GRAS for cholesterol beating ingredient
boost in sales for its soy-based food ingredient CSPHP as the US
Food and Drug Administration gives the product GRAS status.
Launched onto European and US markets in 2001, the ingredient CSPHP, a soy protein/phospholipid complex system, is promoted on the back of studies that suggest it may help maintain healthy cholesterol levels.
"This health food ingredient dramatically lowers a body's serum-cholesterol levels," said Tadayasu Furukawa, executive officer from Kyowa Hakko's Food company at the time of the launch.
Cholesterol beating ingredients - notably plant sterols - are starting to pick up in the market place with food and beverage manufacturers beginning to select ingredients to meet this need. At the end of 2003, the first orange juice containing sterols was launched onto the US market, developed by Coca-Cola's Minute Maid brand using Cargill's plant sterol ingredient CoroWise.
According to the US subsidiary of the Y26 billion (€0.19bn) Kyowa Hakko company a recent study at Gifu University and Tokushima University in Japan suggested that CSPHP, an abbreviation for C-fraction soy protein hydrolysate with bound phospholipids, helps promote healthy cholesterol levels within the normal range.
'A three gramme dose of CSPHP taken daily for one month reduced the LDL-cholesterol level of volunteers by 17 per cent, whereas the 25 gramme daily dose of regular soy the FDA recommends reduces cholesterol by only 10 per cent. Furthermore, the same dosage of CSPHP increased HDL-cholesterol by 14 per cent,' said the company in a statement.
Applications for the heat-resistant, pH-neutral ingredient, that already has Japan's FOSHU (Food for Specified Health Use) status, include baked goods and baking mixes, breakfast cereals, diary product analogs, fats and oils, and functional food and beverages.
According to the World Health Organisation, almost one fifth (18 per cent) of global stroke events (mostly nonfatal events) and about 56 per cent of global heart disease are attributable to total cholesterol levels above 3.2 mmol/l. This amounts to about 4.4 million deaths (7.9 per cent of the total) and 2.8 per cent of the global disease burden.
The US Food and Drug Administration estimates that heart disease, the principal cause of death in the US, costs the US economy roughly $60 billion in lost productivity and medical expenses a year.
The phytosterols market is steadily growing in the US due to increasing research that shows the benefits of the ingredient and a recently approved heart health claim that has helped to raise the profile of the natural compounds.
