More functional products in pipeline

EUROPE – A new wave of probiotic dairy drinks is predicted for Europe with an estimated sales increase for this year of 30%.

Phytosterols are the substances showing so much promise just ten years after the beginning of the last wave of functional foods, with booming markets for probiotic milk drinks and yogurts.
Sterols are already well known for their positive effects in retarding body uptake of “unhealthy” LDL cholesterol and have made their name as wellness ingredients in, for example, Unilever Bestfood’s Flora pro.activ margarine. Another very successful sterol product is the yoghurt drink Benecol launched last year by Swiss dairy Emmi.

There would have been a lot more introductions along those lines were it not for a log-jam in the European registration and permit system.

First of all, there seems little doubt about the positive health attributes of phytosterols. They have been recommended in the diet for some time in the USA where 20% reduction in blood levels of LDL cholesterol has been reported in trials with the supplement.

But the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the body responsible for issuing permits for food products, is more cautious. Records indicate that out of 46 applications for permission to introduce foods containing phytosterols between 1997 and this year, only ten have been granted so far.