Ingredia launches bioactive ingredient for diabetes prevention

25 Apr 2019 --- Dairy company Ingredia has released a new dairy-based bioactive ingredient that is touted as able to delay the early onset of Type 2 diabetes. Coined Pep2Dia, the ingredient was developed to reduce the higher than normal blood glucose levels of people who are prediabetic. Taken before a meal by individuals who are prediabetic, Pep2Dia can significantly reduce postprandial (post-meal) blood sugar levels, according to the company.

Pep2Dia is a patented milk protein hydrolysate that contains AP dipeptides which inhibit alpha-glucosidase. This is a digestive enzyme that hydrolyzes polysaccharides into glucose, aiding their absorption and inhibiting alpha-glucosidase enables blood sugar levels to be regulated. 

 “Diabetes is a global public health concern with 8.5 percent of the adult population affected today and more than 10 percent by 2045. One out of 14 adults is prediabetic and this means that they are at risk to become diabetics in five to ten years if nothing is done,” Aurore Chemineau, Senior Product Manager, Health & Nutrition at Ingredia, tells NutritionInsight.

Research has established the relationship between the consumption of dairy products and a reduction in the risk of developing diabetes. Pep2Dia was created following several years of research by the partnership between Ingredia and the LIENSs laboratory, a National Centre for Scientific Research at the University of La Rochelle, and has been tested in pre-clinical and clinical studies.

“Pep2Dia is aimed at all people with a high blood sugar level, but for now our clinical study has been performed on prediabetics adults,” Chemineau notes.

Ingredia’s dairy-based bioactive ingredients are used in numerous applications, such as dietary supplements or functional foods and beverages. According to Chemineau, Pep2Dia is a very “flowable” powder, easy to rehydrate and stable at a pH ranging from six to nine. It can be used in dietary supplements or functional foods. 

 Chemineau notes that Ingredia’s milk proteins are native, coming from local farmers’ dairy. “Ingredia is committed in corporate social responsibility with its Via Lacta program,” she says.

The sustainable development initiative Via Lacta supports Ingredia’s cooperative farmers and the group employees to strive for ever-higher quality standards and ingredients manufacturing excellence.

Other notable ingredients from Ingredia’s portfolio include:

• Lactium, a milk protein hydrolysate which contains a unique bioactive decapeptide. Lactium is touted as holding soothing and relaxing properties. It significantly reduces stress-related symptoms, both from chronic and acute stress.
• Proferrin, a pure and native lactoferrin ingredient that supports immune health.
• Osteum CPP a bioactive ingredient naturally produced through milk digestion that offers enhanced calcium absorption and increase bone mass.
• Prodiet Colostrum is the “pre-milk” produced by mammals in the first hours after giving birth. Thanks to a specific process, Ingredia is able to retain Prodiet Colostrum’s bioactive composition in immunoglobulins (IgG) and PRP (Platelet-rich plasma) which promote immunity.

Going forward, the company wants to further focus on prevention and particularly public health, according to Chemineau, as part of its plan to release new bioactives every four to five years.

Preventing non-communicable diseases has become an increasing concern among consumers and industry is responding. Especially in the case of diabetes, formulations and NPD are progressively focusing on sugar reduction. From personalized nutrition to sugar reduction and the use of alternative sweeteners, the options are broad. 

Recently an American Diabetes Association (ADA) consensus statement was released, which read that personalized, diabetes-focused medical nutrition therapy is imperative in treating adults with diabetes or prediabetes. The ADA supports that a personalized approach in nutrition should be a lifelong commitment, to limit the adverse health outcomes of the condition. 

Policy is also acting accordingly with the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) impending mandatory added sugar labeling policy for packaged foods and beverages set to take effect between 2020 and 2021. The move could prevent or postpone nearly 1 million cases of cardiometabolic disease, including heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes, over a 20 year period.