NPEW 2024: Spotlight on innovations in brain, mood and mental health

18 Mar 2024 --- At this year’s Natural Products Expo West (NPEW) in California, US, mood and brain health emerged as one of the key trends, with brands presenting their scientifically backed ingredients and functional food and beverage innovations.

Reporting live from the show, Nutrition Insight spoke to experts from Kyowa Hakko USA, FrieslandCampina Ingredients and Beneo about their latest ingredient launches and clinical research in mental health and cognition. 

At Kyowa Hakko USA’s booth, we met with Maria Stanieich, marketing manager, and Katie Emerson, senior manager of scientific affairs, to discuss the company’s brain health ingredient, Cognizin. This product is a clinically studied and branded form of citicoline, a substance made in the body and vital to brain health. 

Stanieich highlights the innovation potential of Cognizin. At Expo West, the company showcased the recently launched Karma Energy Water, a new product from Karma Water with a patented PushCap that stores active ingredients in an airtight chamber until the consumer is ready to drink. 

Brain health drink 
The beverage contains 250 mg of Cognizin, 150 mg of natural caffeine and nine essential vitamins for energy and enhanced focus. 

“We’re seeing a lot of interest in functional beverages where consumers are gravitating toward a healthier-for-you option of energy,” underscores Stanieich. “That functional benefit of brain health is always appealing to consumers.” 

She adds that consumers increasingly look for branded ingredients. “Our customers are excited that we have well-researched branded ingredients that meet the functional claims, but they also know that they’re delivering what they promised to consumers. So it’s been an excellent partnership with finished products.” 

“Anyone interested in brain health should take Cognizin because we all want to support our brain long-term. There’s a lot of interesting research coming out that shows how Cognizin impacts the brain at a genetic level. So, a lot of interesting things to come.”

Kyowa Hakko USA showcased a range of products containing its Cognizin, such as energy drinks and Karma Energy Water.Consumer appeal 
Emerson details the extensive research behind Cognizin, supported by different types of cognitive function tests examining reaction time accuracies or reduction of errors. 

“There’s a motor function test through a mobile app created by Kyowa,” she highlights. “Or if you’re an athlete, it’s about pressing a button as often as possible. It’s sustaining attention and how fast you can do it.” 

“Other areas include memory, such as looking at a mini-mental state exam of cognitive ability and then doing a recall test. For example, a grocery shopping list, people say verbally, then they go away, come back and repeat the list to see how much they remember.” 

Emerson notes that testing those abilities in a clinical setting helps to transcribe the ingredient’s effect to reality. 

According to Stanieich, research supports product claims of “focused attention, mental energy, concentration and staying on task” for products containing a 250 mg dose. At the same time, improved memory requires a dose of 500 mg. 

Both Kyowa Hakko experts highlight that consumers are driving the better-for-you trend and looking for convenient products. 

Moreover, Emerson notes that the younger consumer demographic is becoming interested in these products.

“You wouldn’t normally think about brain health for 20 or 30-year-olds, but it’s becoming prominent in this demographic. These products target them, so we must also test them in that demographic. We always ensure the science translates to who we’re marketing to,” she explains.

Algae-based brain health 
FrieslandCampina Ingredients showcased several applications with its latest brain health ingredient, vegan and vegetarian versions of its Biotis DHA Flex powder range, derived from algae. 

DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) is known for its cognition, eye health and immunity-supporting properties, according to the company’s regional sales office director for North America, Auke Zeilstra, and Sophie Zillinger Molenaar, global marketing lead at FrieslandCampina Ingredients. 

Sophie Zillinger Molenaar (global marketing lead) and Auke Zeilstra (regional sales office director) from FrieslandCampina Ingredients.Zillinger Molenaar explains that the company uses an encapsulation technology to add a layer around the oil, make it into a powder, prevent oxidation and create a great taste. 

“This technology also allows it to mix well with other ingredients, such as vitamins, minerals and pre- and postbiotics. That makes it interesting for brands because consumers look for products with multiple health care benefits.” 

FrieslandCampina Ingredients has been using the technology for over 20 years, explains Zeilstra, commonly used to encapsulate fish oil for infant nutrition. 

He adds that the market research by the company indicates that consumers are well aware of the health benefits of DHA but that product growth is limited.

“Among others, that has to do with the fishy off-notes and odors that many products have, but also that often these products are offered in very large capsules to contain the right dosage, which people don’t like. With the ingredients we launch here, you can use very concentrated doses, and through our encapsulation technology, there are no fishy off-notes.” 

He adds that because of the encapsulation technology, the DHA ingredients also contain 4 g of vitamin C per 100 g, which manufacturers can use in product claims for immune health benefits. 

Zillinger Molenaar notes that a daily consumption of three gummies the company featured at the show would be sufficient to reach 250 mg of DHA intake, which she notes is the minimum recommendation from research. “Supplements are key to reach this level because, on average, people don’t get enough DHA in their diet.” 

The Biotis DHA Flex powder range includes a vegetarian and vegan variant, with a 20% or 15% DHA load, respectively. Zeilstra and Zillinger Molenaar highlight the potential for the powders to support healthy aging, noting that consumers increasingly look for solutions to age actively, starting at lower ages. 

Better mood through the gut
Gut health was another major product trend at NPEW 2024. We met with Denisse Colindres, manager of nutrition communication in North America at Beneo, to discuss new research linking the company’s Orafti prebiotic fiber from chicory root to mood improvement. 

Colindres explains that there is a vast evidence base for the benefits of prebiotics from chicory root, with over 70 studies investigating their effect on bifidobacteria in the gut. Established health benefits include digestive health, blood glucose management, immunity, improved bone health and weight management. 

Beneo’s latest clinical trial on oligofructose finds improvements in stress, anxiety and depression.She highlights that in the US, structure-function claims are possible on these established benefits, as well as some claims in Europe. 

“We have a new study on the gut-brain axis, which is exciting. These are all emerging topics where there is research with chicory root fiber — mood and cognition, metabolic disease, inflammation and other areas like the elderly and frailty, for example.” 

“Besides feeding what’s already established, we also like to see what’s coming up in research because we want to be at the front of that and put our resources there,” Colindres continues. “We want to see where anything related to gut fermentation benefits leads to, to be at the forefront of research and to support our customers and their innovations with sufficient research to make claims.”

She highlights that in the latest study, researchers examined the effects of oligofructose prebiotics and the human milk oligosaccharide 2’fucosyllactose (2’FL) on stress, anxiety and depression. 

“We performed a parallel, double-blind, randomized trial with 92 healthy adults with moderate levels of anxiety and depression to measure a difference. We divided them into four groups, giving them a control product and either the combination of oligofructose and 2’FL or the control with each ingredient.” 

“We saw that oligofructose already increased the good bacteria, so it had a bifidogenic effect and affected several mood scales. We used anxiety scales, depression scales and positive and negative thinking scales — all validated scales.” 

“The people taking the oligofructose improved in all those scales, and there was also reduced cortisol, which links the whole story together. That happened also in combination with the 2’FL.” 

She explains that the research determined the benefits of the gut microbiome and the link to the gut-brain axis by increasing good bacteria and improving mood and anxiety. 

By Jolanda van Hal, reporting from NPEW in California, US