[Plant-Based Ingredients] Vol. 17 No. 12 December 2012 Super Green Superfoods By Celeste Sepessy, Associate Editor Once the secret of Birkenstock-wearing progressives, green foods are now filling the shopping carts of informed—if not guilty—conventional consumers. Nutrient-dense greens date back millions of years, and humans in the know have been eating them for centuries; green foods manufacturers commonly tout their ingredients as the energy food of ancient Mesoamericans, namely the Aztecs. The term "green foods" encompasses a range of raw materials including algae (chlorella, spirulina, etc.), grasses (alfalfa, barley grass, wheat grass, etc.) and common green vegetables (broccoli, spinach, etc.). Though each ingredient boasts its own benefits, they all pack a well-rounded nutritional punch not often found elsewhere. "Spirulina is nature's multivitamin," said John Blanco, president of AnMar International, noting the microalgae has 60-percent protein, unsaturated fatty acids and vitamin precursors, such as amino acids and proenzymes. "It's not a complete 100-percent balanced vitamin tablet, but it's pretty close." And this nutritional breakdown is similar across the green board, as the ingredients are densely filled with phytonutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and nucleic acid, among other nutrients. Consumers of all demographics are becoming more aware of the benefits of eating these green superfoods; Guinevere Lynn, director of business development at Sun Chlorella, pointed to the media for the industry's popularity surge. "Mass media has certainly played a major role in this 'green renaissance,' " she explained, citing Dr. Oz's help in particular. The television medical personality is a huge proponent of green foods, and Dr. Oz has given considerable press time to green advocate Joe Mercola, D.O. Similarly, the 2011 documentary "Forks Over Knives" and Joel Fuhrman's, M.D., book "Eat to Live" opened viewers' eyes to the benefits of a plant-based diet—and how Americans, in particular, aren't getting enough greens. In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 32.5 percent of adults ate two or more servings of fruit a day, while only 26.3 percent ate vegetables three or more times a day. And both of these numbers decreased from the first survey in 2000. To fill the green void, Americans are turning to nutrition-rich supplements. "It's imperative for consumers to fill in this nutritional gap by supplementing the diet with plant-based supplements and/or products," Lynn said. From 2010 to 2011, sales of herbal supplements—including green foods—jumped 7 percent to US$379 million in the mainstream market, according to market research firm SymphonyIRI. SPINS www.naturalproductsinsider.com Page 1 [Plant-Based Ingredients] Vol. 17 No. 12 December 2012 estimated 2011 sales in the health food channel at US$251 million for a 9-percent increase since 2010. And within these channels, green food supplements stole the show. Kelp and alfalfa posted two of the highest percentage increases from 2010 to 2011 (41 and 46 percent, respectively), while spirulina booked a 26-percent boost in sales. All three are on SymphonyIRI's 40 top-selling herbal dietary supplements list. "This rapid growth in popularity comes as no surprise since the healthfulness of green foods has been known for quite some time now," said Alison Raban, food technologist, BI Nutraceuticals. "But the consumption of super green powders is not only for the extremely healthy anymore." The green foods market has not seen a shift in demographics, but instead an addition of new ones. The customer base has broadened to include average Baby Boomers, Generation Xers and Yers, in addition to long-time health fanatics, Raban explained. Straight from the Source Many suppliers have been harvesting their ingredients of choice for decades now, and it's taken years to perfect the process while maintaining quality, complying with regulations and minimizing contaminants. For some companies, growing is a tradition. PINES Wheat Grass got its start in 1976, following in the famous footsteps of Charles Schnabel, Sr.—even down to using the same fields in Kansas. And location is key, co-founder Ron Seibold explained. "Schnabel grew his grasses in Northeastern Kansas because of the rich glacial soils and that area does not require irrigation," he said. "PINES Wheat Grass uses natural rainfall, not groundwater, to grow its crops. This eliminates groundwater contamination." The company then dehydrates, tablets and packages the wheat grass on site, giving it complete quality control (QC) from beginning to end. Suppliers with water-harvested crops such as spirulina, chlorella and other algae face their own contaminant challenges, and many seek the perfect growing environment overseas. AnMar's spirulina comes from inner Mongolia, where the high desert environment does not support natural agriculture. The environment's benefits are two-fold, Blanco said. With no native plant life, spirulina is not exposed to pesticides or herbicides, and no wild spirulina can contaminate the product. Additionally, suppliers must focus on water, the lifeblood for these aqueous plants. Algae will absorb anything in the water it's grown in, said Uma Sudhan, Valensa International's business director, who explained the importance of quality systems and controls such as reverse osmosis. "If the water is high quality and pristine, the product will be too," he explained. Lynn of Sun Chlorella agreed. "In order to meet our conditions for manufacturing chlorella, we needed the optimum environment that has much sunlight, plenty of good quality groundwater and clean air," she said, referring to the company's culturing plant in Taiwan. Sun Chlorella cultures its ingredient outdoors under strict sanitary measures rather than in tanks, as the sunlight cultivates a more nutritious plant, Lynn said. www.naturalproductsinsider.com Page 2 [Plant-Based Ingredients] Vol. 17 No. 12 December 2012 Efforts to safeguard against contamination exist beyond the growing standards, though. In 2011, Valensa worked with U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) to establish the first spirulina monograph, which Sudhan said makes this green food safer for consumers. "Green foods are being used in quite large quantities, unlike supplements," he explained. "You don’t take 5 or 10 mg—sometimes you take 3 g." Consequently, having a monograph in place establishes the specified nutritional aspects in addition to limits on contaminants such as lead, heavy metals, microbiology and toxins. "Compliance to these standards has become extremely important; the market is insisting on products with low heavy metal and contamination levels so they can have a product that meets regulations like California's Proposition 65," Sudhan said. If suppliers don't meet these standards, it'll cost them—both in compliance and clientele. But the effort is worth it, Raban explained, "The time to source and process quality ingredients is an investment that shows its value in the long run." Get the Wet Out Greens are ancient, and their survival over centuries is in part due to their sturdy structure. Many green foods, such as chlorella, possess a tough cell wall, which is nearly impenetrable by the human digestive system. As a result, many companies optimize the greens' bioavailability through specific processing techniques, while still keeping the nutritious benefits intact. Sun Chlorella tackles chlorella's cellulose barrier with DYNO-Mill, a process that pulverizes 99 percent of the indigestible cell wall. According to Sun Chlorella, the pulverization process naturally increases digestibility to more than 80 percent without using heat, chemicals or enzymes. PINES Wheat Grass prides itself on using Schnabel's tried-and-true methods, but modernized. To preserve as many nutrients as possible, PINES dehydrates its wheat grass, keeping the product at the same temperature as the air outside. The wheat grass is then pulverized into a powdered form. As the wheat grass is dehydrated—never being fully heated—the product is marketed as raw, which is a big plus for health-conscious greens consumers. In addition to making vital nutrients available, processing also acts as a crucial QC system. "The difficulty with maintaining all natural products is the natural contaminants that come along with them such as coliforms, E. coli and salmonella," Raban said. To address these issues, BI uses a Protexx, a patented steam sterilization process. Raban said this technique completely removes harmful pathogens while maintaining the desirable assay components and colors. The result: spec-compliant, microbiologically safe green products that aren't irradiated. But when it comes to spirulina, there are as many processing techniques as there are companies. Suppliers commonly turn to drum drying, fluid bed drying or spray drying to create a market-ready spirulina powder or tablet. Once AnMar's spirulina has reached a certain moisture level, the algae is spray dried. Other methods are expensive to run in terms of the scale of economy while minimizing heat, Blanco explained. Spray drying flashes the water off quickly, without subjecting the greens to excessive heat. www.naturalproductsinsider.com Page 3 [Plant-Based Ingredients] Vol. 17 No. 12 December 2012 "As a result, you're not denaturing and destroying the protein or other heat-sensitive components because the cells see the heat for a much shorter period of time," Blanco said. The result: powdered spirulina ready for formulation. Green Formulations Americans don't eat enough greens for myriad reasons, but taste certainly ranks high on the list. And green foods manufacturers have a big job ahead of them; though these products are jam-packed with nutrients, they're also ultra-pungent and "green" tasting. Many companies, including Valensa, are dedicating resources to creating a more consumer-friendly product with milder organoleptic properties. Sudhan noted one problem, though—green foods' distinctly pungent taste and smell stem from its nutrition. "How do you make spirulina taste and smell better without compromising the nutritious specifications?" Sudhan asked.