional food ingredient may be a challenge. "Within the supplement industry people expect something to taste vaguely medicinal, but obviously in the food industry an ingredient must act as a food first," he says.

"The recommended dose of glucosamine is 1,500mg. Putting that level into food may cause an issue, partly because of the taste, and partly because of the expense."

Despite Arzburger's reservations, Mintel consultant Carla Ogeia is confident that glucosamine is ready to make its debut as a functional food ingredient. She notes that Coca-Cola branched out into glucosamine in the US last year with fortified juice Minute Maid Active, while Smooth Walking, an energy drink aimed at people over 40 who want to keep agile, was launched in Japan.

However, glucosamine fortified drinks haven't seen much success in Europe. In 2005 Complan Active, a glucosamine fortified juice for seniors, was discontinued. "I think it was too early for the market, whereas now we have an ageing population where seniors are becoming more aware of joint problems," says Ogeia.

Delamere Dairy's Top Life Prime Time goat's milk fortified with glucosamine and chondroitin met a similar fate in 2007, after just a year on the market. Delamere's national account manager Henry Elsby shares Ogeia's theory. "We were just ahead of our time. It was just before major players got involved [in functional milks] and goats milk was outside of people's price range," he says.

But executive director at the London-based Centre for Food & Health Studies Julian Mellentin has other ideas about why Top Life failed. "The biggest mistake people can make is to add an expensive ingredient without making the product look different. Then the only people willing to pay will be those suffering from joint pain, which is a small proportion," he says.

"If Delamere wanted to be smart it would have created a daily dose product." If you added probiotics to a regular milk, the product wouldn't work, he claims. "If you look at Yakult or Actimel it's about £5 for a litre, so no one would have bought it in a normal pack. The little bottle conceals the price and makes it seem like a dose." Mellentin believes that there's scope for a one-shot glucosamine product on the market, but only for one key brand.

"There is a low level of interest in joint health and also the word glucosamine is new to people, unless they take supplements for joint health," he states. "Fifteen years ago people hadn't heard of probiotics, but Yakult and Danone spent a lot of money explaining what the ingredients are. People who want to get involved in glucosamine fortified foods must educate consumers. It's a great field to be in for a company to be as long as they're the market leader."

US firm The Elations Company is hoping to snap up this coveted position with its glucosamine and chondroitin fortified juice drink called Elations. The corn-sourced glucosamine is supplied by Cargill, which keeps the Elations group up to speed with any glucosamine developments. "There's a team of 10-12 people we meet with every month and they give us an update on the corn harvest and if we were to go to a new format, eg. powder sticks, we'd work with them on the best process to use."

The Elations juice drink has been running in a test market in Kentucky for one year and was rolled out nationally in the US last November and December. Marketing manager David Silver agrees with Mellentin that consumer understanding is key when introducing glucosamine as a functional ingredient. "This is certainly a product that needs awareness raised," says Silver. "We're going after 35-55 year old adults via TV advertising and a PR campaign," he says.

"We'll be highlighting the glucosamine and chondroitin content on-pack as we want to target the pill takers and convert them to our products," he adds. "Down the road we want to target people who have joint pain, but don't take anything for it. We also have trademarks for our product in the UK, so once we have success in the US, we'll be heading there."

The science to back it up

The drink's packaging will also make reference to the US National Institutes of Health Glucosamine/Chondroitin Arthritis Intervention Trial (GAIT) - the largest glucosamine study to date.

The trial cast doubt on many people's belief that glucosamine can help with all types of joint pain. However, it did show glucosamine combined with chondroitin sulphate to offer effective pain relief from moderate to severe osteoarthitis of the knee.

Edzard Ernst, Professor of Complementary Medicine at Peninsula Medical School, explains that this may be why not everyone who takes glucosamine sees improvement. "Because it only helps those suffering from osteoarthritis, if you have rheumatoid arthritis, it won't work," he says. "But in defence of manufacturers, they cannot use medical claims on supplements, so it's a catch-22."

The most optimistic view is that glucosamine restores damaged cartilage, but it's not black and white. "If a cartilage is damaged from 50 years of wear and tear, you can hardly expect glucosamine to cure this," he says.

And the jury is still out on whether glucosamine can help prevent osteoarthritis. Recently qualified GP and winner of the Arthritis Research Campaign Registrar Prize Dr Kate McClintock says that in major glucosamine study the Cochrane review, the x-ray appearance of joints and subjects' symptoms don't correlate well, so the report wasn't able to tell whether the supplements were preventative.

But she is convinced that glucosamine can help in some cases. "I always give people suffering from joint pain general advice to try 1,500mg glucosamine supplements and, providing you can get the dose you need, I think there's no reason why it couldn't become a functional food ingredient. The GAIT study said glucosamine was at least equivalent to ibuprofen and there aren't gastric and anti-inflammatory symptoms related to it [as there are with ibuprofen], so it would be safer than that."

However, a spokeswoman for Igennus claims there's an argument for keeping supplement and food ingredients separate. "I'm not sure that glucosamine would work in food. It's like omega-3 fortified food - people don't want to eat five loaves of bread to get their daily dose! One might suggest it's a bit gimmicky to put such functional ingredients in food."

Whether glucosamine will really take off as a functional food ingredient, only time will tell. But what is key is that the companies involved have a realistic idea of their ingredients' capabilities and market potential. Elations' Silver is keeping both feet on the ground. "In terms of joint health, the most touted product is glucosamine," he says. "Will it be as big as omega-3? No. But will glucosamine be the leader in joint health? Yes!"

It may not be a cure for cancer, but with mounting scientific proof and some of the world's leading manufacturers behind it, there could be a tidy profit to be made for those brave enough to venture into the glucosamine functional food market.