Tea makers have a lot to offer consumers in terms of flavor and format, with a broad array of options to meet consumers’ unique preferences. And those preferences are indeed unique. Consumers who choose loose leaf tea or tea bags are likely to be seeking a different experience than those who choose a ready-to-drink (RTD) or powder mix option, for instance.

While the tea space is diverse and vast, what is consistent across the board is that consumers are becoming more savvy and adventurous, putting a premium on quality, and seeking better-for-you, functional options to supplement their health.

Earlier this year, flavors firm Comax Flavors (Melville, NY) released primary research on consumer behavior, usage, and attitudes toward tea products, including tea bags, RTDs, and tea powder mixes. The company’s poll of 1,000 U.S. respondents aged 18 to 70 years showed that a consumer’s preference for a specific tea format often also correlated with a preference for a certain flavor profile.

For example, those consumers who preferred tea bags also preferred more traditional tea flavors. Green tea was ranked the number one flavor, cited by 44% of respondents. The next popular flavor was plain/original black tea, cited by 27%, followed by sweet tea, earl gray, and English breakfast, cited by 21%, 20%, and 19% of respondents, respectively.

On the other hand, consumers of RTD tea tended to prefer sweeter flavors, as well as citrus and fruit flavors. Among flavors favored by RTD drinkers, lemon ranked number one, cited by 48% of respondents; sweet tea and green tea were tied for second place, each cited by 39% of respondents; followed by peach, cited by 38% of respondents. Those who drink tea powder mix showed similar preferences, with lemon once again ranking at number one, cited by 61% of respondents, followed by sweet tea, peach, and raspberry, cited by 41%, 38%, and 36% of respondents, respectively.

Another report titled “Modern Tea Trends 2019” from a UK-based organization called National Tea Day divided tea consumers into two groups: Traditionalists and Modernists. Traditionalists see tea as comforting, creamy, and sweet, while Modernists view tea as healthy, colorful, and sensual.

Modernists are more adventurous in their tea habits, seeking unique sensory experiences and exploring their options. Also, said the report, when it comes to brewing tea, although traditional varieties such as black tea or green tea remain popular, attracting new and younger consumers to tea may require offering something novel and of superior quality.

People are willing to pay up for quality. For example, according to 2018 projections from consultant Beverage Marketing Corp. (New York City), while total 

 of tea bags, iced tea mix, loose leaf tea, and single-serve tea declined from 3.68 billion units to 3.66 billion units, retail dollars earned grew by about $465 million. Notably, one of the largest tea categories, tea bags, which fell in sales volume, experienced year-over-year sales gains of $130 million in grocery, drug, mass market, convenience, and dollar store channels, reflecting a consumer preference for premium tea at a price point over 20% of traditional teas.

 So, while sales volume went down, the sales grew because consumers were willing to pay a premium.

The premiumization of tea, says National Tea Day, was cited by 33% of surveyed tea brands as a trend driving sales. In fact, in places like the United Kingdom, where tea service is a huge part of the culture, the consumer access to premium tea is forcing food service venues to step up their game and provide even better options and superior service.

Perhaps the most important trend driving sales in the tea space is health and wellness, which National Tea Day says was cited by 80% of surveyed tea brands. Herbal teas have long been associated with health benefits, but tea brands are also actively positioning teas for specific health boons such as sleep support, stress relief, and detox.

Functional tea is a particularly good opportunity for RTD tea because offering health benefits on the go is a major selling point for today’s consumers, and consumers like the convenience of RTD tea. For example, according to projections from Beverage Marketing Corp., RTD tea was the only tea category to increase in both volume and value in 2018, reaching an estimated $10.75 billion. Despite the stiff competition in the overall RTD space, RTD tea was able to hold its own, increasing in volume by 1.1% compared to other RTDs, including soft drinks, sports drinks, and fruit beverages, which declined in volume in 2018. Because of tea’s healthy halo, it is attractive to consumers seeking an RTD with less sugar, for example.

Leveraging the intrinsic health benefits of certain teas and incorporating other functional ingredients can attract even more consumers, considering that the functional beverage category is experiencing double-digit growth. According to SPINS, shelf-stable energy and functional beverages increased in sales by 11.7% to $3.3 billion in the 52 weeks ending April 21, 2019. Success in the RTD space can translate into success in the functional tea space because tea as an avenue for specific health benefits feels familiar to consumers.

Bolton D et al. “RTD leads growth in US tea market.” 

Articles

Tea consumers are becoming more savvy and adventurous, putting a premium on quality, and seeking better-for-you, functional options to supplement their health.

It’s Tea’s Time: Opportunities in tea, from cup to bottle

If you’re ever in doubt about our culture’s comfort with technology, consider that even a small child can access more processing power from the palm of her hand than our ancestors could fathom over their entire lifetimes.

Yet when it comes to food and drink, an increasing number of us would rather technology get nowhere near what goes down the proverbial hatch. Far better to choose products with ingredients plucked from a field, nurtured on a free range, or gently squeezed from their “natural” source.

That’s the most environmentally sustainable way to source, right?

Not necessarily. Sometimes harvesting ingredients from nature exacts a larger toll-in energy, water, land, or carbon emissions-than does generating them in a lab. And yet one technology currently generating ingredients in labs is as “natural” as metabolism itself.

It’s fermentation. And it may be the ingredient engine of the future.

“Historically,” says Noah Michaels, team leader, culinary, Symrise (Teterboro, NJ), “fermentation has been used to produce and preserve foods. But as we see increasing fear of technologically processed ingredients, manufacturers are looking toward these ancient processing methods to find new ways to make ingredients.”

You can’t blame them. Fermentation enjoys a stellar reputation among wellness-minded consumers. Notes Chris Speed, senior vice president, global sales and marketing, NattoPharma (Oslo, Norway), “Fermented foods can be healthy, as they add beneficial bacteria to the gut microbiota, increasing digestive and immune system health.”

Fermented foods and beverages even constitute a bona-fide trend, one that Christopher Naese, vice president, business development, Florida Food Products (Eustis, FL), says, “follows a greater consumer movement toward healthier, better-for-you products that are recognizable on ingredient legends.”

But while consumers largely “get” fermentation’s role in producing items like wine, beer, cheese, tempeh, and kombucha, fewer understand that it can create ingredients. Indeed, many in the food and nutrition industries might not fully appreciate fermentation’s ingredient-generating power.

The process diverges from traditional fermentation in that rather than inoculating a starting material with fermentative organisms that transform that material into something quite different, producers insert a targeted gene into a host organism-usually a yeast-that then ferments a nutrient medium, producing the targeted ingredient as a byproduct. Producers then harvest the ingredient from the fermentate and purify it for use.

“Fermentation’s been used in food and beverage preparation for thousands of years,” notes Andy Ohmes, global director, high-intensity sweeteners, Cargill (Minneapolis). “But on the ingredient side, it’s a relatively new approach to production.”

The number of fermentation-generated ingredients now available remains somewhat small, but as suppliers master the technique, the ranks are growing beyond existing options like citric acid and other acidulants, and the sugar alcohol erythritol.

“Surprisingly, a large portion of table sugar is made from fermented beets and not from sugarcane,” notes Dillon Friday, PhD, category director for the North American culinary flavor division at Symrise. “Another common ingredient made from fermentation is MSG. And we often see that sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate, which aren’t label-friendly, are being replaced by ‘cultured dextrose,’ which is a naturally fermented preservative.”

“The fermentation process doesn’t just produce one or two molecules with bioactivity,” Friday continues, “but perhaps hundreds. We’re finding that fermentation of natural ingredients like rice or other proteins naturally creates bitter maskers, taste enhancers, cooling agents, sweetness enhancers, and more.”

And the process pays dividends beyond the ingredients themselves. Elzaphan Hotam, vice president of global marketing and CEO, NextFerm Technologies USA Inc. (Berkeley Heights, NJ), calls fermentation “the ultimate sustainable solution,” given its minimal land, water, and energy requirements compared to traditional sourcing, and its use of waste sugars as the fermentation medium.

Erythritol is exhibit A. “While some fruits and mushrooms produce small quantities of erythritol, it’s economically prohibitive to extract the same sweetener from these sources,” Ohmes explains. His company’s workaround: fermentation. “This process isn’t just more affordable,” he claims. “It also delivers a consistent, high-quality product and ensures supply-chain reliability. Ingredients produced through fermentation aren’t subject to the fluctuations in quality and supply we sometimes see with plant-sourced ingredients.”

Further, in an environment that prizes transparency, fermentation presents a refreshingly open book. As Elyse Lovett, senior marketing manager of nutrition, pharmaceutical, and CCM, Kyowa Hakko USA (New York City), notes, “Not only do consumers want to know an ingredient’s specific benefits to their supplement regimens; they’re looking deeper and asking questions like, ‘How is this ingredient made, and where is it from?’” Fermentation may not strike the romantic chord of tugging an ingredient from the soil, but it’s unambiguously traceable, quantifiable, and safe.

So where do we see fermentation in action?

At Impossible Foods, to cite one high-profile example. The company is leveraging fermentation to produce a vegetarian version of heme, the protein that makes red meat red and gives Impossible Foods’ plant-based meats their 

Nitrogen-fixing plants-think soybeans and legumes-naturally generate heme and store it in their roots. And while Impossible Foods 

extract that heme from such plants, the economic and environmental costs of doing so motivated them to transplant heme-producing genes from soybeans into yeast cells, which then produce heme via fermentation.

A similarly sustainable impetus compelled Cargill to tap fermentation for the production of its EverSweet stevia sweetener. “The biggest problem with accessing the best-tasting parts of the stevia plant, Reb M and Reb D, is doing so in a commercially and environmentally viable way,” Ohmes explains. The compounds appear in the plant’s leaf in such small quantities that extracting them via a “traditional approach” is too costly and inefficient.

So Cargill employs a “specially crafted yeast” to produce the same rebaudioside M and rebaudioside D molecules as found in the stevia leaf, but at scale. “Using fermentation,” Ohmes says, “we can provide our customers with a great-tasting product in quantities and at a price that make widespread commercial use possible, but produced with the environment in mind.”

Vitamin K2 is another fermentation windfall. While we can obtain this fat-soluble vitamin-key to bone and vascular health-from foods like cheese and the Japanese soybean delicacy natto, “the only way to produce the active ingredient naturally is via bacterial fermentation,” Speed notes. “It’s a sustainable process with very low emissions and waste, and it allows for a natural label.”

 species with a high capacity for producing menquinone-7, the most bioactive form of vitamin K2, to ferment the ingredient from a vegetable-based substrate. “Applying a proprietary technology, we isolate the natural MK-7, purify it, and concentrate it to a superior active ingredient free of known allergens,” Speed adds. The commercial products are vegan-suitable and Non-GMO Project verified-“both features that resonate with today’s natural- and clean-label-conscious consumers.”

NextFerm’s Hotam claims that his company developed the first yeast-derived astaxanthin for human consumption using fermentation and downstream extraction, yielding “a product with much better physical properties and greater market potential than the existing source,” he says, “and at a competitive cost structure.”

The finished astaxanthin beadlets are four times more potent than astaxanthin from other sources, “enabling greater and easier use of this powder technology in various food formats,” he says. “We also have a 10% odorless fluid-something algae technology simply doesn’t carry-thus opening another compelling area of gummies and related applications.” More carotenoids, proteins, and prebiotics are in the company’s fermentation pipeline.

Embria Health Sciences (Ankeny, IA) makes its dietary ingredient EpiCor through a highly controlled fermentation that starts with baker’s yeast deprived of oxygen. “Under these high-stress conditions, the yeast produces a host of metabolites and nutrients,” explains Cashtyn Lovan, senior marketing associate for the company. Those, along with “beneficial yeast cell components,” comprise EpiCor, “a whole-food fermentate that supports a properly functioning, strong, and balanced immune system,” she says.

And Florida Food Products’ line of fermented juices and powders sourced from plants like carrot, mushroom, and beet “follows the increasing drive to derive flavors from foods,” Naese says. Using a lactic-acid fermentation that lowers beet juice’s sugar content by about 10%, the company creates an ingredient with “a fresh flavor and light sweetness, coupled with beet’s inherent health benefits,” according to Naese. “Fermented fruit and vegetable products like fermented beet juice give formulators clean-label alternatives without the need to add flavors, acids, or flavor enhancers to the finished product.”

But fermentation still has hurdles to clear before reaching its apotheosis as an ingredient engine.

As Symrise’s Friday explains, “Fermentation is a complex biological process. The knowhow to create ingredients this way is a very sought-after skill that requires years of training and experience.”

Achieving cost effectiveness and organic certification also remain on the to-do list. And fermentation requires “impeccable control and sanitation to ensure that the desired microorganisms can flourish unchallenged by undesirable microbes,” Symrise’s Michaels adds.

So in the scramble to capitalize on fermentation’s promise, some industry players are acquiring or investing in companies already adept at the method, while other “traditional” baker’s and brewer’s yeast companies “have entered or are looking to enter the ingredient world through leveraging their existing knowhow and capacity,” Hotam says. She considers AB-inBev (Belgium) and Lesaffre (France) “great examples of this approach.”

In any case, it may take some effort to secure widespread consumer buy-in of fermented ingredients. But once educational principles are in place, experts hope, the momentum for mainstreaming will take care of itself.

“I think it’s important to emphasize that the fermentation process, versus chemical synthesis, yields ingredients of high quality and purity,” Kyowa Hakko’s Lovett notes. “This is a key aspect in consumer education. While the cost may be high, Millennials are willing to pay for quality, so telling your story is important.”

And fermented ingredients simply have a compelling story to tell. “We believe the growing popularity of fermented foods will help drive consumer acceptance of ingredients produced through fermentation,” Ohmes says. They may come from a lab, but they’re down to earth.

The number of fermentation-generated ingredients now available remains somewhat small, but as suppliers master the technique, the ranks are growing.

Fermentation may be the ingredient engine of the future

When companies talk about environmental sustainability, they tend to talk about it in terms of 

New conversations, however, are using terms like 

 because, let’s face it, sustaining what we have isn’t enough; ideally, we would leave the earth and its resources healthier than we found it. At the center of these conversations are such questions as: How much do we know about the impacts of harvesting? How do we leave the earth and soil better than we found it? How do suppliers maintain a sustainable supply chain when natural disasters and other environmental factors are greatly impacting yields?

Take the world of herbal ingredients. “Herbal product companies are already experiencing disruptions in their supply chains from shortages from unprecedented rains, droughts, fires, hurricanes, and other weather events caused by climate change,” says Ann Armbrecht, PhD, director of the Sustainable Herbs Program. “These disruptions will only increase in the future.” Armbrecht, an anthropologist, founded the Sustainable Herbs Program in 2015 to spread education about the medicinal plant supply chain and garner support for sustainability, ethical sourcing, and transparency in the industry. In 2018, the educational group the American Botanical Council (Austin, TX) added its clout to the program, coming on board as a partner.

The American Herbal Products Association Foundation for Education and Research on Botanicals (AHPA-ERB)-which promotes education and research on medicinal, therapeutic, and health-promoting herbs-funds a lot of harvest-impact studies. “We give money to academics and not-for-profits to collect scientific data in the field to understand how these populations of wild plants are being impacted by harvest,” says Holly E. Johnson, PhD, chief science officer at the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA; Silver Spring, MD).

One of AHPA-ERB’s harvest-impact studies is on oshÃ¡ 

 a sacred Native American plant used in herbal supplements. “We have had an ongoing six-year study with Kelly Kindscher, PhD, a botanist at the University of Kansas, and his team of students who have gone out and done [research] in northern New Mexico and Colorado where the herb grows,” Johnson says. “Right now, there’s a forest ban, so we can’t harvest much at all on forest land. But we’re trying to figure out what’s going on. Is there a lot of it out there? If there was a commercial harvest, how much could we take? We’re harvesting different amounts and seeing how the herb recovers over a number of years.”

Wild-harvested herbs are not only affected by climate change, but resource allocation. “There are fewer wild places these days,” Johnson says. “And, of course, the demand for botanicals has gone up. As that happens, you have to keep an eye on it to make sure these wild plants are sustained.”

When it comes to cultivated plants, “At the current rates of soil degradation, the world’s topsoil could be lost within 60 years, a senior UN official has said,” says Armbrecht.

According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), half of the topsoil in the world has been damaged in the last 150 years. Decarbonization, erosion, desertification, and chemical pollution all damage soil. And in addition to the loss of arable topsoil, soil scientists say our food will lack vital nutrients and trace minerals due to the current rates of soil damage.

The herbal industry has an important role to play in supporting biological diversity preservation and regenerative ecosystems. “It’s important because in sourcing raw materials in a responsible way, the industry can be part of regenerating the ecological, economical, and cultural systems of communities, bringing wellness not just to the consumer of the finished product but to all of the communities-human and ecological-involved,” Armbrecht says.

According to the nonprofit group Regeneration International, regenerative agriculture is defined “as farming and grazing practices that, among other benefits, reverse climate change by rebuilding soil organic matter and restoring degraded soil biodiversity, resulting in both carbon drawdown and improving the water cycle.”

“It is a holistic land-management practice that leverages the power of photosynthesis in plants to close the carbon cycle, and build soil health, crop resilience, and nutrient density,” the group explains on its website.

In a 2017 article they wrote for the publication 

, Martin Stuchtey, founder and managing partner of SYSTEMIQ, and Morten RossÃ©, expert associate principal at McKinsey Center for Business & Environment, urged: “It is time to move away from what has become a linear food system: a take, make, dispose system in which, too often, synthetic inputs go into the land; the land gets overused, and a huge proportion of the food produced is wasted and ends up in landfill. In addition, many nutrients never make it back to the field, stacking up in contaminated sludge. The goal should be to move toward a regenerative model in which land is restored as it is used and in which nutrient and material loops provide much-needed inputs, resulting in a healthier food supply.”

Often these practices involve assessments and certifications to ensure they are being adhered to, Armbrecht says. “And often, the burden-both in time and cost-falls on producer groups and/or growers. Companies can help shift this burden in different ways, from supporting farmers in their network to participating in the increasing number of regenerative farmer-training programs to sharing the costs of participating in certifications like FairWild.” The FairWild Foundation is a third-party certification program designating companies that are sourcing and producing products using socially and ecologically responsible methods.

Ryan Sirolli, global row crop sustainability director for ingredients supplier Cargill (Minneapolis), says that as farmers adapt practices that improve soil health, they help “build drought resilience, increase yield stability, reduce nutrient loss, and increase carbon sequestration”-benefits that could come back to the company itself.

“There is strong evidence to support that these efforts translate into more stable yields with lower input costs,” he says.

Cargill fosters a partnership with the Soil Health Institute, bringing farmers and ranchers together with industry to invest in soil health. One way in which soil health is improved is through cover crops-for instance, typically soybeans are planted one year, followed by corn the next. Planting a cover crop helps bring about many of the benefits mentioned above. “In some locations, yellow peas can serve as the cover crop, allowing farmers to earn additional income, enabling them to grow and harvest three crops over the span of two years. They earn income from an extra crop; plus, yellow peas bring a host of soil health benefits. And, since peas put nitrogen back into the soil, less nitrogen fertilizer is needed to grow corn the next year, saving farmers input costs while improving water quality,” Sirolli explains.

Nuherbs (San Leandro, CA) is a supplier and importer of Chinese herbal ingredients. Wilson Lau, vice president of sales and marketing, explains that the company started going directly to its growers and wildcrafters many years ago to ensure the quality and sustainability of its herbs. “We are just beginning to explore biodynamic farming and regenerative ecosystems,” he says. “However, our sourcing practices are deeply rooted in sustainability and all the different facets of supply-chain security.”

With the help of foundations such as FairWild, Lau says each herb is assessed to confirm it can be harvested sustainably. “The soil, temperature, humidity, terrain, and microclimate all contribute to the potency of the plant,” he explains. “We ascertain the right area where it should be grown for the activity we seek. We ensure it is collected at the correct time, using the best techniques for the plant’s well-being and the herb’s activity.”

AHPA’s Johnson also speaks to the belief that sustainable wild harvesting relates to the power of the plant itself. “[APHA has found that] there’s a real feeling that the conditions in the natural forest where these herbs evolved actually contribute to the healing powers of the plant once harvested,” Johnson says. “So, they’re not seen as just a commodity by people who take them; there’s a sector of people who are into herbs and botanicals who would like to see them harvested from the wild as opposed to bringing them in for cultivation.”

Herbal supplier Draco Natural Products (San Jose, CA) works with its partners in China to promote wildcrafting principles. Through its sustainable wildcrafting program, 10%-20% of the material is left on the field to prevent over-harvesting or depletion of the plant-resource biome.

“Since wild plants are often more efficacious, over two-thirds of our products are made from ethically wildcrafted plants,” says Brien Quirk, Draco’s director of R&D. This means that plant materials are only harvested in areas that are not affected by pollution, and only partial harvests of the healthiest plants are taken, among other practices.

“Another interesting component of this program is utilizing the benefits of partial cultivation in wildcrafting by reseeding in areas to help replenish and ensure the plant-stock survival,” Quirk explains. “It’s similar to how birds and wildlife spread seeds by eating them but not fully digesting all of them, which allows the plants to be reseeded and established in new areas.”

The benefits of these practices are many, Quirk says. “Diversified flora and fauna in more wild and sustainable ecosystems allow plants to thrive better by resisting insect attack or fungal diseases that are otherwise more susceptible to spread of diseases or infestations in crop monoculture. With birds, insects, and other wildlife in a more natural setting, no one insect can multiply unchecked as in typical agricultural settings because the more natural prey-and-predator interactions will keep a dominant population in check.”

Implementing sustainable practices and establishing new techniques, and even supply chains, can be overwhelming. Faced with these daunting challenges, where should companies start?

“As [medicinal plant expert] Josef Brinckmann advises, the best thing to do is just start somewhere,” says the Sustainable Herbs Program’s Armbrecht. “Pick one plant in your supply chain that is important to your business and follow it to the source. Identify the threats to biological diversity and degraded ecosystems and begin to take action. There are plenty of resources available for what to do when you identify the threats.”

Like many companies, pea ingredient supplier Puris (Minneapolis) diversifies its efforts and its portfolio to support regenerative practices and diverse crop rotations, which include yellow field peas.

“We don’t believe the one-seed-fits-all model supports a regenerative ecosystem,” says Nicole Atchison, chief technology officer. “We believe growers deserve more high-quality choices for their farms. Our portfolio of beans, pulses, and other non-GMO plants is adapted to the unique conditions of our partner farms.” The company’s website states: “Every variety is naturally bred for superior yield, disease resistance, and vigor, and regenerates the soil, leaving the soil healthier than it started.”

Atchison says Puris has seen many successes as a result of this, including releasing pulse varieties that excel in new geographies, providing additional options for diversity and double cropping on these farms, and leveraging the shorter growing cycles of peas to ensure winter cover crops are established to add beneficial nitrogen naturally to the soil.

Education is also a key act that companies can play a role in. Groups such as the Midwest Row Crop Collaborative (MRCC) support the production of row crops in the Midwest. Cargill, a founding member, says MRCC’s goal is to demonstrate how changes in farming practices can viably benefit the environment, using science-based approaches to identify and develop solutions to meet a set of goals that include soil health, water conservation, and nutrient loading reduction.

Cargill’s cocoa and chocolate products also adhere to sustainable practices. In addition to its support of the World Cocoa Foundation’s Cocoa & Forests Initiative (CFI), “We help farmers adopt sustainable agricultural practices, from learning to farm existing land more efficiently to supporting reforestation and biodiversity-enhancing efforts through agroforestry and conservation,” says Ilse Tarantino, Cargill’s cocoa and chocolate North America sustainability lead.

Ingredients supplier Sabinsa Corp. (East Windsor, NJ) also finds value in training farmers in best agricultural practices, as well as practicing corporate social responsibility. In 2004, the company hired botanists and soil experts and began contracting with farmers across India to ensure a sustainable, transparent, and traceable supply of raw materials. Sabinsa funded new irrigation systems and advocated for the use of sustainable farming methods. Farmers are also guaranteed a minimum purchase price, even when harvests are poor, and they are paid above that contracted price if market rates increase.

“We started the program to ensure we would have a continued supply of raw material, but the program became much more-a social mission where we fund the small rural schools and improve local infrastructure,” says Shaheen Majeed, president worldwide, Sabinsa.

Today, Sabinsa’s farming network expands over 40,000 acres and involves more than 6,000 farmers all over India. “I have stood with these farmers on the land and heard them say that their child will be the first in the family to go to a university thanks to our efforts,” says Majeed. “Planning ahead, we’ve expanded the program into parts of Africa and Southeast Asia as we continue to look toward the future and anticipate the effects of weather patterns and climate change.”

Full-iD is an internal certification system at ingredients supplier Vidya Herbs (Fullerton, CA) that measures different categories, including farming practices that preserve natural resources and respect the farm ecosystems. “Through regular on-field visits and trust-based relationships with our farmers, we avoid any destruction of the local forest and/or biodiversity,” says Emilie Danckaert, global marketing manager. “We encourage our farmers to maintain the variety of animals and plant species that keep a natural ecological balance.” For example, coffee growing near adapted shade trees-silver oak, black pepper, or guava trees-keeps in the humidity and creates a bird-and-bat-friendly environment.

Polyculture, the practice of raising multiple crops in the same field, is also encouraged to promote a richer ecosystem. “Our farmers, for example, alternate between turmeric and potato crops to renew the soil by regulating nitrogen and avoiding soil depletion,” Danckaert says.

Vidya Herbs also practices botanical upcycling: When a plant is harvested, every part of the harvested plant is transformed into high-added-value ingredients, following a zero-waste approach.

Upcycling also happens in the food industry. Every year, roughly one-third of the food produced in the world for human consumption-approximately 1.3 billion tons-is wasted or lost, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Finding ways to reuse byproducts that are rich in nutrients creates positive impacts on the environment and economics.

“Most byproducts from food production are now composted, used for energy production, or as animal feed,” says Thierry Lenice, global environmental manager at Diana Food (France), a part of Symrise. “We are now trying to identify the valuable components, consider how we can extract and stabilize them during the manufacturing process, and transform them into products for humans, pets, or aquaculture. For example, in fruit and vegetable production, one-third of the harvest is lost because it does not meet aesthetic retail criteria, which set strict specifications regarding shape, weight, and size. We can use these raw materials, as well as residual material such as skins, peels, seeds, or flesh, for new products.”

Denis Guyonnet, the innovation scientific director of Diana Nova, Symrise’s incubator for innovation in health and nutrition, says there is great value in the residual products and byproducts from food production.

He says: “The production of our banana purees, flakes, and powder-which are used in baby food and other products-generates around 22,000 tons of banana peels a year, which still contain a lot of dietary fiber and health-promoting substances. If we extract and recycle these and many other natural ingredients, it will have a positive impact on the environment. In this way, we contribute to the conservation of natural resources while also creating new markets and economic advantages for our company.”

Many ingredient companies have established sustainability practices that help protect the land, farms, crops, wildlife, the oceanic ecosystem, plants, farmers, and communities they work with. Each year, companies are realizing the value of not only replenishing and protecting the land, but they understand the value in bringing workers, communities, and industry together to bring about good for the land and the people.

As the need for resource management, sustainable harvesting, regenerative agriculture, and circular systems becomes more imminent, technology, innovation, data, partnerships, and accountability will play large roles in these efforts.

Aker BioMarine is situated in Oslo, Norway, where the Antarctic ecosystem uniquely depends on Antarctic krill 

 To protect the oceanic ecosystem during krill harvesting, heavy regulations are in place.

“The very strict and precautionary regulation of the Antarctic krill fishery is the most important measure to ensure a sustainable krill harvest without negative effects on other species in the oceanic ecosystem,” says Runa Haug Khoury, director of sustainability, Aker BioMarine AS. “The harvest is limited to one area near the Antarctic peninsula, and the harvesting companies are only allowed to harvest less than 1% of the total krill biomass in that area per year.”

Early on, Aker BioMarine invented a new way to catch krill with its patented fishing system, Eco-Harvesting. The technology platform brings krill live and fresh aboard its vessels while singling out unwanted bycatch and minimizing its environmental impact.

Technology also impacts how the company harvests and manufactures. “By using live data and machine learning, we can better optimize and manage harvesting patterns, production flow, and maintenance to increase efficiency, including the reduction of fuel consumption,” Haug Khoury says.

The company is also working with other krill fishing companies operating in the Antarctic to create penguin buffer zones. “Together we have agreed to voluntarily avoid fishing in areas around the Antarctic peninsula, including ‘buffer zones’ around the breeding colonies of penguins, in order to protect Antarctic wildlife.”

Sidebar: Initiatives In Preservation And Regeneration

The FairWild Foundation provides a global framework for implementing a sustainable and fair-trading system for wild-collected plant ingredients and their products.

“Collection practices of wild botanicals impact entire ecosystems,” says Wilson Lau, vice president of sales and marketing for Chinese herb supplier Nuherbs (San Leandro, CA) and a FairWild Advisory Board member. “Sustainable harvesting of wild plants can provide an incentive to maintain the habitats for the benefits of other species.”

The FairWild Standard “protects plant species and local wildlife from the effects of over-harvesting and makes sure local collectors enjoy fair working conditions,” says the group’s website. The standard addresses four areas: sustainable harvesting, resource management, ethical working conditions, and traceability in trade.

In addition to FairWild, there are many certifications, foundations, programs, and initiatives that offer frameworks, guidelines, standards, research, and protection efforts to further the natural product industry’s sustainability efforts.

The Sustainable Herbs Program, in partnership with the American Botanical Council (Austin, TX), helps protect herbs and supports sustainability in the industry through various mediums. The program offers resources and guides for companies in the herb industry with best practices, case studies, exercises, and more.

“We are continuing to produce educational content, primarily with videos about what a range of companies are doing to address these issues because our belief is that these stories are one of the best ways to inspire action,” says Ann Armbrecht, PhD, director of the Sustainable Herbs Program. “We are also collaborating with others to organize panel discussions, multi-stakeholder meetings, and other gatherings in order to mobilize conversations and actions on these issues in the industry as a whole.”

 is often described as one of the most multipurpose forest trees,” says Shaheen Majeed, president worldwide of ingredient supplier Sabinsa Corp. (East Windsor, NJ). Although the Indian Kino Tree is highly valued, it is also listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. “Continued depletion of this species without any replanting initiative endangers the tree’s population and continued availability over a period of time,” says Majeed. “We want to prevent such a possibility.”

The Sami-Sabinsa Group supports reforestation for cultivating 

 through its good agricultural practices program. The company says: “Under the initiative, the land in the Seoni and Balaghat regions in Madhya Pradesh, India, is provided by the forest department of the state of Madhya Pradesh, with the Madhya Pradesh Rajya Van Vikas Nigam performing the cultivation and maintaining the plants for a minimum period of five years. After five years, the trees are self-sustaining.”

The Panda Friendly Program’s goal is to teach local farmer co-ops in China to harvest herbs in a way that reduces damage to the panda habitat area, allowing wildlife to safely reside in their natural habitats.

“The Southern schisandra berry harvest is usually quite destructive, as the whole vine is pulled down, killing the vine and often damaging the tree that supports it,” says Brien Quirk, director of R&D at Draco Natural Products (San Jose, CA). Optimal harvesting is also less than desirable, he adds. “Oftentimes, immature green berries are harvested in the summer, scalded in boiling water, then sundried, giving the appearance of autumn-harvested, mature, brownish-red berries.”

Draco is exercising its knowledge and reach to help promote better practices by participating in the Panda Friendly Program alongside other partners. Says Quirk: “[The] program developed a quality standard for wildcrafting, where only mature berries are taken, bunches are clipped from the vine without destroying the vine or the supporting tree, and the top one-third of the berries on the vine are left alone to ensure regeneration and sustainability. This helps protect the habitat from unnecessary destruction and teaches the locals to place value on the integrity of the ecosystem for future harvests.”

Draco Natural Products joined the program 11 years ago. Additional plants, herbs, and roots are being considered for the Panda Friendly Program, including Traditional Chinese Medicinal (TCM) plants, turmeric, and ginger. And efforts are already underway to add more villages and households of wildcrafters to the co-op.

To protect the Antarctic ecosystem through research and education, the Antarctic Wildlife Research Fund (AWR) was established, in partnership with krill ingredients supplier Aker BioMarine (Oslo, Norway) and other organizations, to facilitate and promote research on the Antarctic ecosystem through support from commercial partners and individuals.

“In order to help safeguard the future of the Antarctic fishery, we need to continue filling the knowledge gaps around the krill biomass and its surrounding ecosystem,” says Runa Haug Khoury, director of sustainability, Aker BioMarine AS. “With the work of AWR, ongoing science and data will become available, helping the industry make educated decisions on how to better understand krill and the interlinkages between species in the Antarctic ecosystem, and how to best care for and protect the ecosystem. As we continue to face potential challenges, such as those imposed by global warming, AWR will look at how the rise of ocean temperatures will affect krill’s behavior, movements, and reproduction.”

Stuchtey M and RossÃ© M. “Cultivating a regenerative food system.” 

Published January 28, 2017. Accessed at: 

https://www.greenbiz.com/article/cultivating-regenerative-food-system

How much do we know about the impacts of harvesting? How do we leave the earth and soil better than we found it? How do suppliers maintain a sustainable supply chain when natural disasters and other environmental factors are greatly impacting yields?

Sustainability in the Field: Regenerative agriculture and biodiversity in the natural products industry

“Lead, not follow” are words that exemplify all four of 

’s 2019 Best of the Industry award winners. The individuals and companies we’re recognizing this year are at the helm, whether of an entire segment of the market they represent or as stewards of a new ingredient.

Our industry leader is Michael McGuffin of the American Herbal Products Association who this year celebrates his 20

 anniversary as association president. Under Michael’s tenure-and even before that, when he served on the association’s board of trustees-AHPA has been a leading influence and guiding hand in shaping the safe, responsible, and prosperous herb commerce market that so many consumers rely on today. With Michael at the lead, AHPA’s influence extends beyond the herbal community; AHPA has been promoting the interests of the entire dietary supplement industry for decades.

OmegaQuant has likewise served as a key advocate for the omega-3 industry. The company and its leader, William Harris, PhD, have been key messengers about the importance of the Omega-3 Index, a measure of a person’s omega-3 status that serves as a risk indicator for developing cardiovascular disease. Harris and his colleagues were not only the earliest proponents of the Omega-3 Index, which is increasingly recognized by researchers as a reliable metric, but OmegaQuant’s Omega-3 Index test kits have given consumers a tangible, practical way to test their own Omega-3 levels and have helped spread awareness about low omega-3 intake and the importance of supplementation. For this reason, we’ve selected OmegaQuant as this year’s retail brand/product leader.

Two of our other company winners are ingredient suppliers embarking on new ground. The first is ChromaDex, who is creating a market for its Niagen nicotinamide riboside ingredient, which in November the European Commission approved as a novel food. Perfect Day is another ingredient supplier, one that has created an innovative non-animal, flora-based dairy protein that offers the best of both worlds: the enjoyment of a dairy product without sustainability drawbacks attached.

’s 2019 Best of the Industry award winners!

In Nutritional Outlook's 2019 Best of the Industry Awards, we are recognizing individuals, groups, and companies whose initiatives today may help shape, for the better, the state of the dietary supplement and food and beverage industries for years to come.

Nutritional Outlook’s 2019 Best of the Industry Award Winners

The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA; Silver Spring, MD) has been the chief U.S. trade association for the herbal products industry for nearly four decades. More than half of the association’s existence has been led by AHPA’s current president, Michael McGuffin. This year, McGuffin celebrates his 20

 is honored to recognize his longstanding work on behalf of the industry by naming him our 2019 Industry Leader.

McGuffin’s dedication to “health, herbs, and good food” is personal and far-reaching. His journey began long before he joined AHPA. “Before moving to California in 1973, I had made a few gallons of sassafras tea during my youth in pre-paved Maryland suburbs. And though I’d eaten wild ‘poke salat’ as a kid, I gained my first appreciation of proper plant identification by mistaking the toxic 

 in a Venice alley as a Western cousin of poke,” he tells 

In 1974, McGuffin cofounded a retail store called Venice Fruit Tramps-an “accidental collective,” he calls it-selling fresh produce and bulk herbs on California’s Venice Boardwalk. In 1979, McGuffin and a business partner, Janet Zand, who is a now a doctor of naturopathy and oriental medicine, and a board-certified acupuncturist, took their “combined fortune of $2200” to build an herbal tincture manufacturing and marketing firm called McZand Herbal. In 1985, McZand Herbal became a member of the recently formed American Herbal Products Association. (The association was founded in 1982.)

In 1990, McGuffin was elected to AHPA’s board of trustees. “In late 1989, I was contacted by Shel Weinberg of Trout Lake Farm to solicit my candidacy for an open board seat,” McGuffin says. “When I told Shel I was just too busy with my company to take on a volunteer role, he replied: ‘We’re all too busy, Michael. But it’s your turn.’ This message somehow resonated with me, and I was elected to AHPA’s board of trustees in 1990 and served there until I was hired as AHPA’s president in 1999.”

Twenty years later, McGuffin and AHPA are a leading voice not only for the herbal products industry but for the entire dietary supplement industry, helping to shape the regulatory environment and the multibillion-dollar market for these products.

More importantly, AHPA’s work has benefitted the growing number of consumers relying on natural products and herbal remedies for healthcare. “This really is my life’s work,” McGuffin says. “I think there is a tendency for trade associations to be thought of as only advocating for industry. That isn’t true, at least not for AHPA. We’re doing this for consumers and my fellow American citizens who want to use herbs without undue legal obstructions. That’s why I have devoted my life to advocating for ready, informed access to herbal products in a regulatory framework that protects public health and simultaneously ensures the right to make personal healthcare choices.”

One would be hard-pressed to find a regulatory issue related to the herbal and dietary supplement industry in which AHPA’s voice isn’t heard.

In the early days, even before McGuffin came on board, AHPA had begun speaking out to protect the herbal category. McGuffin says, “For example, in 1983 AHPA went on record as supporting the efforts of the Fmali Herb Company in its lawsuit against FDA in response to FDA’s refusal to allow import of an herbal product containing schizandra seed 

and other herbal ingredients with a long history of human consumption in Asia. This enforcement position was based on that agency’s interpretation of the 1958 food additive amendments to federal law as disallowing consideration of food use outside of the U.S. as relevant to a food’s history of use. Fmali eventually won this case on appeal, which had ramifications for the entire food industry.”

That was just the beginning. During McGuffin’s presidency, another key win was the association’s push for the USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP) to allow supplement products to be labeled as “organic” and to carry the USDA Organic seal. At the time in 2005, the NOP was only granting use of the seal to conventional food products. AHPA was also involved when FDA was establishing its 2006 law for serious adverse event reporting (AERs).

AHPA’s advocacy has not only helped the herbal products industry but the larger dietary supplement industry as well. The association has been one of the leaders in conversations with regulators, including through public comments submitted to federal and state agencies. Notably, AHPA submitted more than 400 pages of comments regarding regulations proposed under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), as well as voluminous comments regarding FDA’s new dietary ingredient (NDI) draft guidance (both the initial draft in 2011 and the revised draft in 2016). This year alone, AHPA submitted comments to regulators expressing its opinion on topics ranging from FDA’s intention to revamp dietary supplement regulations, tariffs on herbal ingredients during the current U.S.-China trade war, crop-grouping regulations under the purview of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and even a matter as specific as the use of dairy names for plant-based products.

With McGuffin as its head, the association regularly engages with federal agencies, including FDA, the FTC, USDA, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. AHPA actively monitors government activity at the state level as well, stepping in when issues and legislation could negatively impact herbal commerce. It has, for instance, been a leading participant in regulatory issues involving California’s Proposition 65 law. The association also extends its representation abroad via its International Committee, which works to ensure responsible international commerce of herbal products. AHPA is also an active member of the International Alliance of Dietary/Food Supplements Associations (IADSA) and regularly updates AHPA’s membership on international regulatory developments. McGuffin himself has served as an industry representative for groups such as FDA’s Food Advisory Committee Working Group on Good Manufacturing Practices for Dietary Supplements (1998-1999) and California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Analysis Food Warning Workgroup (2008-2010).

AHPA is also an active presence on Capitol Hill. In addition to its own lobbying work, AHPA is one of the associations that participates in the annual Day on the Hill event during which associations share education about the benefits of dietary and herbal supplements, alongside industry concerns, with lawmakers.

On the scientific front, AHPA’s chief science officer, Holly Johnson, PhD, and AHPA’s science staff participate in organizations such as the U.S. Pharmacopeia, the American Herbal Pharmacopeia, AOAC International, NSF International, and the National Institutes of Health, communicating on matters of research and natural product standards. McGuffin himself has been published in scholarly and scientific journals.

It’s hard to separate AHPA’s achievements from McGuffin’s own; they are one and the same. McGuffin attributes the association’s accomplishments to its members.

“One of AHPA’s strengths, reflected in the breadth and diversity of our membership, is the ability to connect many industry leaders to address the many, evolving issues and opportunities we encounter,” he says. “[W]e focus this combined experience and expertise, both through active engagement with regulatory working groups and with other authoritative bodies, such as the U.S. Pharmacopeia, AOAC International, and NSF International, and through submission of comments during rulemaking procedures.” Under McGuffin’s stewardship, AHPA’s Board of Trustees has grown nearly 40%.

“I would like to be able to report that our positions are always embraced by regulators, but of course it would be unrealistic to have any such expectation!” says McGuffin. “But we have had important influence on many and diverse regulations adopted by federal agencies and occasionally by states. And we maximize opportunities for such outcomes by first engaging with our members and then communicating to regulators with as much clarity as we can. Importantly, we have also built and continue to maintain respectful relationships with government agencies, even when we disagree with them.”

Click here to read our full interview with Michael McGuffin

AHPA will always serve first and foremost as a resource for its members-nearly 400 companies, including growers, processors, manufacturers, and marketers of herbs and herbal products (foods, dietary supplements, cosmetics, and non-prescription drugs).

AHPA’s educational and technical tools for its members are vast, including the association’s 

, created in 2005, which helps the entire supplements industry by providing a searchable repository of new dietary ingredient notifications submitted to FDA. During McGuffin’s presidency, AHPA’s board has adopted nearly 30 trade requirements or guidance policies to help promote responsible herb commerce and, in AHPA’s words, “represent meaningful self-regulation for the herbal products industry.” During McGuffin’s tenure, the association also issued second editions of its 

 (an incorporated reference in FDA’s labeling rules for herbal supplements) and 

-both key industry primers, with McGuffin serving as managing editor. It also regularly hosts in-person events and webcasts on regulatory and technical issues, and keeps its membership informed through newsletters and e-mail alerts.

McGuffin also ensures that the association monitors the current market, keeping its eye on which herbal categories are growing and in need of guidance and exchange of information. Under McGuffin’s watch, the association has created additional committees reflecting some of the most active herbal markets in the past 20 years: Sports Nutrition, Cannabis, Ayurvedic Products, Chinese Herbal Products, Analytical Labs, Tea & Infusion Products, and Sustainability. Says McGuffin: “It is important to remember that the herbal products industry is not monolithic. We see emerging niche interests, expertise, and needs. In order to serve the many and diverse needs of the industry, it has been vital for AHPA to tap the experts in various of these niches, and we do that by chartering committees that serve these separate and specific segments.”

AHPA serves a unique function that no other trade association does. Says McGuffin, “I am probably biased, but...I certainly think there would be a void of leadership for the herbal community without AHPA. There are other herb-focused organizations-the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia, the American Botanical Council, the American Herbalist Guild-and each of these also plays important roles in service to the herbal community. But AHPA plays a different role than any of these, as we have come to be relied on to serve the interests of the trade and to be the primary resource for industry advocacy. There are also several trade associations and other organizations that focus exclusively on the supplement and natural product markets-the Council for Responsible Nutrition, the Natural Products Association, and the United Natural Products Alliance-and each of these also makes significant contributions. But AHPA is again unique among these with the focused expertise of both our staff and our membership on the unique needs of the herbal products sector of the trade.”

According to the American Botanical Council’s (Austin, TX) journal 

, 2018 marked the U.S. herbal supplement market’s strongest year of sales growth yet-9.4% in 2018 to $8.8 billion. This means that U.S. herbal supplement sales are the strongest since McGuffin became AHPA’s president. AHPA’s guidance, both within and outside of the industry, will remain invaluable as this category increasingly goes mainstream and encounters more regulatory pressure and criticism. As AHPA continually monitors media coverage, it will continue to disseminate accurate information and correct misinformation. One pressing example of how AHPA’s voice is especially valued today is in the emerging hemp cannabidiol (CBD) market. To this end, AHPA has hosted both in-depth in-person and online events to bring regulators and stakeholders closer together and to help the industry navigate the waters to ensure a responsible market. With more than 40 years of experience with herbal product regulation and what McGuffin calls a “decade of engagement with this controversial herb,” AHPA is an authoritative figure on Capitol Hill, urging FDA to create a lawful pathway to market for CBD products.

In looking back on his 20 years of AHPA leadership, McGuffin says, “I have been a member of the natural products industry for nearly 45 years, and the bulk of my education has come from on-the-job experience. This experience in the industry and at AHPA has provided me with a valuable understanding of the distinct, but compatible, needs that individual businesses and the broader industry require to succeed.”

We turned to an equally respected authority in the herbal community to offer a few words about McGuffin’s many contributions. Mark Blumenthal, founder and executive director of the American Botanical Council, shared these words with us:

to be acknowledging Michael McGuffin for his immeasurable contributions to the American herb and dietary supplement industries. Everyone in the U.S. herb industry owes a profound and genuine debt of gratitude and appreciation to him for his strategic contributions to the overall industry. This debt applies to 

companies that sell botanical ingredients, whether or not they are members of AHPA-whether they consider themselves ‘herb’ companies or simply dietary supplement companies that happen to sell herbal ingredients as part of their product line.

Michael’s impact goes well beyond the U.S. market; it also includes benefits to foreign companies, whether they manufacture their own herbal products that they’re selling in the U.S. or whether they are botanical ingredient suppliers trying to sell to U.S. manufacturers. Either way, Michael’s excellent work for over 20 years as president of AHPA has helped to create a strong and stable American herb industry where many businesses have been able to flourish due to his efforts. Under his tireless and strategic leadership, AHPA has grown to be a major trade association dealing with many different issues on numerous fronts; AHPA is very possibly the most significant trade association dedicated to botanicals in the entire world.

As one of the founders of AHPA in 1982, I know that none of us ever envisioned the size and complexity of the modern herbal industry, and by extension, the various communities of industry and non-industry stakeholders with which Michael has so deftly worked and supported. Michael has worked very strategically and has mastered many key areas of the herb industry, including the compelling areas of standardizing botanical nomenclature for herbs sold in the U.S.; providing guidance to companies on issues of safety labeling; exerting leadership on the intricacies of GMPs, California’s Proposition 65, adverse event reporting; and so much more. His deep knowledge of government regulations and energetic efforts in submitting public comments to various agencies is well-known and highly respected, including within the government agencies themselves.

Smith T et al. “Herbal supplement sales in US increase by 9.4% in 2018.” 

McGuffin celebrates his 20th year as the renowned president of the American Herbal Products Association.

Nutritional Outlook’s 2019 Best of the Industry Awards, Industry Leader: Michael McGuffin

Establishing oneself as a category leader with a relatively new ingredient is no easy task, but ChromaDex (Los Angeles), with its novel vitamin B3 formulation-nicotinamide riboside (NR), branded Niagen-has done just that.

NR was discovered by Charles Brenner, PhD, now chief scientific advisor for ChromaDex, in 2004 while he was a researcher at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College. In 2011, ChromaDex acquired the exclusive patents for the ingredient from Dartmouth College, Cornell University, and Washington University. In a relatively short amount of time, NR has accumulated a robust library of clinical research, with continued interest from scientists.

“There are 43 human clinical trials currently registered on ClinicalTrials.gov, six of which have now led to peer-reviewed publications. This is an unprecedented number of clinical trials for this type of supplement,” explains Rob Fried, CEO of ChromaDex, to 

 “Scientists approach ChromaDex all the time seeking new research opportunities, and we are happy to partner with them to further understand the full potential of NR. We are committed to be the best in the industry by having a brand that’s trusted because of our science, our quality, and our safety. Research is a big part of that. We would not put a product on the market unless we had conducted rigorous testing not only on safety but also on efficacy.”

Why all this interest? NR is a highly efficient precursor to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), an essential coenzyme and regulator of cellular metabolism that plays an important role in the production of cellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP, generated by our mitochondria, is a major energy carrier in our cells.

“Because declining NAD+ levels have been associated with aging and a variety of age-associated conditions (i.e., metabolic disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, hearing loss, cognitive loss), we anticipate that these would be targets for NR’s therapeutic benefit theoretically, and researchers are pursuing that potential,” says Fried.

The therapeutic potential for NR is huge, and ChromaDex’s dedication to science and product integrity in past years, this year, and beyond is a testament to its commitment to improving consumer health. That is why ChromaDex is being recognized by 

Before Brenner discovered NR (nicotinamide riboside), a form of vitamin B3, as a nutrient that can boost NAD+ levels, nicotinic acid and nicotinamide, also in the B3 family, had been the only known vitamin precursors of NAD+ since the 1930s.

Fast forward to 2019, and the scientific literature on NR continues to grow. A recent randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-arm study published in 

 found that, compared to placebo, subjects taking 100 mg, 300 mg, or 1000 mg of ChromaDex’s brand name NR ingredient Niagen daily for eight weeks experienced an increase in whole-blood NAD+ levels of 22%, 51%, and 142%, respectively.

 There were no reports of flushing, a side effect of taking nicotinic acid, or significant adverse events, supporting the establishment of a tolerable upper intake limit for Niagen of 1 g, which was found to be safe and bioavailable. The recommended daily dose of Niagen is 300 mg.

“We believe NR is the best way to safely and efficiently elevate NAD+ levels, and its NAD-boosting properties have been validated in multiple published human trials,” says Fried. “First, it boosts levels of NAD+, supporting the same cellular energy production pathway as industry standards like CoQ10. Second, cells can also convert NAD+ to NADP (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate), which functions in the same way as the antioxidant glutathione. Finally, NAD+ acts as a cellular signal, activating cellular processes that support mitochondrial efficiency for improved energy production. Essentially, Niagen feeds the organic surge already occurring within the body by bolstering our mitochondria to promote healthy aging at the cellular level.”

Interest in cellular health, mitochondrial health, and so-called antiaging products is huge. For example, mitochondrial health made it into SPINS’ “

,” a report in which the market research firm compared growing interest in mitochondrial health to early-stage interest in trending topics such as the microbiome and the endocannabinoid system.

“Mitochondrial health has surpassed the ‘trend’ category and become an important focus beyond early adopters,” explains Fried. “The NAD+ market has exploded. Awareness of NAD+ and its impact on cellular health has hit a tipping point-from the biochemistry and nutrition communities to the general population. ChromaDex has been at the vanguard of NAD+ and cellular health research for many years.”

Not only is ChromaDex a supplier of NR, but the firm also has its own finished supplement brand called Tru Niagen, in the form of capsules. It launched in September of 2017 and is sold directly to consumers. ChromaDex has expanded retail distribution of the product to Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, and, most recently, Canada. The expansion into Canada also coincided with the launch of Tru Niagen stick packs for the consumer market, and the Tru Niagen powder is also available in full tubs for professional sports teams.

“There are a number of reasons why we opted to create our own consumer brand. The first was economic-it’s expensive to make NR, so by vertically integrating we’re able to reduce our cost basis,” explains Fried. “The second was that several of the companies to whom we were supplying NR were being quite irresponsible in their manufacturing processes, as well as with the messages they were using with consumers. By creating our own brand, we can ensure that consumers receive accurate information and a safe and effective product. We recognize the importance of this molecule and take our responsibility as stewards of NR seriously.”

Speaking of stewardship: not only is Niagen generally recognized as safe (GRAS) and the only NR ingredient with a new dietary ingredient (NDI) notification, but in November the European Commission approved NR as a novel food at a daily adult serving of 300 mg. “We are pleased to be extending our global footprint into Europe,” said Fried in a press release. “We are committed to offering Tru Niagen to health-conscious people worldwide.”

The footprint of Niagen is likely to grow even larger, considering a global commercial license and supply agreement deal ChromaDex signed with NestlÃ© Health Science at the end of 2018. This agreement provides NestlÃ© Health Science the exclusive right to include Tru Niagen in its branded medical nutrition portfolio and co-exclusive rights to include Tru Niagen in certain products within the consumer health category. The territories in the agreement include North America, Europe, Latin America, Australia, Japan, and New Zealand.

“We like the idea of combining NR with other complementary ingredients and are looking to implement more product concepts in that arena,” says Fried. To that end, the collaboration with NestlÃ© Health Science will fuse ChromaDex’s revolutionary science with NestlÃ©’s robust creative portfolio, he adds.

With such impressive growth and huge long-term potential, ChromaDex is bound to push the cellular health category to great heights.

Brenner C et al. “Discoveries of nicotinamide riboside as a nutrient and conserved NRK genes establish a Press-Handler independent route to NAD+ in fungi and humans.” 

Conze D et al. “Safety and metabolism of long-term administration of NIAGEN (nicotinamide riboside chloride) in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of healthy overweight adults.” 

SPINS. “Top 10 Trend Predictions for 2019.” Published on January 10, 2019.

ChromaDex is pushing the boundaries of the cellular health and “antiaging” category with its groundbreaking ingredient, Niagen, and robust research.

Nutritional Outlook Vol. 22 No. 10

It’s Tea’s Time: Opportunities in tea, from cup to bottle

Fermentation may be the ingredient engine of the future

Sustainability in the Field: Regenerative agriculture and biodiversity in the natural products industry

Nutritional Outlook’s 2019 Best of the Industry Award Winners

Nutritional Outlook’s 2019 Best of the Industry Awards, Industry Leader: Michael McGuffin

Nutritional Outlook’s 2019 Best of the Industry Awards, Ingredient Supplier: ChromaDex

Nutritional Outlook’s 2019 Best of the Industry Awards, Ingredient Supplier: Perfect Day

Nutritional Outlook’s 2019 Best of the Industry Awards, Retail Brand/Product: OmegaQuant