Joanna Cosgrove11.22.10
Cookies and milk are the quintessential snack, not only beloved by kids after school, but by grown-ups too. The only thing more appealing than fresh baked cookies with a tall, cold glass of milk? Calcium-fortified cookies that deliver 30% of the Daily Value of calcium per cookie. The cookies, called CalciOs™, were created by Dr. Siegal & Son, LLC, the Vienna, VA-based company launched by physician and author Sanford Siegal, DO, MD, and his CEO son, Matthew Siegal, the duo behind the internationally popular Dr. Siegal’s Cookie Diet which debuted in 2007.
Patent-pending CalciOs cookies, which are not formulated to be part of the company’s Cookie Diet weight loss product line up, are enriched with calcium carbonate, a common source of dietary calcium supplementation that also neutralizes stomach acid and relieves occasional heartburn.
Matthew Siegal came up with the idea for the cookie after reading an article about how inconvenience is a major reason why many people don’t get adequate nutrition, including the right amount of calcium. “I discussed the idea with my father and within hours he was in his bakery working on a formula,” he said.
“Based on the success of Dr. Siegal’s Cookie Diet, which is due in large part to its convenience, we decided to use the same vehicle (a cookie) to supplement dietary calcium,” Dr. Siegal added.
Choosing the Right Calcium
As an obesity expert, Dr. Siegal was adamant that his new cookie not only taste great, but it also had to provide more dietary calcium per calorie than other foods. After researching various sources of calcium, Dr. Siegal chose calcium carbonate, which is naturally found in limestone, pearls and eggshells and commonly used in baking, calcium supplementation and heartburn relief products.
“The greatest challenge in creating the product was trying to pack a significant percentage of the Daily Value of calcium into a 10-gram cookie and still make it enjoyable to eat," explained Dr. Siegal. “It’s easy to make a great cookie until you add 750 mg of calcium carbonate to it. Calcium carbonate is a wonderful, natural substance but it's a gritty and chalky powder. Yet, through trial and error, I created a formula that produces a delicious cookie with a smooth texture and mouth feel.”
The CalciOs formula provides 30% of the Daily Value of calcium per 37 calorie cookie, or 90% per three-cookie serving. According to Dr. Siegal, one would have to consume about 125 calories of 2% milk or 291 calories of 2% cottage cheese to get the same amount of calcium provided by one 37-calorie CalciOs cookie.
He went on to add that calcium carbonate’s versatility lent itself well to the cookie’s multifaceted benefits. [Not only does it provide] dietary calcium, but it also neutralizes stomach acid that can cause heartburn,” said Dr. Siegal.
He also emphasized that CalciOs bear no health claims and are marketed strictly as a snack food, not as a drug or dietary supplement. “Our cookie is a snack food and isn’t intended to be used to relieve chronic or severe heartburn, which may indicate a medical problem.”
However Dr. Siegal’s son commented that CalciOs represent the company’s entry into the functional foods segment. “We believe that functional snack foods are the next big thing, and we intend to be a significant player in the space,” he said in a company-issued press release.
“We launched Dr. Siegal & Son, the company that makes CalciOs cookies, specifically to develop and market functional foods,” said Dr. Siegal, with a nod to future functional products. “My formula for our next product is already being tested and we’re very pleased with the results.”
CalciOs cookies are certified Kosher; contain no artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives; and are suitable for vegetarian diets. The first CalciOs flavor is all-natural vanilla; other flavors will follow by year's end.
