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Cargill prepares push into nutrition additives

Joy Powell, Star Tribune
Published June 3, 2003

A spot of raspberry tea to strengthen your bones?

The tea, intended to appeal to women, is one of the first of a new line of plant-derived ingredients that Minnetonka-based Cargill Inc. says can provide health benefits that go beyond basic nutrition.

Relying on food scientists and other experts, Cargill is developing the new products to join other agribusinesses, such as Archer Daniel Midlands Co., in the fight for the $56 billion worldwide market for "functional foods."

The composition of such foods can help reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other illnesses, provided they are eaten regularly, said Charles Muscoplat, dean of the College of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences at the University of Minnesota.

"The chemicals and genes in your foods affect the chemicals and genes in your body," Muscoplat said.

At the university, Muscoplat said, researchers are trying to improve the amount of fiber in grain and experimenting to better develop healthful compounds in soybeans.

Cargill is working to position itself as a leading supplier of new, brand-name ingredients that the makers of foods, beverages and dietary supplements can incorporate into their products.

"We don't claim to cure diseases, but we do hope that our products provide health benefits," said Steve Snyder, director of sales and marketing for Cargill's health and food technologies business.

ADM, of Decatur, Ill., has been developing soy foods since the 1960s and now produces more than 40 different products of soy ingredients for meatless dishes, beverages, ice cream and other foods, said Tony DeLio, ADM's vice president of marketing.

In January, ADM launched U.S. sales of its new Enova brand cooking oil, which DeLio said helps people burn fat and lose weight. Made of soybean and canola oil, Enova is metabolized differently from conventional oils and is more readily burned for energy, ADM said.

A recent study by the Chicago Center for Clinical Research found that people who incorporated Enova oil into a calorie-controlled diet reduced their weight by an average of 3.6 percent and their body mass by 8.3 percent, according to ADM.

Other agribusiness companies are also making inroads into the market for health-enhancing ingredients.

Solae LLC, a joint venture between DuPont and Bunge Ltd., supplies the soy that goes into Harmony, a low-fat nutritional cereal for women made by Golden Valley-based General Mills Inc. Solae has sales of about $800 million and serves more than 3,000 customers.

The Cargill unit involved in the "functional foods" endeavor employs about 160 chemists, biochemists, scientists, marketers and production technicians at laboratories in Minnetonka and plants in Denver and Eddyville, Iowa.

The raspberry tea contains a compound found in soybeans -- soy isoflavones -- known to promote bone health. Cargill's trademark line of that compound is AdvantaSoy™. The tea also contains Cargill's brand of inulin, a fiber extracted from chicory roots that may promote calcium absorption. The trademark line, Oliggo-Fiber®, also promotes healthful bacteria in the digestive tract, Snyder said.

In a play on the French phrase, "bon appetit," Cargill has dubbed its tea prototype "Bone Appetite."

The company will formally unveil the bone-friendly tea in July at one of the world's largest trade shows for food and beverage technology.

ADM's array of nutritional supplements, including Novasoy soy isoflavones and Natural-Source d-Alpha Vitamin E, are found in many dietary supplements marketed by GNC.

ADM's NutraSoy protein can be found in many processed foods, including Martha Gooch Soy7 pasta made by Gooch Foods Inc. of Lincoln, Neb., and Raspberry Soy-A-Krunch Cereal made Gilster-Mary Lee Corp. of Chester, Ill.

Cargill in February became the first company to propel a variety of science-based foods and beverages into the mainstream as "heart healthy" after receiving permission to use that label from the Food and Drug Administration.

Previously margarine and dressings were the only products that the FDA would allow foodmakers to label as "heart healthy." The FDA approval gave Cargill the right to expand the claim to a range of food and beverages that contain plant cholesterol.

Cargill scientists extract the plant cholesterols, called plant sterols, for use as a dietary means of lowering people's cholesterol. The plant sterols occupy a person's digestive system with good fats, resulting in lower absorption of the undesirable fats that contribute to cardiovascular disease.

Currently, Johnson & Johnson and Unilever Foods sell margarine products containing plant sterols. Cargill's brand is sold under the trade name CoroWise™.

"We think the real opportunity is beyond margarine into beverages and bars" and other foods, Snyder said.

From cornstarch, Cargill makes trehalose, a sweetener sold under the Ascend™ trademark. Emerging science indicates that it produces a lower insulin response than glucose-sweetened beverages. That means trehalose can provide energy without the spikes and crashes that come with conventional sweeteners and sugars, a Cargill spokesman said.

Cargill, the second-largest U.S. beef producer, also makes chondroitin sulfate from cattle cartilage for use as a joint supplement.

Pam Stauffer, marketing programs manager for Cargill's health and food technologies unit, conducts market research for products such as the new raspberry tea. She said people of all ages may be attracted to the health-promoting products.

"It's not only baby boomers," Stauffer said, "but younger, health-conscious people, maybe some who know their grandmother has weak bones and they want to help to maintain their own healthy bones."

She and a Cargill sales development manager, Paul Paslaski, work with industry partners to meet the consumer demand for healthful, tasty, portable products.

Snyder said Cargill wanted, for example, to provide women with a simple solution to bone health. "What we learned from consumers is they wanted to feel it was mainstream," he said. "They wanted the product to taste good."

So Cargill teamed with the Ball Corp., which makes "trim" cans -- slender 8-ounce cans that easily tuck into a pocket or purse.

Cargill incorporated its AdvantaSoy™ isoflavones to help maintain healthy bones with Oliggo-Fiber® inulin to boost calcium absorption, and then added calcium. That led to the prototype that Cargill is presenting to beverage companies.

Staff writer Susan Feyder contributed to this report. Joy Powell is at jpowell@startribune.com.