For week ending April 8, 2010

       Brand owners have shown interest in coconut water because of its many health benefits. It offers many of the same isotonic benefits as formulated sports drinks but in all-natural form. No additions are necessary, not even sweetener. The drink offers calcium, magnesium, and potassium to the sports enthusiast with the need for fortification. Coconut water is also described as being ?hypo-allergenic? which means that it causes few or no allergic reactions. New Nutrition Business said these benefits have been seized upon by start-up companies in Germany, the US and elsewhere, who are using new processing technologies and new brands to grow coconut water sales quickly and command premium prices.

       The march towards using sustainable palm oil has been led by Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and changing to palm oil that is sustainable or support sustainability is now a big trend for food manufacturers and retailers. The NGO Greenpeace has also been instrumental in holding manufacturers and retailers to account over their palm sourcing practices. Since it exposed rainforest clearance by certain Indonesian producers last year, major companies like Unilever have switched supplier. Casino has gone a step further by deciding to completely remove palm oil from all its own brand foods.

       Singh?s experiments have shown that, when making a cake with a mix that contains Fantesk, cooking oil does not have to be added. And, the mixes containing Fantesk produce low-fat cakes that have better texture and higher volume. The lower-fat frostings that Singh and Peoria chemical engineer Jeffrey Byars are creating with Fantesk have the smooth texture and spreadability of buttercream favorites, yet contain up to 50 percent less fat.

       Simo Honkanen, senior vice president of sustainability, health and safety at Neste, said it will set-up long-term deals with vegetable oil suppliers in the next few months for the two new plants, one in Singapore and another in Rotterdam, which have annual output capacity of 800,000 tons each. The bulk of Neste?s vegetable oil purchases will come from palm oil. The company presently uses various feedstock for its biofuel plants like rapeseed oil, waste from the meat industry, and palm oil, although it said it can also use other vegetable oils like soybean oil, sunflower oil, and some types of fish oil. However, palm oil will be the dominant feedstock.

       The new study, entitled ?Effect of Solid Fat Content on Structure in Ice Creams Containing Palm Kernel Oil and High-Oleic Sunflower Oil? which was partly funded by the Canadian Dairy Commission, looked at producing fat networks composed of palm kernel oil and sunflower oil instead of dairy fat.The solid fat content, dictated by the palm kernel oil, was varied from 40 to 100 percent. Sung and Goff also noted that the results will help with the development of strategies to re-place saturated fats, and the structural role they play in products like ice cream, without sacrificing on quality.

       In the case of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, however, it is more prescriptive. It says a daily intake of 250mg for adults ?may reduce the risk of heart disease?. However, academics and industry have been lobbying for far higher values than this, ideally over 500 mg a day. The scientists also objected to the proposal that ALA (alpha-linolenic) acid is a ?viable precursor? to longer chain DHA and EPA fatty acids. EFSA?s final opinion states that ?ALA cannot be synthesized by the body, is required to maintain metabolic integrity, and is therefore considered to be an essential fatty acid.? It proposes an adequate intake level of 0.5 per cent of energy, but says there is not enough evidence to set an average requirement, a lower threshold intake or a population reference intake. It also sees no need for a tolerable upper intake level, as it says there is no convincing evidence of any detrimental health effects.

       Mr. Dompok said the government will bear the cost of developing six petrol depots with blending facilities at a cost of M$43.1 million ($13 million). Petroleum companies including state oil firm Petronas as well as oil majors such as Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil and Caltex will have to subsidize palm-based biofuel blends at the pump, he said. Petroleum diesel retails at M$1.70 ($0.498) a liter, a price that is regulated by the government and among the lowest in Asia. Any increase in petrol prices is politically sensitive.

        Researchers led by Gerhard Jahreis from Friedrich Schiller University in Jena used dairy products to deliver the fatty acids. Fifty-one people participated in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over study, all of which had mildly elevated triacylglyceride levels. They were randomly assigned to receive omega-3 fortified dairy products, or normal dairy products. After 15 weeks of intervention and a 10 week ?washout period?, the participants were crossed over to the other group for a further 15 weeks. Results showed that omega-3 enriched dairy led to ?a significant improvement of cardiovascular risk factors, e.g., omega-3 fatty acid index, AA/EPA ratio, total cholesterol, and triacylglycerides.?