Weight management is on consumers’ minds.

According to a 2009 survey by the International Food Information Council, 31 percent of consumers reported that weight loss was a health concern, second only to cardiovascular health (including heart disease, blood pressure and cholesterol), which rated as a top concern by 48 percent of consumers.

And weight management supplements constitute a significant proportion of the overall market for weight management market. The market for meal replacement supplements alone was estimated at over $2 billion in 2009, and projected to continue growing, according to Nutrition Business Journal’s (NBJ) Sports Nutrition and Weight Loss Trends and Issues survey.

“The trends in new product launches and point-of-sale data shows weight management products such as meal replacement bars, supplements and pills are a very
Vibrant and active market,” said Lorraine Niba, PhD, marketing manager, Americas with FrielsandCampina Domo (Paramus, NJ). “Consumer confidence in these products is largely sustained, giving ingredient manufacturers and suppliers an impetus in designing and developing ingredients for weight management.” But Mitch Skop, senior director of new product development with Pharmachem Laboratories, Inc. (Kearny, NJ), is quick to point out that consumer confidence, on the other hand, is fragile.

“Confidence sometimes gets very rocky when reports of problematic supplements such as ephedra and Hydroxycut get eviscerated in the mass media,” said Skop. “People tend to sweep the broad brush of mistrust against all natural supplements in such times.” Enter product claims. They speak volumes to consumers at the shelf, but the product must deliver what the claims promise. By formulating relationships with responsible suppliers, manufacturers can utilize safe, proven, efficacious ingredients with the research that speaks as loudly as the claims they support.

“As a dietitian, I think it is very important that consumers know more about a product or ingredient and how it will work. The hype of a product will wear off after the initial introduction and then consumers will judge for themselves if it is working or not,” said Karen Todd, RD, CSCS, director of marketing for Kyowa Hakko USA (New York, NY). “Being open and honest about one’s product claims is essential in establishing confidence in decisions about repurchases.” “In order to appeal to manufacturers, a supplier must not only satisfy them price-wise and quality-wise but must also be able to show the science behind ingredients,” said Steve Siegel, vice president of Ecuadorian Rainforest, LLC (Belleville, NJ). “While consumers are looking toward a more natural approach to weight loss and health in general, they still want to see scientific evidence that what they are investing in will actually work.” No More Magic Bullets Prior to the Hydroxycut recall, the weight-loss category was doing very well, according to Scott Steil, president of Nutra Bridge (Shoreview, MN). “Since the removal of Ephedra in 2004, the market has returned to its sector-leading status in terms of sales ($1.7 billion in 2008, according to NBJ),” he said, offering that while the market remained relatively flat in terms of 2008 sales, an interesting observation is the movement in sales for traditionally strong companies in this sector. “What is interesting to observe is the sales decline in the companies that have traditionally dominated the market as well as the rise of new companies competing in the sector.” Steil pointed out key events that have affected the marketplace, which include Food and Drug Administration (FDA) actions regarding the safety of weightloss products as well as increased enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on marketing claims.

“This has resulted in a shift in consumer education and attitude,” he said.

“They’ve moved away from looking for the magic bullet to seeking products that help maximize weight loss along with diet and exercise. This highlights the dynamic of the category and leads to opportunities for suppliers of key weight-loss ingredients.” To that end, Steil views the most upand- coming ingredients as those that have “made the cut”—having been in the market for a few years and are backed by solid human clinical data supporting both efficacy and safety.

Specifically, 7-Keto® (a registered trademark of Humanetics Corp.), CLA, green tea and glucomannan have done very well over the past year.

“These ingredients can easily be used in combination with other products to build a top shelf weight-loss formula,” said Steil. “More importantly, each of these products has a very nice clinical trial pedigree that supports safety as well as claims that the marketing company can support.” Friesland’s Niba has observed the drive to integrate weight management products into consumers’ lifestyles, making more products mainstream with a longer-term health and wellness focus.

“The industry is clearly making an effort to shift away from drastic, shortterm, crash weight-loss products, to longer-term every day life products. The goal, therefore, is not just weight loss,
But also maintaining a healthy weight over time,” she said. “This trend is reflected in the new product categories which manufacturers are targeting for launching weight management products.

“According to Business Insights, the dairy category ranks as the top category where there have been new product innovations and launches for obesity and weight management,” Niba added.

Friesland’s Vivinal® GOS ingredient is a proprietary galactooligosaccharide, which is fermented in the colon by probiotic bacteria to produce short chain fatty acids. As a minimally digestible carbohydrate, the ingredient is thought to contribute to satiety, through gastrointestinal bulking and slow-down of gastric emptying, as well as through the induction of the satiety-related hormones.

“Vivinal GOS is very functional as it is instantly soluble and dispersible, and is therefore ideal for clear beverages and beverage mixes,” said Niba. “It is also very stable in processing and storage.

Research studies with Vivinal GOS showed that its fermentation contributed to an increase in blood levels of the gut satiety hormone, PYY. There was also an increase in the expression of GLP-1.” Pharmachem’s Skop concurred with Niba, pointing out another interesting trend dominating the category.

“People are literally turning to food to lose weight rather than turning away from food to trim down,” said Skop.

“There are more functional foods with ingredients that do two things for bodies: give them nutrients such as omega- 3 EFAs and antioxidants among others, and foods and beverages that actually contain supplemental ingredients designed to curb hunger, control carb absorption and control sugar cravings.” In response, Pharmachem, building on the success of its Phase 2 Carb Controller™, recently launched the Three Phases of Weight Control system:

• Phase 1 Hunger Controller™ is a convenient, one-per-day, flavored, beverage powder clinically shown to promote appetite controppetite control and satiety.

• Phase 2 Carb Controller is a proprietary extract of the white bean clinically shown to reduce the digestion of starches in 29 studies.

• Phase 3 Sugar Controller™ is a powdered formula clinically shown to reduce the glucose and insulin spike caused by ingesting sugar.

“The Three Phases of Weight Control system addresses primary reasons for weight gain—over eating and over consumption of carbs and sugars,” said Skop. “It’s not a magic bullet; it provides three tools that can help consumers seeking to lose weight safely.

The system also supports the basis of healthy weight control which is following a sensible diet and exercising.” Obesity’s X Factor: Blood Sugar Control A March 15, 2010 article in Herbalife shed startling light on the rise of obesity- related diseases. The article stated “The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations predicts that between 1998 and 2025, the number of people with type 2 diabetes worldwide will double—to 300 million—and that the majority of the increase will be in the developing world. Moreover, 80 percent of all heart disease in the world in the next 10 years will be due to dia-
Betes type 2 associated with overweight and obesity.” “With the obesity statistics already at frightening levels and still climbing, it is reasonable and hopeful to assume that more companies will be willing to put money into research since the potential for return is so high. Products and ingredients that act on the root causes and consequences are the next logical step,” said Mark J. Kaylor, PhD, MH, nutritional consultant and educator with Mushroom Wisdom, Inc. (East Rutherford, NJ). “With the epidemic of metabolic syndrome (aka Syndrome X) still on the rise with its corresponding increases in abdominal and visceral fat and it being a leading cause of cardiovascular disease as well, our SX Fraction has been by far our most effective weight-loss ingredient.” Kaylor went on to explain that having the twin actions of lowering both blood sugar and insulin levels and being backed by clinical research places SX Fraction as a healthy and effective aid in the battle against metabolic syndrome and abdominal obesity.

Ecuadorian Rainforest’s newest ingredient is an extract of the African plant Irvingia gabonensis, which shows tremendous promise in correcting leptin resistance, promoting weight loss and combating components of metabolic syndrome.

Ecuadorian’s Siegel offered a double- blind study that appeared in Life Extension Magazine where overweight but otherwise healthy individuals who supplemented with Irvingia extract lost an average of 28 pounds over the course of 10 weeks. Body fat percentage and waist circumference decreased, as did metabolic parameters including cholesterol, LDL, C-reactive protein and fasting glucose.

Irvingia facilitates the breakdown of body fat by reducing an enzyme (glycerol- 3-phosphate dehydrogenase) that enables glucose to be stored as triglyceride in fat cells,” said Siegel. “Further, Irvingia increases the insulin-sensitizing hormone adiponectin and inhibits the digestive enzyme amylase, which is involved in carbohydrate digestion.

Clinical research to date suggests that Irvingia gabonensis at a dose of 150mg twice daily is a safe, effective method to lose excess body fat and fight components of the metabolic syndrome.” In a similar vein, Jocelyn Bérubé, Msc scientific director, health & nutrition, innoVactiv inc. (Rimouski, Quebec, Canada), explained how carb blocking, a key facet of the company’s InSea2™, has been useful for manufacturers looking to address Syndrome X. “We definitely feel that carb-blocking is a category that needs to be reinvented.

Most existing products focus on only one carb-blocking mechanism,” she said. “Through years of research, innoVactiv has identified a unique ingredient called InSea2, which has a dual mechanism of action on carb digestion and assimilation, blocking both alphaamylase and alpha-glucosidase enzymes with very high potency.” The company has demonstrated that InSea2 could significantly reduce blood glucose and insulin levels after a meal, as well as improving insulin sensitivity.

The company will soon complete a long-term weight-loss study that should provide valuable insights on the potential of the ingredient at supporting two key aspects of metabolic syndrome: blood sugar control and weight maintenance.

“Our most recent human data has shown that a single 500mg capsule of
InSea2 is able to significantly reduce postprandial blood glucose level by

48. 3 percent, coupled with an overall reduction of six percent in post-meal insulin secretion,” said Bérubé. “The most surprising result of this independent study was to discover that InSea2 was able to improve insulin sensitivity by eight percent following the first product administration.” This recent information is currently being assembled in a manuscript that will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. These results will be presented by innoVactiv’s lead investigator at the Experimental Biology meeting this month, but the company’s typical technical file contains all the clinical information about its product, in addition to supportive in vitro, in vivo and toxicology data that has been generated by innoVactiv over the past years on InSea2.

Not in it Alone But perhaps the biggest trend in the weight management sector, according to Bob Green, president of Nutratech Inc. (West Caldwell, NJ), prompted by FTC actions, is making sure that product claims are backed by human clinical studies that support efficacy and safety.

“The FTC has really stepped up action on companies that can’t support claims. We work very hard with companies to help them power product claims with good ingredients and good science,” he said, offering that his company’s bitter orange extract, Advantra Z®, is strong in terms of scientific credibility.

“Bitter orange is one of the most studied ingredients in the weight management industry. And most of the studies have used Advantra Z rather than generic bitter orange extracts.

More than 15 clinical research studies— including a series of three studies conducted over a period of six years at McGill University’s Nutrition and Food Science Centre in Montreal—have given credence to Advantra Z’s safety and efficacy.” While anyone can view the Advantra Z/bitter orange studies in their entirety at www.nutratechinc.com, green specifically cited that one of the most outspoken critics of performance-enhancing dietary supplements has produced positive findings for the company’s thermogenic ingredient in two separate clinical studies.1,2 “Based upon recent activity, the No.

1 value Nutratech brings to our clients is helping them support marketing messages with top shelf human data. This allows them to create and market products that cater to the needs of their customers, offer compelling advantages over other products and stay in compliance with FTC guidelines.” Nutra Bridge’s Steil offered two suggestions for product manufacturers looking to have their products stand out in a crowded marketplace.

“First, create a good, legitimate product that uses ingredients that can support aggressive, science backed claims,” said Steil. “Second, advertising dollars are key to getting this message out to consumers.

The weight-loss sector still requires a significant ad spend. However, spending big dollars on claims that can’t be supported is very expensive and can dramatically shorten the time that the product stays on the market.”