Novelty in the Weight Management Market

by Roberta Re

With more than 1.6 billion adults globally considered overweight, of which approximately one-third are classified as obese, obesity is a growing problem within our society. Obesity rates have increased dramatically over the last three decades, having more than doubled in all ages of the population since the 1960s, and obesity is currently regarded as the primary cause of premature death in the United Kingdom. Treatment for obesity and obesity-related conditions costs the National Health Service (NHS) more than £3.2 billion a year ($5.2 billion USD), and this is predicted to increase in the future.

The European market for weight management products as a whole is fairly well developed; value sales in 2009 represented a 35-percent share of the global market. Of this, satiety and appetite suppressants currently represent the largest area in terms of weight management ingredients. Many agree they hold the greatest potential in helping to combat the growing obesity crisis, largely due to claims being easily identified and understood by the consumer, and the number of ingredients that are already familiar and easily identifiable.

The European market for weight management products is projected to grow by approximately 8-percent over the next five years. This is partly due to a detectable shift in consumer demand away from traditional diet products, which generally have a short-term benefit, toward the longer-term notion of weight management, where satiety and appetite control play an important role. A further advantage of this change in emphasis is the re-positioning of weight management products toward a more general audience, rather than specifically those who watch their weight. In turn, it is anticipated this will help to increase household penetration and widen the existing market.

It is well established that different foods exert different effects on satiety, with a supposed hierarchy of satiation occurring between protein, carbohydrate and fat, protein being the most satiating. Many epidemiological studies have demonstrated a relationship between the quantities of a macronutrient in the diet and ones energy intake. In particular, many studies have investigated the effect of protein on satiety, and protein has consistently been shown to have a stronger effect on satiety than equivalent quantities of energy from other macronutrients. Both protein and fiber have a role in satiety, and both have been extensively researched. It is hard to say which one is best as different fibers and different proteins exert different satiating effects, but both are important and many manufacturers have now incorporated both ingredients into their products.

Satiation refers to the processes that bring an eating episode to an end (cause meal termination), and satiety refers to the processes that inhibit further eating during the postprandial period, suppressing the urge to eat.

Following a meal, the drive to eat is low and gradually builds up again until the next eating episode. The timing of the next eating episode is dependent on both internal and external factors, many of which are dependent on the time of day. The reasons for eating are varied, and people do not eat only to satisfy appetite, but also due to sensory stimulation, tension reduction, social pressure and boredom. People do not always eat when they are hungry, and they do not always refrain from eating when satiated.

It is thought that protein may aid in weight loss by increasing satiety and augmenting thermogenesis, resulting in a decreased uptake of energy. There is some suggestion that different proteins affect satiety in different ways. The speed at which amino acids are absorbed from the gut has a significant effect on whole-body protein anabolism, which leads to the differentiation between slow and fast proteins. Casein, for example, is considered to be slow, whereas whey is fast. This would suggest that a fast protein would have a greater effect on short-term satiety than a slow protein. Fast proteins are thought to be more efficient at increasing satiety by increasing gastric emptying and having a greater stimulating effect on gastrointestinal (GI) hormones such as CCK and GLP-1. Casein is considered as a slow protein because it reportedly reduces GI motility, resulting in lower postprandial plasma amino acid concentrations, which in turn blunt the satiating effect of higher plasma amino acid concentrations, while whey, contains caseinomacropeptide, which stimulates CCK and, thus, increases satiety.

Fiber has been shown to be beneficial to health, and a diet high in fiber has been linked to a reduced risk of diseases including diabetes, cancer, heart disease and obesity. Fiber is thought to aid in weight management because it has a low-energy density, and its addition to food products can effectively dilute the energy content and reduce calorie intake. Foods high in fiber also require more effort and time in chewing, which could possibly increase saliva secretions and consequently slow down the rate of ingestion and increase satiety. Bulky foods high in fiber also tend to be less palatable than foods high in fat, and therefore consumers are less likely to eat as much, reaching satiety at a much quicker rate. Some researchers have postulated that increased fiber consumption can obstruct digestive enzymes from mixing with ingested foods, resulting in a decreased nutrient absorption rate.

According to Leatherhead Food Researchs consumer panels, consumers favor satiety-inducing products, as there is low trust in low-fat or low-sugar products for a diet. They think low fat will have high sugar as one ingredient will have to be replaced with another to maintain product taste.

Protein and fiber hold the greatest potential, as most consumers prefer natural ingredients that they can spot and understand, as opposed to ingredients they dont know about, and therefore are skeptical. Also, consumers have a preference for food that they can integrate into their normal diet as opposed to tablets or meal replacements. Ingredients like alginate fibers and by-products of protein processing are showing efficacy and are replacing more standard ingredients. Also the applications are changing; high-fiber drink products and high-protein breads are a new trend. Functional ingredients like green tea are finding many applications far from just a drink.

It is important for products to contain natural ingredients and use clear statements. The wording must also resonate with consumers. Full has a negative connotation (i.e. bloated); and satiety is perceived as pretentious; satisfied is better, although a bit difficult to substantiate as a claim.

Roberta Re ( [email protected] ) graduated in 1995 from the University of Palermo, Italy, where she completed a doctorate in pharmacy, after which she spent a year at the University of California, Berkeley, before commencing a doctorate in biochemistry at King's College, London, at the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases. She is now the manager of the nutrition research department at Leatherhead, which performs human intervention studies for efficacy and health claim substantiation, in the areas of satiety, glycemic response and weight management as well as routine GI testing.