Innovation for natural immune health ingredients continues as sales in this category see strong growth.

Our immune system continually faces challenges, either from lack of sleep, hectic schedules, poor nutrition, stress or a combination of each of these factors.

“Recent threats include viral and bacterial epidemics that can be easily spread from the original territories by air travel, such as H1N1, avian flu, etc.,” said Morten Sundstø, CEO of ImmunoMedic AS based in Oslo, Norway. “In the past HPV/AIDS was a bigger concern, fortunately the disease is under greater control and also it appears the virus weakens in time.”

Sundstø also noted that there are two areas of immune disorders.The first is immune hypofunction, or a lack of immunity leading to more frequent occurrences of common colds and infectious illnesses.“Immune hypofunction is usually caused by too much stress, lack of sleep and adverse effects of various therapeutic treatments.”

Second is immune hyperfunction, where the immune system overreacts to or inadequately reacts to stimuli (i.e., allergens, but also the body’s own cells and tissues).“Autoimmune disorders are Very often of unknown origin, but many times they are caused by chemical pollution of environment and foods,” Sundstø said. “Some say that many of the common allergies may be caused by the extremely high hygienic standard in which the modern population lives.Countries with low hygienic standard usually have lower rates of autoimmune disorders. Of course, they have higher mortality on infectious illnesses, lower availability of health care facilities and so on.”

Sherwin Chen, vice president of operations with California-based Super Beta Glucan Inc., noted that allergies and autoimmune diseases are the major immune problems that affect at least 50 million Americans. “The main causes can be attributed to the following factors: genetics, environmental pollutants such as endocrine disruptors, heavy metal and pesticide contaminations.Furthermore, consumption of genetically modified (GM) food can potentially be one of the major factors nowadays that resulted in this prevalence.” 

Market & Trends

Forty-two percent of consumers purchase condition-specific supplements.This number is nearly double compared to consumer behavior 10 years ago, noted Sundstø, and immune health supplements have been on a steady rise over the past five years, he said. Approximately 32 million U.S. adults use supplements for immune support.

Jeff Lind, vice president of the Health Business Unit with New Jerseybased Frutarom USA, said immune health has been and will continue to be a strong category in the marketplace.“Customers are looking for proven ingredients, often branded that have in-vivo data. Botanicals that can shorten the duration and symptoms of these health issues can be particularly versatile as individual products or in formulations.”

Further, Bryan Rodriquez, technical marketing and scientific affairs manager with New Jersey-based Lonza Inc., pointed out that until recently, addressing the innate or non-specific Arm of the immune system has been most popular. “While consumers don’t specifically refer to it as the ‘innate arm of the immune system,’ they commonly know that if they are feeling sick, they can quickly take vitamin C or a similar immune stimulator, and it will boost their immune system. This is the innate arm of the immune system being forced into action.

“However, this mindset is slowly beginning to change as new products that prime the different components of the immune system are reaching the market,” he added.

Ingredient Versatility

Lonza’s ResistAid™, composed of larch arabinogalactan (LAG), is an ingredient that addresses the idea of an “immune ‘system’ thought process,” Rodriquez explained, as it is formulated to deliver triple-action immune support, year-round. The innate arm of the immune system is non-specific and targets anything that is viewed as foreign to the body, whereas the adaptive system targets specific foreign substances. Both immune arms work together to protect the body against foreign substances.“ResistAid supports natural immune function by increasing beneficial immune cell populations, so that the immune system is better able to function and handle immune stressors,” he said, noting clinical study results indicate the ingredient has the ability to modulate and support the two arms of the immune system in a positive manner through direct and indirect pathways within the gastrointestinal tract, so that the components of the different arms are optimized and appropriately respond when challenged by a foreign substance. “Due to the naturally occurring flavonoids in ResistAid, an additional benefit of antioxidant capacity is present.”

Frutarom’s Lind said the company is working with ingredients with a history in the category. “It’s of note that both echinacea and pelargonium (Pelargonium sidoides) have longstanding ethno-botanical and early medical use. Their popularity as stand-alone products and in formulation is a testament to these early uses validated by clinical trials.”

Pelargonium is a plant from South Africa that has proven safe and efficacious for the treatment of upper respiratory tract infections, including acute bronchitis in children, he noted.

Pelargonium roots showed antibacterial,Antiviral and immunomodulatory properties in several studies with these activities accounting for its therapeutic effect.

While pelargonium has seen early medical use, the ingredient is relatively new to some segments of the U.S. market. “Many of our customers find value in a story with both historic/ethnobotanical use validated with clinical trials and excellent safety data,” Lind said, adding that while echinacea and pelargonium will likely continue in popularity and growth, in the immune category especially, novel delivery systems and flavorful solutions are in demand and can often influence a product’s success.

Another change is that manufacturers are transitioning from utilizing ingredients that did not have solid scientific basis to the ones with evidenced- based research results, according to Super Beta Glucan’s Chen. “For instance, vitamin C was commonly used as a novel approach to improve immune health; however, the mechanism of which how vitamin C works to support immune health cannot be adequately explained.”

Other popular ingredients with strength in the category are mushroom extracts, prebiotics and probiotics, he added.“Prebiotics and probiotics are probably best known for their role in digestive health, but emerging science shows they are powerful components of immune system health as well,” said Chen. “Since 60 percent of our immune cells are located in the digestive tract, it makes sense that keeping those cells functioning well is vitally important for staying healthy.”

Scrutiny by recent medical research reveals that beta glucan, a polysaccharide polymer derived from the cell wall of mushrooms, is the key element responsible for the immune benefit, Chen continued. “Beta glucan enhances the immune response by activating the macrophages, our body’s frontline of defense. These immune system cells are responsible for finding, identifying and consuming foreign invaders in the body. In addition, the macrophages also have the ability to ‘trigger’ other components of the immune system including granulocytes (neutrophil, eosinophils and the basophils), B-cells, T-cells and natural killer (NK) cells to deal with the other potential threats.”

The key immune responses enhanced by beta glucan are phagocytic activity, activation of white blood cells, regulation of cell-mediated immune response and improvement to health related quality of life (HRQOL).

ImmunoMedic’s Betox-93™ ingredient is said to be one of the purest beta glucan in the market, according to Sundstø, who said the latest news in the category is to utilize very pure and active beta glucans, probiotics, prebiotics and superfruits (usually tropical, high-antioxidant- and flavonoid-content fruits).

Sundstø also agreed there is a demand for novel delivery, but noted considerable challenges. “Consumers are starting to seek alternate delivery systems, while expecting improved bioavailability—which can be the tricky part for manufacturers,” he said, noting that the delivery systems in focus are drinks, shots, bars and other food forms. “New ingredients pop-up From time to time, but not as often due to extensive and expensive work that needs to be done prior to introducing an ingredient to the market(i. e., GRAS, NDI/novel food approvals and related documentation/ studies). Innovative delivery systems seemed to be on a steep rise over the past two years, but to have success in the market, it is important to offer pure, active and proven stable products that have no taste, smell or color, and that are easy to mix into beverage, dairy products, bakery, etc. There are not that many immune ingredients that are suitable for this.”

Super Beta Glucan’s ingredient, Mushroom beta glucan (Immulink MBG®), represents another of the latest innovations in this category.Recently launched at the IFT Food Expo, the company said it is able to demonstrate to food and beverage manufacturers that the mushroom beta glucan has the unique capability to withhold the manufacturing process of any delivery system including beverage, bread and cereals, confectionary, snacks or dietary supplements, Chen said. “Since the concept of functional food and beverage is on the rise, we believe that the next trend of taking dietary supplements will be to fuse the beneficial ingredients with the food and beverages so that consumers can enjoy the benefits by taking their vitamins ‘on the go.’”

Rodriquez, too, confirmed that the category has seen continual growth in delivery formats. “From just drinks and bars, toward foods, gels, shots, dissolvable strips and sprays, all of which provide the consumer with the option to use desired products According to their preference, and on their own terms.

“Larger and/or more frequent dosing is not uncommon with acute immunity and respiratory challenges, and as everyone can recall from a common cold, flavors and texture are affected, and staying hydrated can be key to a speedy recovery,” he added. “Stick powders are convenient and provide a way to stay hydrated and accommodate frequent and higher doses, and citrus flavors have shown to be a standout in this category. Lozenges are also a useful delivery system, providing the slow release of compounds directly in the upper respiratory tract.” 

Manufacturer Fact Check

For manufacturers, an immune ingredient checklist consists of bioavailability, benchmark studies, pre-clinical and clinical studies, safety studies, stability, efficacy and documented purity.

Educating consumers about their products for immune support—without seeming to make inappropriate claims—can be done by closely binding any claims and/or informational materials to published studies, Sundstø said.“You need to have documented effect on your product.”

Another trend Sundstø noted gaining traction is that adults are focusing on stimulating their kids’ immune systems.“We think this is very important, and we believe that this market will be significant,” he said. “Another market we expect will grow in the future is immune stimulation during and after antibiotic treatment and with vaccines.”

And, of course, ingredient safety and Purity also remain top concerns.

“Manufacturers should definitely pay attention when sourcing for quality immune ingredients,” said Chen. “Is the ingredient validated by GRAS (generally recognized as safe) by the FDA?Where was the ingredient manufactured?Is it from the U.S. or from other countries with less health-related regulations?Is it certified allergen free?These are factors beyond pricing that manufacturers need to consider.

“Harvesting high-quality beta glucan requires the finely tuned expertise of scientists who are skilled at a very stringent extraction process that uses stateof- the-art biotechnology,” he added.

“As with many health products, we believe the consumer is continually looking for products backed by science, while attempting to avoid those whose marketing outstrips their functionality,” Rodriquez summarized.“Many consumers are expanding their knowledge of immune health, and they are now aware of other options available. We expect this trend to continue.”

Extra! Extra!

Visit www.niemagazine.com to read about recent research on goji berries and immune health.

FORMOREINFORMATION:

.Biothera, (651) 675-0300 

.Frutarom USA, (201) 861-9500 

.ImmunoMedic AS, +47 950 618 60 

.Lonza Inc., (201) 316 9200 

.Super Beta Glucan Inc., (949) 264-2888

“Allergies and autoimmune diseases are the major immune problems that affect at least 50 million Americans. The main causes can be attributed to the following factors: genetics, environmental pollutants such as endocrine distruptors, heavy metal and pesticide contaminations.”

— Sherwin Chen,Vice President of Operations, Super Beta Glucan, Inc.

“Innovative delivery systems seemed to be on a steep rise over the past two years, but to have success in the market, it is important to offer pure, active and proven stable products that have no taste, smell or color, and that are easy to mix into beverage, dairy products, bakery, etc. There are not that many immune ingredients that are suitable for this.”

— Morten Sundstø, CEO, ImmunoMedic AS

Stressed Out in the U.S.A.

Stress is a major challenge to the immune system and to overall health and wellness, noted Richard Mueller, president and CEO of Minnesota-based Biothera, makers of Wellmune WGP®. Numerous studies link physical and lifestyle stress to diminished immune system function that renders individuals more susceptible to health challenges. And stress levels in the U.S. are rising.

• A recent study showed a 10-30 percent increase in psychological stress from 1983 to 2009 across all demographic categories. (Cohen S. & Janicki- Deverts D. 2012 J. Appl . Soc. Psychol.42:1320-1334).

• According to the American Psychological Association (2011), nearly 75 percent of Americans say they’re stressed out. Their top concerns are money, work and the economy.

• According to Fast Company, more than 275 million lost working days annually in U.S. are stress related.Mental health days cost employers $600+ annually per employee.