A growing functional future

Worldwide, populations are ageing. An ageing population has led to an increased awareness about the crucial importance of a healthy diet and lifestyle to enhance health and minimise the risk of chronic diseases. Modern-day consumers are seeking a wider range of food and beverage choices in the market to help them fulfil some of their health and wellness needs. This interest in healthy ageing is driven also by growing healthcare costs as people live longer. Altogether, this has driven interest in functional food and beverages, which are able to provide benefits beyond energy and basic nutrition. Food and beverages are good delivery vehicles for nutraceuticals. The addition of nutraceutical ingredients to food and beverages in sufficient amounts may help to reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, hypertension, and obesity (Augustin and Sanguansri, 2015).

Consumer awareness of these benefits is high. European consumer market reports state that 8 in 10 consumers believe that functional foods can help prevent or delay the onset of heart disease, hypertension, osteoporosis, and type-2 diabetes. The functional food ingredient market in Europe is projected to reach USD 108.7 billion by 2025, with a CAGR of 6.6 % over the forecast period of 2018-2025 (Market Watch, 2020).

Bioactive healthy ageing ingredient for functional food and beverages

DavosLife E3 Tocotrienols (Super Vitamin E) are bioactive ingredients that fit perfectly into these consumer needs. It is a Super Vitamin E derived from nature, with many properties that can help to support healthy ageing. Tocotrienols are potent antioxidants with strong anti-inflammatory properties and numerous research studies have proven its efficacy in promoting cardiovascular health, cognitive function, bone and joint health, skin health and liver health.

As a lipid-soluble vitamin, however, the process of incorporation of Tocotrienols into food and beverages, which are typically aqueous-based, is complex. The non-polar character of Tocotrienols means that it cannot simply be dispersed directly into an aqueous phase as it would rapidly coalesce and separate through gravitational forces, leading to a layer of oil on top of the product (Piorkowski and McClements, 2013). Additionally, if it were to be used directly, it would be susceptible to degradation, and may interact with other components in the food, resulting in loss of bioactivity of the Tocotrienols.

To ensure that Tocotrienols can be easily incorporated into functional food and beverages, Davos Life Science has developed DavosLife E3 DVP 30-WD, a stable and bland-tasting water-dispersible powder format of natural Tocotrienols.

Read full article