Formulating Bioavailable Nutritional Premixes

Man cannot live on bread alone, nor can he live on one solitary nutrient; an array of different vitamins and minerals are necessary for optimal health. Premixes, blends of many different natural ingredients, are often used in the health food industry as a way to fortify and ensure vast nutritional benefits from supplements, beverages, energy bars, meal replacements and other enriched foods.

What’s Fresh

There are several trends consumers are targeting via intake of specific health ingredients. “The top three health conditions are obesity and weight management, fatigue and cardiovascular disease,” said Ram Chaudhari, Ph.D., senior executive vice president and chief scientific officer, Fortitech.

While premixes containing tried and true ingredients are still popular, manufacturers have been noticing increasing interest from consumers in products that go beyond fortification with conventional vitamin and mineral premixes, according to Shaheen Majeed, director of marketing, Sabinsa. “Natural antioxidants, amino acids, probiotics and phytonutrients with added health benefits, such as weight management or joint health support, are favorable additions to vitamin/mineral premixes,” he explained. “[Popular] end applications include dietary supplements, functional foods—bars, beverages, other delivery systems or cosmetics.” Chaudhari agreed, adding, “We are seeing a rise in interest for premixes with amino acids, omega-3 fatty acids and calcium, but the in-demand nutrients are the traditional antioxidant blends and vitamins A, C and E.”

Emilio Gutierrez, R.Ph., vice president of technical services, BI Nutraceuticals, said there are several popular markets for premixes for food and beverage fortification.

Energy: According to Gutierrez, caffeine and caffeine-containing herbs, like guarana and kola nut, are very popular ways to add caffeine to premixes. Green tea contains some caffeine and is more widely used for its benefits in circulation and antioxidant effects. “Panax ginseng and eleutherococcus extract are both still very popular in the energy category,” he said. “And amino acids, such as L-taurine and L-arginine, go well in beverages and go hand-in-hand with many popular extreme sports practiced by many consumers today.”

Vitamin and mineral blend premixes: “More and more vitamins are being used in foods today,” Gutierrez explained. “These are ingredients that the majority of consumers know and trust.” He added that a major endorsement for the fortification beverages with vitamins is Coca-Cola’s launch of Diet Coke Plus, a soda line extension enriched with niacin, zinc, magnesium and vitamins B6 and B12.

Antioxidants: Aside from green tea, there are several other ingredients with antioxidant properties that are in high demand, including superfoods goji berry, açaí, pomegranate, grape seed extract and multi-berry blends for premixes.

Bars: “Fortitech has noticed within the bars category that there is a proactive trend in the development of the bars concept as an excellent carrier for health, nutrition, energy and meal replacement options,” said Chaudhari. “The availability of healthy and nutritional bars in various distributor channels (supermarkets, food service, health and sports clubs) has widened, and the market is ready for bars with new benefits and improved taste and texture.” Advances in nanotechnology are now allowing manufacturers to deliver functional food ingredients as premixes with minimum interactions. Chaudhari also noted there is an increase in the use of soy and whey proteins in high protein and sports nutrition bars.

Water: With the recent popularity of enhanced waters, it’s not a surprise that these are among the most in-demand enriched products on the market. “Enhanced water plays right into the demands of consumers seeking convenience and a one-stop nutritional shop. Beverages have the convenience of portability and have the ability to be easily fortified,” explained Chaudhari. He added that within the premixes category, there has been a wider appeal for superfruit flavors, antioxidant blends and calcium.

Gut health: “We are currently witnessing a strong trend surrounding consumer interest in gut health for both the food and beverage industries,” Chaudhari said. Prebiotics and probiotics, as well as resistant starches and fiber are quickly gaining popularity as premixes. However, Chaudhari admitted it can be difficult when working with probiotics, as they pose particular formulation challenges. “They are live bacteria and their stability is susceptible to heat and moisture, which directly impacts how they are integrated into an application.”

Customized premixes: “Made to order blends, manufactured to unique customer specifications, are still the largest segment of the premixes we manufacture,” Gutierrez said. “Many of BI Nutraceuticals’ blends are composed of organic/steam sterilized herbal powders, herbal extracts, amino acids and specialty supplements, including chondroitin-glucosamine.”

Uniquely You

In order to set themselves apart, many manufacturers of premixes have one or several house blends, with a combination of unique ingredients, targeted for a unique health condition. For example, DSM Nutritional Products enables dietary supplement manufacturers to meet consumers’ increased need and demand for vitamin D3 with their own vitamin D3 products, in both liquid and dry forms, explained Todd Sitkowski, senior marketing manager, DSM. In addition, DSM also provides premixes that include lycopene, lutein, zeaxanthin, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, beta carotene, minerals and amino acids.

Two of Sabinsa’s popular premixes are ArthriBlend-SR® and HotSip®. “ArthriBlend-SR is a comprehensive, sustained release composition containing herbal extracts and nutrients to support healthy joints and connective tissues in the body,” Majeed said. The blend contains glucosamine sulfate, Boswellia serrata extract and curcuminoids from Curcuma longa. “These ingredients work synergistically to help support the management of inflammatory conditions, including arthritis,” explained Majeed. An added ingredient to the premixes, black pepper extract, is a bioavailability enhancer. The company reports that the premix is purported to improve pain, stiffness and inflammation that is associated with osteoarthritis, and beneficially impacts joint function.

HotSip is also an anti-inflammatory premix: “The four ingredients in this blend inhibit the inflammatory response, irrespective of the inciting agent, in this case, flu viruses,” said Majeed. Ingredients include Adhatoda vasica, Alpina galangal, Glycyrrhiza glabra and Piper longum.

BI Nutraceuticals keeps tabs on how customers use their products and try to anticipate their needs by having products in premixes that are easy to use. It offers a branched-chain amino acid direct compression granular blend, which contains L-leucine, L-isoleucine and L-valine in a proportion most commonly used by formulators who use these ingredients together.

Quality Counts

There are several obstacles standing in the way of creating quality premixes, from a manufacturing standpoint. The cost of nutrients, for example, is on the rise due to increasing energy, raw material and transportation costs, said Chaudhari. “For example, vitamin A, as a raw ingredient, needs to be synthetically produced. It is sourced from oil byproducts such as acetylene, methanol and acetone. Rising crude oil prices are driving up the cost of this ingredient as well as creating a shortage of it in the marketplace. In addition, rapid [market] growth in China, Brazil, Russia, India and other developing markets has led to an increased demand for raw materials,” he added.

It is also important that manufacturers have a solid, reliable relationship with ingredient suppliers in order to assure the quality of ingredients, which in turn leads to a solid relationship with customers. “Since it is difficult, or nearly impossible, to verify analytically that all the ingredients were actually added to premixes as per label claim, the relationship you establish with your supplier is critical,” Gutierrez cautioned.

Chaudhari added, “Sourcing the right nutrients for specific applications has been, and continues to be, the challenge we are facing in today’s environment. There is absolutely ‘no compromise’ in quality under any circumstances.”

DSM requires that its raw material suppliers meet all relevant regulatory standards, including USP (U.S. Pharmacopeia), EP (European Pharmacopeia) and FCC (Food Chemicals Codex) monographs, according to Sitkowski. “To ensure a consistent and reliable supply of raw materials, DSM audits its raw material suppliers and develops a customized audit schedule, based on its evaluation of each supplier.”

Other companies, such as Sabinsa, have a similar policy for ensuring ingredient quality, requiring multiple tests to affirm the efficacy and safety of ingredients it uses in premixes. “Manufacturers look for a quality profile in terms of contaminates, microbial load or other quality factors, such as heavy metals content, pesticide residues, allergens, non-GMO, gluten free, etc. in plant-based ingredients for premixes,” explained Majeed.

Traceability of nutrients and the specific manufacturing origin of ingredients in products is becoming more prevalent, according to Chaudhari: “High quality, along with full traceability, is what [manufacturers] are looking for. Our global network of affiliates are constantly working with our suppliers to determine what ingredients meet our rigid demand as being the highest quality for that particular nutrient.”

Not only are there quality and availability issues that come with securing ingredients for premixes, but there is also the challenge of technological problems that are associated with functional food ingredients. Fortitech combats this by using encapsulation technology when formulating its custom-designed nutrient premixes. “Encapsulation is a powerful way to overcome certain technological problems, but there are limitations, and the process is customized according to a specific function in the product,” Chaudhari explained. “Taste masking, preventing interactions between other components of finished product and preventing hygroscopicity of ingredients are just a few of the issues that encapsulation can help to overcome.” For powdered products, encapsulation helps mask metallic or bitter notes in premixes, but for liquid products, Chaudhari admits it may not function as well, depending upon the melting properties of coating materials and processing temperatures of the finished product. “While encapsulation is limited for beverages, it may be effectively accomplished in instances where the encapsulated ingredients can be formulated in a dry mix, which would be mixed into the liquid just prior to consumption,” he added. “That being said, we are seeing advances in nanotechnology that are enabling us to integrate a roster of nutrients that were once problematic.” He explained that nanoparticle processing can be a challenge when integrated with current technology, but it also offers tremendous opportunities for developing applications that incorporate nutrients into foods and beverages to enhance their nutritional profile.

With assurances of quality and traceability, premixes are a popular, effective way to ensure that consumers are getting a broad nutritional profile.