Holista & Nadja Foods Add to List of Healthy Low-GI Baked Goods for North America

06 Apr 2016 --- ASX-Listed Holista and Nadja Foods LLC (“Nadja Foods”) will develop and distribute healthy brownies, croutons and bagels using its proprietary clean label low-glycemic index (“low-GI”) mix for the United States and Canada.
Holista is extending the scope of its exclusive arrangement with Nadja Foods, whose founder Nadja Piatka – celebrity chef and guest on the Oprah Winfrey show – has supplied baked goods to major food chains such as McDonald’s and Subway for over 20 years.

Their agreement follows Holista’s announcement on 3 March 2016 (as reported by NutritionInsight) that Nadja Foods will be the exclusive distributor in North America for muffins using Holista’s formula. The mix – comprising extracts of okra (ladies' fingers), dhal (lentils), barley and fenugreek – can be added to white flour to dramatically reduce blood sugar levels without changing the taste or texture of the final baked product.

The mix recently recorded a GI reading of 53 in tests at a leading university in Sydney – the lowest ever recorded for a “clean label” white bread. Australia Securities Exchange-listed Holista also achieved a GI reading of 48 for muffins – also the lowest ever for a clean label version – at GI Labs, a nutrition research organization in Toronto, Canada. 

Baked goods are the top source of high-GI foods in the modern diet. GI values indicate the rate and level at which different carbohydrate-based foods increase blood glucose and insulin. High-GI foods are rapidly and easily converted to sugar, causing spikes in blood sugar levels that lead over time to heart disease, diabetes and obesity. 

Nadja Foods will develop low-GI brownies, bagels and croutons for distribution to fast food companies, retailers, schools and hospitals. According to market research by Statista, US retail sales of baked goods for the year ended 14 June 2015 are US$22.15 billion. Bagels constitute 2.2% while Brownies and Dessert bars together form another 1.6%. In a Nielsen survey last year, US$160.8 million worth of croutons were sold in the US. 

Medical and food science experts are increasingly concerned that rising consumption of white flour-based products in the US – which has high obesity rates – is leading to a potential health pandemic known as “metabolic syndrome”. Apart from obesity, symptoms include Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.   

Dr. Rajen Manicka, Holista’s Chairman and CEO, said: “Bagels, brownies and crouton products are growing at a faster rate than other baked goods. We are increasing our collaboration with Nadja Foods with a fresh deal that centers on Nadja Piatka’s claim to fame: low-fat brownies featured on the Oprah Winfrey show. Nadja is trusted by the US’ biggest food companies and is the best advocate of our low-GI products in North America.”  

Nadja Piatka said: “I started 23 years ago with an idea of healthy but good-tasting muffins and brownies. I then worked on great-tasting low-fat alternatives. It was tough but very satisfying to be included on the menus of large, established fast food suppliers.” 

“As more and more information becomes available, the next big thing is the low GI movement. I am pleased to get behind it. We have created some prototypes in our Alberta facility and are impressed with the impact of Holista’s low-GI reducer, which is completely invisible in terms of taste, mouth feel and odor.”