Gut Health: A retail perspective€¦ · Overview of Loblaw companies •...

Gut Health: A retail perspective Samara Foisy RD, MHSc

March 23, 2017

Agenda

•  Who we are

•  Consumer interest in gut health

•  Market examples

•  Overview of functional ingredients

•  Product development –  Considerations –  Regulatory claims

•  What needs to happen next

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Gut Health: A retail perspective

Overview of Loblaw companies

•  Loblaw'Companies'Limited'is'Canada's'largest'food'and'pharmacy'retailer,'with'more'than'2,300'stores'across'the'country'

•  Almost'200,000'full>time'and'part>time'Loblaw'employees''

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Our Brands

Core Brands Multicultural & Tertiary Brands

Partners With

We have over 8000 Sku’s across 30 brands

The Evolving Consumer

•  Globally many people suffer from certain types of digestive disorders

•  One of the first places consumers are likely to look, is to food and drink products that that can bring about a gut health ‘makeover’

•  In the US, 20% of consumers with GI issues currently eat packaged foods with digestive claims to manage their digestive health or treat their GI issue (Source: Mintel. Nutrition Insight: Digestive Health, January 2016)

•  Concept of food as medicine evolves as research unveils how different ingredients support our digestive wellness

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Gut Health = Food as medicine

Products with Digestive Claims

•  Opportunity communicate which products prevent gut discomforts or contribute to gut health –  Few food products make a digestive claim with most claims within the health care

category

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Digestive wellness is a major trend for 2017

Dairy category drives probiotic use

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Probiotics start moving beyond dairy to other categories

The Market

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Novel or new foods with digestive health claims

Functional Ingredients

Probiotic

• Most familiar to consumers because of the role they play in yogurt/association with gut health

• Bacteria or yeast

• Almost all foods with a probiotic claim use bacteria as the probiotic ingredient

• Directly added to product or encapsulated

• Some use both bacteria and yeast: Kombucha

Prebiotic

• Non digestible fibres fermented by gut bacteria

•  Inulin, polydextrose, fructo-oligosaccharides

• Lesser known prebiotics: dandelion root, baobab, tigernut, yacon

• Typically used as ‘fibre’ or as a binder

• Potential for symbiotic products using both prebiotics and probiotics

Resistant Starch

•  Indigestible starch • Behaves more like a dietary

fibre than a carbohydrate

•  Imparts a prebiotic effect

• Launched in a small number of food and drink products

• Likely not used as a prebiotic even though it imparts that effect.

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What is typically used for digestive wellness

Emerging ingredients

•  Plusbiotics: Launched by GCI Nutrients in the USA, “Plusbiotics” works to rebuild the intestinal mucosa and claims to repair damage and strengthen the lining

•  Digestive Enzymes –  Actazin- Kiwifruit extract to support digest health and help manage IBS –  Tolerase G: enzyme ingredient designed to break down residual gluten present in gut

•  Free from diets to treat digestive discomfort –  Lactose free, gluten free, soy free, red meat

•  FODMAP diet

•  Artificial sweeteners, emulsifiers, carrageenan –  Intestinal inflammation, disruption of gut microbiome

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Consumers are including or avoiding these ingredients to enhance gut health

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Product Development

President’s Choice

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Products with probiotic claims

Working with Probiotics

•  Delivery systems, strain selection for specific applications, stability of the organisms and shelf-life –  Create delivery systems that ensure survival in the product to end of shelf life

•  Susceptible to heat, air, light and moisture –  Strains used should have good technological properties

•  Be suitable for product •  Work well together

–  Not produce off flavours or textures

•  Resist stomach acid •  Viable not growing •  Demonstrated health benefits

•  Pasteurization –  Needed for food safety

•  Pasteurization kills off friendly bacteria •  Most products are pasteurized before probiotic strains are added

•  Cost –  More probiotics are added than claim suggests to maintain number at end of shelf life

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Key considerations for product development

Working with Prebiotics

•  Consumers are less familiar with prebiotics, benefits and doses

•  For many prebiotics (and probiotics) rigorous testing that establishes how effective they are and how much is needed has not been performed

•  Conflicting information on ‘healthfulness’ of inulin –  Leads to gastric upset or discomfort

•  Using other prebiotic fibres –  Chicory root (inlulin) hard to rival as provides one of the most concentrated food

sources of prebiotic fibre –  Other natural sources of prebiotic fibre may be more challenging as they contain

much less concentrated sources

•  Benefit: not affected by temperature, acidity, time

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Key considerations for product development

Regulatory Claims: Canada

•  No strain specific claims for probiotics are currently allowed –  Can’t speak to the specific health benefits of the probiotic strains being used

•  Only a specified list of 16 bacteria are allowed to be used –  Impact innovation as other potentially more resilient strains could allow probiotics to

move into more product categories

•  No prebiotic claims are currently used –  Need evidence to support the use –  Usually fibre claim –  Cannot educate consumers on health benefits of prebiotics

•  Nomenclature for prebiotics is not consumer friendly –  E.g. fructo-oligosaccharides –  Consumer friendly class names

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Key considerations when working with probiotics and prebiotics

Things to consider

•  Advocate for more scientific studies –  Expand beyond digestive health benefits (e.g. Inflammatory response, maintaining

normal blood sugar, etc.) –  Support the development of strain specific health claims and inclusion of other

probiotic strains in regulations –  Health effects of prebiotics = claims –  Research and promote the secondary metabolites of fermentation

•  Combine probiotics and prebiotics –  Increase effectiveness and awareness

•  Educate the consumers that not all probiotics are the same –  Different probiotics have varying health benefits at different doses –  How they know the probiotic is working for them

•  Outcome: products communicate relevant benefits and increased understanding of ingredients connected to gut health

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To enhance development of products with digestive claims

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