Ingredient synergies II: Blending individual compounds for nutritional absorption and optimal health

10 Aug 2023 --- Combining ingredients holds the power to enhance nutritional value and benefit health. In this week’s Special Report, we discuss ingredient synergies for gut health, immunity, active nutrition and botanicals, highlighting vitamin and mineral blends.

Nutrition Insight sits down with experts from IFF, Gnosis by Lesaffre, ADM, Kerry, Lubrizol Life Science and Euromed, for a dive deep into how the companies combine ingredients to achieve nutritious and healthy products.

Claire Piddington, product marketing lead at IFF, says combining cellulosic and antioxidants in fried foods may improve the overall nutritional quality of such foods.

“Cellulosics create a coating barrier to moisture and oil, which can reduce fat and calories by up to 30%, depending on the application. At the same time, antioxidants can increase frying oil efficiency resulting in at least 30% less oil needed.”

Why combine ingredients?
On a larger scale, she notes combining multiple ingredients can support the customization and uniqueness of products, encourage new ground-breaking concepts, increase the functionality of end products and, in some cases, increase speed-to-market.

“Ingredient synergies also have sustainability benefits, as optimization can result in less waste and potentially more environmentally friendly production processes. The end recipe will need fewer ingredients when ingredients work together to create additional benefits. While an average coffee creamer, for example, could need around 20 different ingredients, creating a system blend could narrow the overall recipe to about eight.”

Andrea Salvador, technical marketing specialist of Nutraceutical Ingredients at Lubrizol Life Science, says that ingredient synergies have an evident impact on potentiating health benefits and combating nutritional deficiency. Immunity, infection and malnutrition have always been interlinked, being the areas of nutrition in which food synergy plays a vital role in preventing a healthy state.

“Problems with some minerals exist in terms of off-taste, reactivity, interaction with other ingredients and unwanted color changes, among others, that must be solved to obtain stable, bioavailable and good-tasting products that also prevent consumers from possible side effects such as tract irritation caused by the intake of mineral-fortified supplements,” adds Salvador.

Combining beneficial ingredients can support a balanced gut microbiome, says IFF.Active nutrition
Piddington also details ingredient synergies in the digestive health and active nutrition market. 

“Products designed for gut health by combining beneficial ingredients can support a balanced gut microbiome through prebiotic fibers, probiotics and digestive enzymes.”

As for fitness, she details that athletes often seek products that combine ingredients to optimize performance, enhance endurance and support recovery.

“One great example is the research by IFF that shows the value of soy-dairy protein blends in promoting muscle growth and maintenance. Findings show that while soy, whey and casein protein sources can all stimulate muscle protein synthesis, blending them would take advantage of their subtle differences, such as amino acid content, delivery time and health benefits.”

She further notes that whey protein provides a high content of leucine and quick delivery of amino acids, and casein contributes to prolonged delivery of amino acids and higher nitrogen retention. Soy protein, in addition to a greater arginine and glutamine content, also has naturally occurring antioxidants to support recovery.

Vaughn DuBow, global director of marketing for microbiome solutions at ADM, tells us that consumers across North America and the EMEA try to maximize their protein intake. Recent research found that plant-based consumers remain conscious of the nutritional value in foods, including products supporting the immune system and the digestive tract.

“With these two increasing areas of consumer interest, brands have the prime opportunity to combine gut microbiome-supporting solutions with plant proteins,” he says.

Biotics for gut health
Andrea Zangara, head of scientific communication and medical affairs at Euromed, adds that combining probiotics with prebiotics creating a symbiotic effect that supports gut health has also been gaining popularity as awareness of the gut-brain axis and the importance of gut health increases.

“Combining polyphenols with soluble fibers may entrap polyphenols in the gut lumen, thereby reducing their absorption in the small intestine and increasing their bioavailability for bacterial catabolism in the colon. The improved prebiotic potential of this combination is currently attracting considerable research interest,” Zangara underscores.

DuBow stresses that the gut microbiome arena is moving further into the limelight, with today’s consumers increasingly aware of the gut’s role in their overall health and wellness.Gnosis by Lesaffre says that combining minerals and vitamins into complex formulas ensure benefits from the individual ingredients.

He says that 58% of global consumers perceive a connection between the function of bacteria in the gut to wider aspects of well-being.

“Plus, market research predicts that the total B2B global microbiome segment, which includes prebiotic and probiotic ingredients for foods, beverages and dietary supplements, will have a CAGR of 8.6% between 2022-2027,” DuBow details. 

He also notes that postbiotics are on the rise, and to support the increased demand for these products, research in microbial strains and their benefits is expanding.

“Botanicals pair particularly well with gut microbiome-supporting ingredients, helping to create captivating functional food, beverage and dietary supplement offerings that meet consumers’ holistic wellness goals,” adds DuBow.

Trending vitamins and minerals
Clarisse Geraci, product manager with Gnosis by Lesaffre, says that the primary trends are combining minerals and vitamins into complex formulas to ensure optimal benefits from the individual ingredients.

“There has been considerable press around the dangers of excess vitamin D and calcium supplementation. To reduce these concerns, formulators must consider adding vitamin K2 as MK-7,” Geraci exemplifies and details Gnosis proprietary technology: Matrix.

The technology has two main objectives: Firstly, to facilitate the success of manufacturers by making it easier to create more complex formulations utilizing vitamin K2, and secondly, to open new formulation opportunities.

“For the first point, Matrix offers protection of vitamin K2 in the formulation, which is especially important when utilizing minerals. Ensuring stability is sometimes complex and requires managing several parameters like the source of minerals and manufacturing conditions. With Matrix, we eliminate many of these concerns, allowing for a more streamlined process.”

“For the second point, the Vitamin K2 market is expanding, and our customers are eager to explore new creative and impactful formulations that stand out on crowded shelves. With Matrix, brand owners can explore new ingredient combinations that deliver more health benefits in a single product. At the same time, formulators do not need to add extra ingredients to labels that account for the protective technology.”

She adds that Matrix has no coating, additives or additional ingredients. It offers the shortest list of ingredients, limited to the active molecule and a carrier. Matrix dispersible powder is suitable in traditional supplements like hard capsules and tablets and for more on-the-go formats, allowing K2 to be combined with complex minerals.

Kerry stresses that immune health remains the primary goal for consumers, as a result from the COVID-19 pandemic. Blend for immunity
Dr. Niamh Hunt, senior marketing manager for immune health at Kerry, stresses that immune health remains the primary goal for consumers of healthy lifestyle products, and they are increasingly aware of the intimate links between immune health and mental well-being – in particular, the adverse effects of stress and poor sleep on immunity. 

“In recent years, influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a growing focus on health and wellness, with consumers becoming more conscious of their dietary sources. As a result, there is increased interest in understanding the nutritional benefits of different ingredients and how they can positively impact health,” adds Piddington.

“Three in four consumers agree that being mentally healthy boosts the immune system, while just over two-thirds (71%) say getting enough sleep is important for immune health,” says Hunt. “Natural ingredients such as botanicals and Ayurvedics are trendy.” 

“Global product launches featuring functional botanicals have increased by almost 100% in recent years. There is also growing interest in hybrid products that use a blend of ingredients to target more than one benefit. This is especially noticeable in the ‘immunity plus’ trend, where consumers seek immune health support and other functional benefit claims in the convenience of a single product.”

Hunt argues there’s “no doubt this trend has been accelerated by the pandemic.” In 2020, immune and brain product launches outnumbered immune and digestive launches, and 75% of products with an immunity claim also had a brain health claim, with stress being the most common product-description term, she explains.

“Consumers are also more aware of specific paired nutritional benefits and actively seek them out. Take ashwagandha, for example – it’s one of the most well-known stress and sleep support ingredients as 60% of consumers are aware of it and 59% believe it can help them achieve their sleep goals.”

Traditions and blooming botanicals
Zangara at Euromed tells us that many traditional medicine systems, such as Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine, have long recognized the importance of synergistic effects in herbal formulations.

He further notes these systems often combine multiple herbs to enhance therapeutic efficacy through synergistic interactions observed and improved through centuries. 

“Traditional dietary styles, such as the Mediterranean diet, provide many examples of synergisms between foods and spices. Lemon juice, a good source of vitamin C (ascorbic acid), enhances the absorption of non-heme iron found in plant-based foods and supplements.”

He explains that non-heme iron is present in smaller amounts in meat, and when lemon juice is consumed with meat, the vitamin C forms a soluble complex with non-heme iron, making it more easily absorbed by the body. Many traditional medicine systems have long recognized the importance of synergistic effects in herbal formulations, says Euromed.

A similar example is combining tomatoes with olive oils as it enhances the absorption of fat-soluble antioxidants, such as lycopene and beta-carotene, present in tomatoes. “The healthy fats in olive oil facilitate the absorption of these beneficial compounds, contributing to their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects,” details Zangara.

Earlier this week, we spoke with the professionals about which ingredients not to combine, as some combinations may negate the benefits of individual compounds or even create unintended adverse effects, especially if certain compounds interact negatively. 

However, certain ingredients must be combined to be effective. Geraci stresses that excess supplementation with calcium or vitamin D3 presents concerns. “Only after you add vitamin K2 as MK-7 to these formulas will both deliver the benefits promised by optimizing how calcium is managed.”

Salvador adds that the concept of food synergy leads to new thinking in nutrition science and can help to forge rational nutrition policymaking and to determine future nutrition research strategies.

By Beatrice Wihlander