MORRISTOWN, N.J.—At SupplySide West, PLT Health Solutions Inc. worked with natural product and functional food product developers to address a broad range of consumer concerns with its portfolio of ingredient solutions.

Among the major issues addressed by PLT were the industry’s interest in clean-label, whole food ingredients, blood sugar management in functional food products, and cognitive support for memory, learning, performance and mood. Other health support platforms highlighted at the show included PLT’s ingredients for heart health and weight management.

PLT Health Solutions delivers market-ready, science-based ingredient solutions across a number of health and wellness platforms that respond to existing and emerging consumer demand. Delivering these solutions includes marketing more than 25 proprietary branded ingredients that are considered either market or scientific leaders in their categories. PLT also supplies botanicals, extracts, raw materials and functional materials that support the development of customers’ formulated products.

According to Seth Flowerman, director of business development for PLT Health Solutions, the company is continually looking to develop novel ingredient solutions that help the natural products industry create exciting new brands that respond to consumer needs.

In the last year, the company introduced ingredients such as Vibrant Harvest™ Whole Food Powders and Earthlight™ Whole Food Vitamin D, and it has brought out Synapsa™ Memory Support as a science-backed cognitive support ingredient for memory, learning and cognitive performance. Recently, it introduced Benecarb^® Glycemic Support Complex to help companies address blood sugar management in their functional food products.

Introduced in June of this year, Benecarb Glycemic Balance Complex is an ingredient that has been shown to reduce the glycemic index (GI) of carbohydrate-rich foods and beverages by up to 20 percent at addition levels of 4 to 6 percent of total carbohydrate content – and can change the GI classification of a food from high or medium to medium or low. The incorporation of Benecarb can support product-based claims of “low GI" or “lower GI" based on the testing of the food system in question. Because of its low rate of addition, Benecarb has a minimal impact on the organoleptic properties of a formulation and is a cost-effective way to address the blood sugar management issue.

In 2012, the biggest gainers in the U.S. supplement market were food-based. This follows a trend where consumers are increasingly reaching to ‘whole foods’ as their preferred sources of nutrition. At SupplySide West, PLT Health Solutions highlighted Earthlight Whole Food Vitamin D and Vibrant Harvest Whole Food Powders to respond to this trend.

Earthlight is a patented mushroom powder ingredient that delivers 40,000 International Units (IU) of Vitamin D per gram. It is natural, vegan/vegetarian, non-GMO and clean-label. Earthlight’s high concentration of Vitamin D allows formulators to offer ‘good’, ‘excellent’ or ‘high potency’ source label claims with only a few milligrams of the ingredient. It is possible to deliver the entire Daily Value (400 IU) with 10 milligrams of Earthlight – which means it will be cost-effective and won’t affect the taste or texture of formulated products.

The Vibrant Harvest Whole Food Powders line is made with a patented technology that gently evaporates water molecules in foods without disturbing the active enzymes, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and other phytonutrients – preserving the flavor, aroma, color and nutritional quality of the original materials. At the same time, Vibrant Harvest Whole Food Powders offer processing characteristics that can lower costs and increase the quality of finished products. Today, PLT offers fruit-based and vegetable-based ingredients responding to the hottest nutrient, flavor and color trends in the market.

PLT also featured two ingredients in its cognitive support portfolio that represented distinct opportunities for the development of consumer products – both of which are backed by strong science. Synapsa Natural Memory Support is the subject of six double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical studies in which healthy adults showed significantly improved performance in areas such as visual processing, learning rate, working memory, information retention and mental performance in cognitively demanding environments.

The studies behind Synapsa focus on ‘peak cognitive performance’ outcomes that offer benefits for people across all age groups. They show support for two distinct types of benefit from Synapsa: daily, long-term use to enhance learning and memory, and short-term use to improve mental performance in cognitively demanding situations, such as test-taking. Zembrin^® is the world’s first patented, standardized and clinically studied extract of an elite selection of Sceletium tortuosum. Sceletium, known by the San people of South Africa as “Kanna," has been used for millennia for its stress-relieving and mood-enhancing effects. Backed by extensive safety testing, Zembrin has been clinically demonstrated to improve cognitive function - specifically cognitive flexibility and executive function.