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NUTRITION

Nutraceuticals: Scope and opportunity in India

Wednesday, 02 March, 2016, 08 : 00 AM [IST]

Dr M K Tripathi

Nutraceuticals are often referred to as phytochemicals and functional foods. They are considered natural, with bioactive compounds that have health promoting, disease preventing or medicinal properties.

The term nutraceuticals was originally defined by Dr Stephen L DeFelice, founder and chairperson, Foundation of Innovation Medicine (FIM), Crawford, New Jersey. The term nutraceuticals was used to describe foods or food components which have the potential to cure specific disease conditions.

The nutraceuticals industry is a dynamic, evolving industry that offers exciting opportunities to merge scientific discovery with growing consumer interest in health-enhancing foods. Nutraceuticals will continue to have great appeal because they are convenient for today?s lifestyle. The greatest challenge still remains in the public policy and regulatory areas, which will encourage research and development of products that provide health benefits and permit truthful, non-misleading communications of these products while protecting public health and maintaining public confidence. Innumerable substances are known to have functional effects: soluble and insoluble fibre, phytosterols, phytoestrogens, monosaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, phenol derivatives, vitamins and other phytochemical compounds.

In developed countries nutraceuticals have become a part of the day to day life. It is used in disease condition such as joint pain, insomnia, rheumatoid arthritis, degenerative eye condition, enlarged prostate, perimenopause, weight management, cardiovascular health, immunomodulators and memory loss.

Nutraceuticals are available in the form of isolated nutrients, dietary supplements and specific diets to genetically engineered foods, herbal products and processed foods such as cereals, soups and beverages. Nutraceuticals provide all the essential substances that should be present in a healthy diet for the human.

Nutraceuticals provides energy and nutrient supplements to body, which are required for maintaining optimal health. Nutraceuticals are widely used in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Some nutraceuticals are useful in maintaining healthy prostate function, remedy for restlessness and insomnia. Nutraceuticals, such as glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, offer possible chondroprotective effects against joint injury. Dietary factors play an important role in premature chronic disease appearance, disease progression, morbidity and mortality. Approximately 40-50% proportion in cardiovascular disorders, 35-50% proportion in cancers, and 20% proportion in osteoporosis is attributable to dietary factors. Use of food as medicine for treatment and prevention of various disorders is not a recent development. Fortification of table salt with iodine and wheat flour with iron/folic acid has been used with specific aims of prevention of iodine deficiency goitre and anaemia for long. Similarly, food fortified with vitamin A has been found to be a feasible and cost-effective approach to reduce vitamin A deficiency.

The dietary ingredients may include: vitamins minerals herbs or other botanicals amino acids and substances such as enzymes organ tissues glandulars and metabolites. Dietary supplements can also be extracts or concentrates, and may be found in many forms such as tablets, capsules, soft gels, gel caps, liquids, or powders which includes mainly probiotics and prebiotic, dietary fibre, Omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants. But nowadays an enormous growth in interest in other ingredients such as carotenoids glucosamine isoflavones Omega-3 fatty acids and probiotics substances for industries as well as public interest increases under the name of nutraceuticals, functional foods, food supplements in the developing as well as developed countries.

Functional foods are foods that may provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition. Functional foods are not pills, and it remains in the form of food and are part of the normal food pattern. Nutraceuticals or health supplements are not associated with foods because the bioactive components have been isolated and presented to consumers in medicinal forms such as capsules and tablets. The term “functional food” varies across countries. National authorities, academicians and food industry specialists generally understood functional foods to contain bioactive components or fortified with nutrients to provide health benefits beyond basic nutrients, similar in appearance to conventional food and intended to be consumed as part of daily diet.

Depending upon one’s interest and background, the appropriate organisational scheme for nutraceuticals can vary. For example, cardiologists may be most interested in those nutraceutical substances that are associated with reducing the risk factors of heart disease. Specifically, their interest may lie in substances purported to positively influence hypertension and hypercholesterolemia and to reduce free radical- or platelet-dependent thrombotic activity. Nutraceutical factors such as n-3 fatty acids, phytosterols, quercetin, and grape flavonoids would be of particular interest. Meanwhile, oncologists may be more interested in those substances that target anticarcinogenic activities.

These substances may be associated with augmentations of microsomal detoxification systems and antioxidant defences, or they may slow the progression of
existing cancer. Thus, their interest may lie in both chemoprevention and potential adjunctive therapy. The anticarcinogenic triterpene limonin is lipid-soluble and intensely bitter, somewhat limiting its commercial use as a functional food ingredients. However, the glucoside derivative of limonin, which shares some of the anticarcinogenic activity of limonin, is water-soluble and virtually tasteless, thereby enhancing its potential use as an ingredients.

Food and non-food sources of nutraceuticals
One of the broader models of organisation for nutraceuticals is based upon their potential as a food source to humans. Here nutraceuticals may be separated into plants, animals, and microbials (i.e., bacteria and yeast) groups. One interesting consideration with this organisation system is that the food source may not necessarily be the point of origin for one or more substances. An obvious example is conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which is part of the human diet, mostly as a component of beef and dairy foods. Non-food sources of nutraceutical factors have been sourced by the development of modern fermentation methods. For example, amino acids and their derivatives have been produced by bacteria grown in fermentation systems. The emergence of recombinant-genetic techniques has enabled new avenues for obtaining nutraceutical compounds. These techniques and their products are being evaluated in the arenas of the marketplace and regulatory concerns around the world. An example is the production of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) by bacteria. This fatty acid is produced by some algae and bacteria. The EPA derived from salmon is produced by algae and are later incorporated in the salmon that consume the algae.

Nutraceutical factors
Nutraceuticals can be grouped based upon relatively concentrated foods. There are several nutraceutical substances that are found in higher concentrations in specific
foods or food families. These include capsaicinoids, which are found primarily in pepper fruit, and allyl sulfur (organosulfur) compounds, which are particularly concentrated in onions and garlic. There are no guarantees that closely related or seemingly similar foods contain the same nutraceutical compounds. For example, both the onion plant and the garlic plant are perennial herbs arising from a rooted bulb and are also cousins in the lily family.

Legal status in India

India is one of the countries where the market of nutraceuticals and dietary supplements is growing enormously. Nutraceuticals and dietary supplements are sold in India under the name of Fast Moving Healthcare Goods (FMHG). India has passed Food Safety and Standards Act in year 2006 – a modern integrated food law to serve as a single reference point in relation to regulations of food products including nutraceuticals, dietary supplements and functional foods. Health Foods and Dietary Supplements Association is a national non-profit association founded in April 2002, works with the aim and objectives of to represent the interest of health foods dietary supplements nutraceuticals and healthcare industry.

Medical foods as nutritional supplements

Medical foods are foods that are specially formulated and intended for the dietary management of a disease that has distinctive nutritional needs that cannot be met by normal diet alone. They were defined in the Food and Drug Administration's 1988 Orphan Drug Act Amendments and are subject to the general food and safety labelling requirements of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act.
Medical foods are distinct from the broader category of foods for special dietary use and from traditional foods that bear a health claim. In order to be considered a medical food the product must, at a minimum: food for oral ingestion or tube feeding (nasogastric tube), labelled for the dietary management of a specific medical disorder, disease or condition for which there are distinctive nutritional requirements and intended to be used under medical supervision.

Medical foods can be classified into the following categories: Nutritionally complete formulas; Nutritionally incomplete formulas; Formulas for metabolic disorders; Oral rehydration products.

Market and demand
Nearly two-thirds of the American population takes at least one type of nutraceuticals health product. The US health and wellness industry is approximated to be a $91 billion dollar market, significantly less than a $250 billion estimate given by Stephen L DeFelice. The distinction between which products count as nutraceuticals makes it difficult to accurately quantify the size of the market. Even without specific financial figures, business reports continually suggest that the market is consistently growing.
One possible explanation for the growth of nutraceuticals in the United States is the ageing baby boomer population. As the average age of the citizens continues to rise, the population increases its focus on health and wellness. Although the price of some nutraceuticals may drop as generic products make their way into the market, people’s dependence on these products and their increasing availability suggests that the growth of the market shall remain stable.

Bioavailability
Bioavailability, mainly related to the absorption rate of a supplement product, is one of the main challenges in finding effective nutraceutical products. The bioavailability of nutrients is higher in food eaten in its natural state. Even among unprocessed foods, not all foods are broken down and digested as effectively. Nutraceuticals with poor absorption rates result in nutrients being disposed from the body without providing any nutritional or medicinal benefit.

Future prospects
Currently Indian nutraceuticals market is highly urban-centric. However with the rise of rural market and if the growth trajectory remains the same, Indian nutraceuticals market is going to be more than double of current market within next five years. Currently functional foods have largest share of the Indian nutraceuticals market followed by dietary supplements. This trend will drive the market for fortified foods and probiotics. With the rise of lifestyle related diseases in urban India and penetration in rural India, the nutraceuticals products going to remain in high demand. Nutraceuticals players need to redefine their marketing strategies. Increasing awareness levels about fitness and health, spurred by media coverage are prompting the majority of people to lead healthier lifestyles, exercise more, and eat healthy. The expanding nutraceuticals market indicates that end-users are seeking minimally processed food with extra nutritional benefits and organoleptic value. The emerging nutraceuticals industry seems destined to occupy the landscape in the new millennium. Its tremendous growth has implications for the food, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, and agricultural industries. Many scientists believe that enzymes represent another exciting frontier in nutraceuticals. Fermentation technology using microbes to create new food products also represents potential. Global trends to healthy products cannot be reversed.

(The author is senior scientist, Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal. He can be contacted at manoj.tripathi1@icar.gov.in)