Omega-3

More than 80% of Americans are currently consuming or would consider consuming foods with added health and wellness benefits.

Ocean Nutrition Canada Limited (ONC; Nova Scotia, Canada) announced that Arnold Bread has launched Grains & More Double Omega, a new bread formulated to improve heart health.

Researchers supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD), will conduct a nationwide clinical trial to invesigate whether omega-3 fatty acids slow Alzeimer's disease.

In response to the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) notice of proposed rulemaking prohibiting nutrient content claims on products with EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids, the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3s (GOED; Salt Lake City) has urged the FDA and/or the Institute of Medicine to review the clinical science on omega-3s and make an authoritative statement on a recommended intake for EPA and DHA.

Omega-3s May Protect Against Type 1 Diabetes Source: JM Norris et al., "Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Intake and Islet Autoimmunity in Children at Increased Risk for Type 1 Diabetes," Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 298, no. 12 (September 26, 2007): 1420–1428. Children who are at risk of developing type 1 diabetes may improve their odds if they eat a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Colorado (Denver).

Health-minded consumers are increasingly turning to functional foods and beverages. According to a new report from Datamonitor (London), 65% of Americans and Europeans are taking active steps to eat healthier. These steps include not only the avoidance of excess calories, fat, sugar, and salt, but also the pursuit of nutrient-rich foods that may improve their well-being.

Inflammation afflicts a wide swath of Americans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta), nearly 46 million people in the United States suffer from arthritis and painful joint swelling. But other conditions linked to inflammation, such as cardiovascular disease (CVD) and asthma, strike millions more and cost tens of billions of dollars per year to treat.

  Over the past few years, researchers have questioned several long-standing assumptions about the ability of dietary supplements to influence gender-related health conditions like prostate cancer and menopause. Other experts, however, have criticized some of these findings, noting that they were not based on randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials, but rather on other types of studies intended to answer different scientific questions.

Lack of communication between doctors and patients poses a serious problem for the healthcare industry, especially when it comes to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM; Bethesda, MD), only about 12% of Americans who tried CAM between 1997 and 2004 consulted a licensed healthcare practitioner.

At an American Heart Association (AHA; Dallas) conference on trans fat last October, health experts worried about the law of unintended consequences. Although most food manufacturers are trying to eliminate trans fat from their products, some are simply replacing it with saturated fat, which is just as harmful. To encourage the use of healthier fats and oils, AHA embarked upon a new public relations campaign in April to urge food manufacturers, restaurants, and consumers to switch to healthier vegetable oils.

  Except for the 1918 flu epidemic, heart disease has been the leading cause of death in the United States every year since 1900. And the latest data from the American Heart Association (AHA; Dallas) suggest that the deadly effects of cardiovascular disease (CVD) aren’t likely to abate any time soon: In 2004, the most recent year for which AHA has compiled statistics, CVD was an underlying cause in more than one-third of all U.S. deaths.

Functional foods and supplements that address specific health conditions are finally poised for strong growth and could lead the packaged goods category to greater heights in 2007, according to several market research sources. The trend reflects consumer movement away from general wellness products in favor of items that claim to help prevent more serious ailments such as heart disease or arthritis.

  Two recent studies from the Archives of Neurology suggest that omega-3 fatty acids may be helpful for people suffering from cognitive decline. The studies, while not definitive, add more support to the theory that the omega-3s docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) are important elements of cognitive health and well-being.

At the World Health Organization’s (WHO; Geneva) upcoming European Ministerial Conference on Counteracting Obesity, which will be held in November in Istanbul, Turkey, many of the world’s leading health experts will convene to develop new plans for dealing with the obesity epidemic. With any luck, functional foods will be one of the strategies that helps makes a difference.

As more Americans are turning to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to address their health concerns, many practitioners have been struggling to remain knowledgeable about the latest research concerning natural products. More than a third of all American adults used some form of CAM from 1997 to 2004, according to a report by researchers from Harvard Medical School (Boston). And while the number of people using CAM has remained relatively steady since the 1990s, the types of CAM therapies they are using have been changing. Herbal medicine-the category that made the largest gains-grew by more than 50% from 1997 to 2004.

As the body of peer-reviewed research on cognitive-function ingredients continues to grow, omega-3 is just the tip of the iceberg for natural alternatives to prescription drugs, say industry experts.

The good news is that there’s growing evidence nutritional supplements can play a key role in treating people with heart disease.

One of the most important studies on natural ingredients of the past decade will soon have a postscript. The Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS), published in the October 2001 issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, was the first large-scale clinical trial to confirm that antioxidant supplementation may help slow down the progression of advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

In their quest to create tasty foods and beverages enriched with omega-3s, food technologists, like salmon, have had to swim against the current. The taste of omega-3 fatty acids has been a key stumbling block. Recently, however, manufacturers have been employing several strategies to develop new products.