Altus Foods, a functional foods joint venture between Quaker Oats and Novartis Consumer Health, has launched a line of foods designed to lower cholesterol. The product line, called Take Heart ™, is based on a plant sterol formulation using Canadian company Forbes Medi-Tech's Reducol ingredient. This is the first time products containing Reducol have been launched in the US. "The introduction of Take Heart™ from Quaker represents the first time a multi-national name-brand U.S. food manufacturer has incorporated Reducol™ as an active ingredient in food products," said Tazdin Esmail, Chairman and CEO of Forbes Medi-Tech. The line includes ready-to-eat cereals, snack bars and fruit juice beverages and the packaging specifies the product is fortified with "Natural Reducol, Clinically Proven". Reducol™ is comprised of free sterols with no attached fatty acids and it can be incorporated into a variety of food classes, both fat-based and low-fat foods. Plant sterols, also known as phytosterols, are a naturally occurring class of compounds found in the cells and membranes of plants. The molecular structure of phytosterols is similar to that of dietary cholesterol, which is absorbed by the small intestine and transported through the bloodstream. Because of their structural similarity to cholesterol, phytosterols compete with dietary and endogenously secreted cholesterol for absorption. Reducol™ has been exclusively licensed on a worldwide basis to Novartis Consumer Health SA for use as a functional food ingredient, dietary supplement and inclusion in certain over-the-counter products.
