Called Olibra, the ingredient is expected to be popular with both food and supplement makers as it is made from commonly used foods - palm oil and oats. This gives it a significant advantage over new ingredients that must first be put through safety tests.
Unlike other weight loss products, the ingredient does not actually reduce weight gain but is said to make consumers less likely to overeat. This effect has been shown in clinical studies, with one demonstrating that when replacing milk fat, the ingredient can lead to a 20-30 per cent reduction in caloric intake at subsequent meals.
Among the new customers convinced of the potential of the ingredient made by Sweden's Lipid Technologies Provider (LTP) are French company Physcience Laboratory, which will be the first to launch Olibra as a supplement in Europe.
The product will reach its home market in November, just in time for the post-Christmas slimming season, followed by a launch in Belgium.
Both countries have rapidly growing slimming supplement sales. The French market for slimming products reached €123 million in 2004, 28 per cent of the country's total supplements sales, and has seen growth of 22 per cent over the prior year, says the trade association Syndicat de la Dietetique et des Complements Alimentaires.
Slimming products in Belgium are growing from a small base to a retail value of €29 million in 2004, or 14 per cent over the prior year, according to figures from Euromonitor.
Olibra is already offered in supplement form by the leading US retailer GNC in its 4,500 stores. The satiety ingredient is produced by LTP and packaged as a 7.5g single dose 'mini-shot', which is then distributed by the retailer under its brandname 'Total Lean Reduce'. The supplement can be added to normal food at breakfast and/or lunch, or taken alone as a single shot.
Jorgen Quick, managing director of LTP, declined to reveal how much ingredient was being sold in the US but said "we are shipping quite large quantities to the US each month".
Olibra has also been launched in a drinking yoghurt in Italy and is expected to reach the Nordic countries in other food products by the end of this year, added Quick.
"The number of companies working with the ingredient for food products is increasing," he told NutraIngredients.com.
"We expect things to really increase volume-wise next spring."
He added that in the long-run, the food market will be bigger than the supplements market.
Japan and southeast Asia will also be targeted.
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