The Ripening Berry Ingredients Market

These fruits are coloring an increasing number of functional products

Botanically speaking, a true berry is soft and fleshy, with one or more carpals (layers), including an thin, edible outer layer, and its seeds are in the pulpy layer. Grapes and blueberries fit this definition, but so do tomatoes and eggplants.However, strawberries, blackberries and many other fruits bearing the berry moniker do not fit this definition, yet are classified under a more common usage definition that considers a berry any small sweet fruit that is fleshy and colorful.

Whatever the definition, the popular fruits commonly considered berries have ripened into a bushel chock full of health benefits, including antioxidant, protective, preventive and other functional properties. Besides containing numerous beneficial micronutrients including vitamin C, vitamin E, calcium and folic acid, berries are packed with dietary fiber, which has been linked to reduced cholesterol levels and risk of colon cancer, as well as improvements to digestion and blood sugar levels.

There are hundreds of phenolic compounds in berries. From flavanols (anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins) and flavonols (quercetin) to ellagic acid and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), these fruits are bursting with an overwhelming number of phytonutrients that not only seek and destroy free radicals, but also can deliver antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and anti-mutagenic properties.

Blueberry and its brethren cranberry have been shown effective in combating bacterial infection, especially in the urinary tract.⁶ In fact, cranberry juice has been well studied for its ability to prevent E. coli bacteria from adhering to the epithelial wall of the urinary tract, limiting the development of a urinary tract infection (UTI).⁷ Cranberry has a similar effect on H. pylori and the gastric wall, especially when administered in combination with traditional antibiotics.⁸

According to Arun Hiranandani, senior marketing manager for Ocean Spray Ingredient Technology Group, both cranberry juice and sweetened dried cranberries have been shown to inhibit the adhesion of bacteria to the urinary tract wall. “Independent research published in January 2006⁹ found that subjects demonstrated an increase as high as 50 percent in anti-adherence activity after consuming Ocean Spray’s sweetened dried cranberries,” he reported. “Cranberry concentrate, powder and puree also confer anti-adhesion properties.” He noted cranberry’s anti-adhesion effect could also be helpful in promoting gut health and oral health, including gum disease.¹⁰

While its work against bacteria adhesion in various body systems is legendary, cranberry may also address heart disease by improving cholesterol balance and blood circulation via antioxidant mechanisms.¹¹ This free radical scavenging action has also made it useful in liver and prostate cancer,¹² as well as kidney stones.¹³

Another tasty little fruit, strawberry, also packs quite a healthy punch. Its deep roster of anthocyanins, ellagic acid and other phytonutrients can decrease toxins and limit oxidative damage to DNA,²⁰ which is key to strawberry’s antioxidant protection against neurodegeneration and cancer—primarily the development of esophageal and colon cancers.^21,22 Antioxidants from strawberries also play a role in helping to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).²³

Anthocyanins are also abundant in grapes, as are proanthocyanidins, quercetin and resveratrol. These are central to this berry’s noted improvements to atherosclerosis and CVD, including decreased lipid oxidation, cholesterol aggregation, reduced blood pressure and improved vascular endothelial function, as well as reduced cell adhesion, a factor in inflammation.^24,25,26,27

Other berries have turned in some impressive benefits, according to various research results. Blackberries were shown to impede tumor formation in the oral cavity, while also helping to curb colon cancer development.^28,29 Anthocyanins and other phenolics present in boysenberries and black currants were found to protect cellular DNA against oxidative damage;³⁰ and black currants combined with bilberries, lignonberries and raspberries may protect against lipid oxidation and increase antioxidant capacity in plasma.³¹ Raspberries play well with other berries, combining with blueberries to inhibit mutations in breast and cervical cancer cells,³² while joining cloudberries in counteracting both gram-negative and -positive bacteria.³³

The idea of uniting numerous berries for a wider spectrum of health benefits has begun to blossom. While these represent newcomers to the berry research world, there have been some promising results. An extract of seven berries—cranberry, elderberry, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry and bilberry—(as OptiBerry®, from InterHealth Nutraceuticals) has shown protective actions against oxidative stress, particularly in the liver and lungs, as well as against hypercholesterolemia, cancer development and H. pylori infection.^34,35,36 When boosted with wild blueberry, this berry blend also showed in vivo prevention of angiogenesis, by inhibiting the infiltration of macrophages in hemangioma.³⁷

Other berry blends include BerryVida, from Cyvex Nutrition, a blend of strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and cranberries, plus grape and pomegranate extracts. This extract is standardized for phenol, ellagic acid and anthocyanin content, and was designed to impart antioxidant protection of body cells from oxidative stress.

Another berry powerhouse, Berry Power, from Synergy Laboratories, blends 13 wild berries including blueberry, bilberry lignonberry, black currant, sour cherry, cranberry, elderberry, raspberry, black raspberry, pomegranate, and concord grape. This whole berry powder is certified organic domestically, as well as in Europe and Japan. “We wanted to make these blends completely organically, with no solvents, no nonsense and no target ORAC [Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity] value,” said Mitchell May, Ph.D., founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Synergy. “When you only isolate one phytochemical, at the expense of 100 other cofactors, you are only delivering one aspect of the berry; to me, this is not the wisest approach for nutritional science.”

May stated the idea that a person could take a couple high-ORAC capsules to replace daily fruit and vegetables in the diet is the antithesis of what a dietary supplement is about. He further noted ORAC value is thus far limited to a test tube and can be spiked by using artificial preservative with higher concentrated ORAC values.

Leslie Gallo, sales and marketing manager for Artemis International, echoed the caution that ORAC values, while giving some indication of antioxidant properties in a lab environment, are merely assays and only tell part of the story. “In addition to ORAC, Artemis has also looked at the antioxidant properties of its berry products in models of actual cell protection,” she offered.“Extracts should never be offered as a replacement for eating whole fruits and vegetables, but we can offer many of the benefits of whole fruits and veggies, depending on the extraction process.”

It is easy to understand the popularity of ORAC and similar assertions of antioxidant capacity, as consumers have been confronted by their worsening diets and risks of disease, while the media and health industries parade the benefits of antioxidants. This has led to an increase of functional applications of various berry ingredients.

“The growth of the functional foods market and the increasing importance consumers are attributing to the ‘health proposition’ of food products means manufacturers are in constant search of ways to add value to both new and existing product lines,” Hiranandani reported, noting berries are recognized as healthy ingredients and are increasingly sought after for inclusion in products such as cereals, nutrition bars and smoothies, amongst others.

Gallo added health bars, jams, fruit snacks, yogurts, ice cream, teas and beverages to the growing list of functional products increasingly enhanced by berries, calling functional beverages a particularly active segment.

“The use [of berries] in beverages appears to be the largest market opportunity,” agreed Stefan Wypyszyk, vice president of sales and marketing for MB North America, which sells and markets berry ingredients developed by Phenolics LLC. “Imagine getting one serving of fruit in a carbonated beverage, without the high refined sugar content but with the natural flavor and color, and benefits of the berry.” He said there has been an explosion of liquid berry products including seabuckthorn, goji, mangosteen pomegranate, blueberry and wolfberry.

Paul Gross, Ph.D., founder of BerryWise Inc. and founding member of the International Berry Health Association, agreed. “Functional beverages are an ideal platform, especially for juice powders of berries,” he said. “These have more versatility for functional foods/drinks/ premixes than liquid juice does, and the potential can be even broadened further as juice powders become more available.”

May agreed berry powders are wonderful for any kind of functional food, because they can be included in countless finished products—foods, bars, cereals, snack items, supplements—and can be mixed with other powders or concentrates. “A formulator might mix a whole berry form and isolate simultaneously,” he suggested.

“I think this category already has ‘staying power,’ demonstrated by the popularity of berries with the general consumer,” Gross said, adding up-and-coming berries in the North American market still have some foothold to gain. “As better info is made available for these berries (peer-reviewed food science and medical publications), açai and seabuckthorn will make better impact in the future as ingredients for functional products.”

Incorporating berries into functional food and beverage products appears to be a relatively easy enterprise, although there are some characteristics to take into consideration. There is the decision whether to use a whole, full spectrum berry ingredient, one with a high ORAC value, one standardized to specific phenolic content, or a combination of these.

Next, there are taste and color factors.The active phytochemicals in berries are rich pigments, ranging from blue, purple and lavender to red, magenta and pink.

“One of the main berries in our blend, aronia (Aronia melanocarpa) is well known in Europe, but not in North America,” May said. “It is rich in proanthocyanidins, anthocyanins and flavanols, and is used often—but in small quantities—for coloration in food industry, due to its very rich purple and blue pigment.” On taste, he reported whole berry powders have a sweet/sour taste, but generally will still need to be worked with in overall flavor program to highlight certain flavor tones targeted for an end product.

“In products such as cereals, nutrition bars, muffins and breads, sweetened dried cranberries can add striking, attractive points of color throughout, which can really lift a product’s visual appeal,” Hiranandani said. “In beverages, cranberry puree and concentrate impart an eye-catching, deep pink tone, which really helps the product to stand out on the shelf.” He reported cranberries have seen an unprecedented boom in popularity over the last 24 months.

Greg Edmunds, vice president of marketing for Charles Bowman, noted Bowman’s two bilberry ingredients, Catocyanic Complex and Antho50, have fruity odors and a strong hue. “They are soluble, fine powders that would impart a purple hue to formulations,” he advised, cautioning as with most polyphenol products, the taste can be rather astringent. Otherwise, he added, there are no special considerations for using these ingredients, and their solubility and fine particle size should make them easy to formulate.

Michael Tempesta, Ph.D., managing partner of Phenolics, reported his company’s berry extracts act as natural pigments or coloring agents, and certainly affect a product’s flavor profile. “As the sugar content is greatly reduced, the underlying flavors of the polyphenols, as either naturally tart or astringent fruit flavors (i.e. strawberry or blueberry), may be detectable if used in high quantities,” he said.

Still, how a functional formula is processed to its final result can affect the use of berries. The phytochemicals in berries were created to protect the fruits from outside toxins and threats; thus, these compounds are especially sensitive to environmental impacts such as heat and oxygen.May explained heat is difficult on most naturally-occurring compounds. “The processing will depend on the degree of heat and length of heating required for the finished product,” he said. “Heat liberates some phytochemicals, such as lycopene; but, for anthocyanins and other flavonoids, some are stable in heat and some are sensitive to heat.” He noted if a certain product needs to be heated, the berry ingredients can be added later in the process.

In the case of cranberries, Hiranandani reported there is no evidence to suggest they are damaged by heat. “In fact, trials have demonstrated that cranberry PACs and their bioactivity survive heat treatment,” he said. “This is based on finding anti-adhesion bioactivity in the urine after consumption of cranberry products that have undergone heat treatment, such as cranberry concentrate and sweetened dried cranberries.”

He assured from a structural point of view, process tolerance is one of the cranberry’s main selling points for food manufacturers. “Sweetened dried cranberries offer manufacturing stability, retain their piece identity without suffering the water migration or color bleed common to most fruits, and keep their flavor and texture throughout processing and storage,” he affirmed. “They can be incorporated directly into a batter or dough with no need to pre-soak or pre-treat, and no risk of compromising end-product consistency.”

Tempesta added Phenolic’s berry extracts are quite stable under mildly acidic conditions, which is the case with most foods and beverages.“They may benefit from the addition of a low-calorie sweetening agent or other naturally sweet berry or fruit,” he suggested.

While the characteristics of berry ingredients are generally easy to work with, their rapid growth and vast potential in the functional segment has created some supplyside issues that will need to be overcome to ensure continued growth.

“The bilberry is a smaller berry growing in the northern latitudes of Europe and, hence, prices for bilberries are much higher than for the blueberry,” Edmunds explained. “We often find formulators looking for the proanthocyanidin concentrations and ORAC values of bilberries at the prices of blueberries, which is frankly not possible.”

On the subject of sourcing, securing quality ingredients and ensuring there is enough to meet demand are two ongoing concerns for berry suppliers, especially in the organic category. As with other categories of botanical ingredients, some companies develop all their own raw materials. “Our berries come from the United States, Canada, Siberia and other places around the world where they have well-established organic growing just for Synergy,” May said. “We have thousands of acres of organic agriculture and a supply chain that is very deep—we are nowhere near maxing out capacity to provide organic wild berries, which have the most concentration of these naturally occurring beneficial compounds.”

Manufacturers of functional foods, beverage and snacks have bushels of berry ingredients from which to choose for their finished products. Considering the numerous health properties of various berries, the ease of using them in formulations and processing, and the range of delivery options available, there seems to be few limitations on how much the functional berry ingredients market will ripen. “As consumer demand for truly active products increases with their awareness, we see considerable opportunities on the horizon,” said Edmunds.

Gou qi zi (“goo-chee-zee”), the Mandarin name for wolfberry (Lycium barbarum L.), is a red berry of the Solanaceae nightshade family that includes tomato, eggplant, chili pepper and potato. In vernacular English, gou qi zi (literally “wolf”, “energy”, “berry”) has become “goji”. For at least 2,000 years, wolfberry has grown wild in China and been used in common recipes and traditional Chinese medicine. Eighteenth century Chinese farmers nicknamed gou qi zi “wolfberry” when they saw wolves feasting among the berry-laden vines during summer.

The Chinese revere wolfberry as a national treasure among the most nutrient dense of the nation’s plants. This premise has stimulated scientific investigation about its potential health benefits and systematic cultivation, commercialization and now increasing export to the West.

Wolfberry contains significant percentages of daily macronutrient needs, including carbohydrates, protein, fat and dietary fiber. In fact, soybean, another ancient Chinese plant among the world’s most complete foods, is comparable across macronutrients. Although wolfberries and soybeans are similar for macronutrient content, wolfberries provide a significantly higher source of calories as energy from carbohydrates. Blueberries, by contrast, do not have as much macronutrient value.

Seeds contain the wolfberry’s main complement of polyunsaturated fats such as linoleic (omega-6) and linolenic (omega-3) acids. It is the diversity and high concentration of micronutrients that brand wolfberry as an exceptional health food. With 11 essential minerals, 22 trace minerals, seven vitamins and 18 amino acids, it has a nutritional profile of extraordinary richness. For example, wolfberries provide up to 10 percent of the recommended daily intake (RDI) of calcium, and up to 24 percent RDI for potassium—twice the amount in soybeans. It has double the zinc content of soybeans and provides close to the RDI for selenium and riboflavin. Wolfberry’s exceptional iron content, 100-percent RDI, is twice that provided by soybeans, often regarded as the best plant source of iron.

In addition, wolfberries contain dozens of phytochemicals with properties under scientific study.Wolfberry’s beta-carotene content per unit weight is among the highest for edible plants, and the berry is an extraordinary source for zeaxanthin, an important carotenoid for retinal pigment development and antioxidant function. Further, there is a great deal of interest in polysaccharides, long-chain sugar molecules characteristic of many herbal medicines like mushrooms and roots.Polysaccharides are a primary source of fermentable fiber in the intestinal system. Upon colonic metabolism, fermentable or “soluble fibers” yield short-chain fatty acids that are valuable for health of the colon epithelial lining, enhance mineral uptake, stabilize blood glucose levels, lower pH, reduce colon cancer risk, and stimulate immune functions. Polysaccharides are a signature constituent of wolfberries, making up 31 percent of pulp weight in premium quality wolfberries.

Cultivated for a variety of food and beverage applications within China, but increasingly grown for export as dried berries and pulp or juice powders, wolfberries are prized for their versatility of color and nut-like taste in common meals, snacks, beverages and medicinal applications. A major effort is underway in Ningxia, China, to process wolfberry wine.

Despite a dearth of published clinical research, myths of wolfberry’s traditional benefits include longevity, aphrodisiac, analgesic, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, immunestimulating, muscular strength, energy and vision health.

In laboratory and preliminary human research to date, wolfberries have demonstrated potential benefits against cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases, some forms of cancer, diabetes, premature aging, memory deficits, vision degeneration and lung disorders, among other diseases of oxidative stress.

Micronutrient richness combined with key health phytochemicals give wolfberries remarkable nutritional synergy, making this berry perhaps the most nutritious plant food in nature.

Share this article: Email, Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Yahoo!MyWeb, Windows Live Favorites, Furl
Add this article feed to: RSS, My Yahoo, Newsgator, Bloglines