By
Ruth Wood-Steed
Have you have seen 8th Continent brand soy milk or Yves Veggie
Cuisine products on the market? Most of us just take them for
granted as being, well, food. They use soy protein ingredients
produced by The Solae Company, as do many food bars, beverages,
snacks and meatless alternatives found in grocery stores around
the world. What we just call food, though, Solae and many others
in the food industry class more specifically as functional foods,
part of the overall nutriceuticals family.
Solae and Reliv Inc., both St. Louis-based companies, are growing,
thanks to expansion in the nutriceuticals market. That’s nice,
you say, but what in the world is a nutriceutical? Great question!
Actually, if you look at the word itself, it provides some general
hints. It is a compound of the words nutrition and pharmaceuticals.
Originally coined by Stephen DeFelice, MD, founder and chairman
of the Foundation for Innovation in Medicine in Cranford, NJ
in 1989, a nutriceutical is, “any substance that is a food or
a part of a food and provides medical or health benefits, including
the prevention and treatment of disease.”
Well, that helps a little bit, but it’s pretty broad. Perhaps
intentionally. In fact, 18 years later, there still is no regulatory
definition of nutriceutical; it is mostly a marketing term.
Broadly, nutriceuticals include a wide variety of categories:
functional foods and functional ingredients (such as those produced
by Solae), prebiotics, and probiotics, to name only a few. Yawn.
So, trying again, loosely defined, nutriceuticals can include
fortified foods, foods that use healthy substitutes for unhealthy
(or less healthy) ingredients, dietary supplements and meal
substitutes.
At the other end of the nutriceuticals spectrum from Solae’s
products, you may know someone who uses a Reliv dietary supplement
such as Arthaffect or CardioSentials. Arthaffect contains ingredients
proven to help joint health, while CardioSentials is a product
which Dr. Carl Hastings, a Reliv vice president who heads research
and development, says reduced total cholesterol, LDL (bad) cholesterol,
and triglycerides, increased HDL (good cholesterol), and reduced
blood glucose levels in a clinical trial. These and other Reliv
products are available through Reliv’s extensive network of
distributors, 1,500 of whom are in the greater St. Louis area.
Due to the breadth of the market, it’s hard to define just how
large it is, but Reliv and Solae can give us a general idea.
Hastings says the market for nutritional supplements alone has
sales of more than $20 billion, of which Reliv’s 2006 net sales
were $114 million. Solae Global Director of Nutrition Strategy,
Greg Paul, Ph.D., says Solae has greater than half of the global
market for soy protein ingredients, with annual revenue exceeding
$1 billion.
What’s fueling the market? We are, and others like us around
the world. Paul says: “In the United States, recent trends have
included a ‘back to basics’ approach with the focus on whole
grains and healthy fats (or the removal of unhealthy trans fat).
Ingredients such as soy protein and plant sterols continue to
receive attention in the heart health area.” Paul says that
people throughout the world are demanding healthier or more
nutritious foods, beverages, and meats, but don’t want to sacrifice
taste to get them.
Hastings adds that the growing demographic of Baby Boomers,
people born between 1946 and 1964, is another reason for growth
in the nutriceuticals market, in that interest in healthy lifestyles
increases with age. He says: “Much of the increased interest
in health is focused on alternatives to traditional medicine,
including nutrition.”
And what is good for the nutriceuticals and functional foods
market is good for Reliv, Solae, and the St. Louis Metropolitan
Area. So good, in fact, that Solae is in the process of building
a new $40-million headquarters in St. Louis’ CORTEX district.
Tony Arnold, Solae’s president and CEO, says: “Growing innovation
companies such as ours thrive when they are located in close
proximity to similar organizations. This new location and building
will best position us for continued growth in a global marketplace
that demands continuous innovation. Our new home, in the heart
of a burgeoning new research community, also means we’ll renew
a long-standing commitment to the City of St. Louis and its
efforts to redevelop the midtown area.”
Both firms are continuously researching new products to bring
to the market, with most of that research occurring in the St.
Louis area. Hastings says Reliv introduced a new weight loss
system, called Slimplicity, in February, and also has introduced
whole soybean powder to the company’s soy-based products, therefore
providing the additional health benefits of the whole soybean,
along with those of soy protein by itself.
Solae introduced several new products last year. These include
the SoleCina™ system, which blends vegetable and meat protein
into a nutritious alternative to 100-percent meat, and a new
soy protein ingredient technology that provides a substitute
for dairy protein in nutrition bars, thereby reducing formulation
costs, and maintaining or improving taste, shelf life and texture.
The future also looks bright for these firms and others in the
overall nutriceuticals market. The market is exploding, not
only in the U.S., but also throughout the world. Hastings says
the U.S. accounts for 90 percent of Reliv’s sales, but the direct
selling or network marketing industry is even larger outside
the U.S. than in it. He is very positive about Reliv’s prospects,
and expects the company to expand its workforce in the foreseeable
future.
Arnold says Solae also has a global reach, with the majority
of its revenues coming from overseas, even though North America
is its single largest source of revenue. Paul sees the marketplace
shifting toward more personalized solutions. He says: “Ingredient
companies will play an important role in helping food manufacturers
create and deliver targeted solutions for more niche markets
with specific nutritional needs to manage their health.”
Their bright futures bode well for the St. Louis area. More
jobs and more need for soybeans, many of which are grown in
the bi-state area. As the nutriceuticals market feeds Solae,
Reliv and other firms like them, these firms in turn feed the
area and help keep it prosperous.
