Minerals are the bedrock of the nutraceutical industry. They are among the most researched and studied ingredients. In addition, minerals have a proven track record in the prevention and amelioration of a variety of disease states.
"Some experts believe that approximately 60 elements are needed by the human body for optimum health," explained Kathy McLeod, marketing director, Triarco Industries, Fountain Valley, CA. "However, the quality of our food and water has diminished over time due to filtration and processing, removing essential mineral content and resulting in a 'mineral deficient' nation. The average consumer, while aware of the need for more fruits and vegetables in their diet, may be mistaken in thinking these healthy food groups offer the mineral content required for optimum health. While they are high in certain vitamins and other healthy nutrients, fruits and vegetables are, for the most part, low in essential minerals."
According to Max Motyka, director of sales and marketing, Albion Laboratories, St. Clair Shores, MI, minerals are the most important category in terms of human health. "It is the category of nutrients that has the greatest number of useful effects and at the same time, it is the category that has been observed to be most often found in a deficient state," he said. "Other items, like herbs, seem to get more press, but minerals are what can keep you in the best of health."
Bill Downs, director of technical services, InterHealth Nutraceuticals, Benecia, CA, offered another perspective. "If we consume only the small number of essential vitamins, amino acids and fatty acids, our bodies have the ability to make the multitude of other contingent and non-essential vitamin, amino and fatty acid nutrients required for optimum health," he explained, adding, "But our bodies don't make a single mineral. As such, we must consume all of our mineral needs, or experience gradual progressive erosion of the body's structure and function, which can lead to disease."
Tracking the Minerals Market
Despite an overall slow down in sales over the past three years, the minerals market is still growing. According to Nutrition Business Journal (NBJ), minerals experienced 13.2% growth in 1999, 4.7% growth in 2000 and 3% growth in 2001. NBJ predicts that the $1.4 billion market will continue to grow at a rate of 3-5% annually between now and 2005.
According to Howard Simon, president, American Ingredients, Anaheim, CA, growth in the minerals segment has occurred because business has slowed for other portions of the nutraceuticals industry. "Postively affecting the minerals has been the severe decline of the botanicals and standardized extracts market," he commented. "Subsequent to this event, the industry turned its focus toward a less controversial and more reliable, sustainable segment to compensate for declines in revenue. Much of the impetus for the mineral boom has come at the expense of botanicals."
This changing of the guard doesn't seem to surprise those who have been standing on the mineral side of the fence. Jeff Lenger, director of sales and marketing, Jost Chemical, St. Louis, MO, commented, "The minerals side seems to be very different than the herbals side of the nutraceuticals market in that the herbals have huge swings up and down. Herbals seem to be more of a fad business, while the minerals side is much more stable."
Rick Kaiser, vice president sales, Nutrition 21, Purchase, NY, echoed these thoughts. "Minerals are less trendy. They aren't driven by fads and hype," he said. "Several [minerals] are backed by decades of published research. None promise the head-pounding stimulation of ephedra or the sexual thrills of yohimbe, so the minerals don't make the covers of the men's magazines. In the long term, that suits our business model of sustainable growth, safe ingredients and confirmable health benefits."
Playing the role of the slow, steady hare, it seems that minerals have the upper hand over other flashy nutraceutical ingredients. According to Loren Ward, R&D manager of whey research, Glanbia Ingredients, Monroe, WI, "Minerals have an advantage over other nutraceutical ingredients because it is well recognized that macrominerals and microminerals are essential for a wide range of cellular, hormonal, muscular and physiological functions," he explained. "Deficiency symptoms have been established and recommended dietary intakes have been set for essential minerals. Many of the nutraceutical products/components have not been identified as being essential and are not required for normal human metabolism."
Overall, the attitude is that demand is steady as scientists continue to confirm the essential role minerals play in warding off disease and protecting health. "The market is heating up both internationally and domestically as illustrated by the boom in stage III clinical trials," commented Joanna Wozniak, communications manager, Institut Rosell, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. "In the U.K. for example, 14,000 subjects will participate in a trial for the prevention of cancer with selenium, which will build on trials that have been conducted in the U.S."
Trends
According to Triarco's Ms. McLeod, the quest for a better source of minerals that offers increased assimilation has been the subject of ongoing research for decades. "In recent years, chelated minerals have been the most popular forms of mineral supplementation as they are thought to be better assimilated by the body than minerals in their raw form," she commented.
However, lately there has been some buzz surrounding plant-based minerals, such as Triarco's new Phytavail line. Dr. Burt Ensley, spokesperson for the new line, and author of numerous papers on plant-based minerals and their solubility, explained their function. "Plants accumulate minerals that are essential for their growth and have developed numerous biochemical responses that result in the uptake of minerals," he said, and continued, "Through a proprietary 'mineral transfer process' minerals are transported, while chelated to organic acids, producing unique plant-based molecules called 'phytochelatins.' This process assures the mineral is offered in its most soluble form for superior assimilation and metabolism by the body."
InterHealth's Mr. Downs believes that the future of minerals lies in ligand biochemistry. "The trend in minerals is, and has been, building on and promoting each successive development in a stepwise fashion. First, there were 'chelated' minerals," he said, adding, "Then there were 'targeted' mineral chelates, purported to target mineral usage to specific cell sites based on the specific chelating (binding) agent (enter the ligand). This has matured to the next level of ligand biochemistry." Mr. Downs continued, "The forms of minerals found in foods are bound to organic materials (called ligands), like amino acids, proteins, vitamins, glyconutrients and even some fatty acids. These forms are better absorbed, more bioavailable, effectively used and are 'body friendly' (i.e. less of a burden or consequence to the body as a result of their usage)."
It is no secret that the most interesting thing happening in the mineral market these days is the fortification of food products. Omar Filippelli, marketing director, Designed Nutritional Products, Orem, UT, commented on the trend. "Pill fatigue is increasingly common in this industry," he said, adding, "As companies develop better forms and applications, and are able to deal successfully with the 'taste issue' of minerals, we'll see a continued shift toward fortification of common foods."
Trends in the nutraceuticals industry continue to focus on convenience. As a result, Ellis Hogetoorn, market development specialist, Purac America, Lincolonshire, IL, said there has been a tendency toward total concept formulating. "Instead of just adding one value added ingredient, companies are now looking to add two or more ingredients that may all benefit the same concept," she explained. "Think of a 'bone health' formulation with calcium, magnesium and vitamin D or a 'men's formulation' with zinc, selenium and vitamin E."
Expanding on the total concept trend was Institut Rosell's Ms. Wozniak. "Single formulas are popular, but more and more combinations are being developed as nutritional science progresses and demonstrates the value of multiple delivery," she said. "This takes advantage of potential synergies among the minerals, which may enhance health effects. For example, the mixing of selenium and other agents, such as lactic acid bacteria is popular, due to the synergistic effects on the immune system, as well as on tumors directly."
In terms of fortification, Nutrition 21's Mr. Kaiser said the trend is old, but still shows potential to grow. "Minerals crossed into functional foods several generations ago, but still have plenty of room to grow. Calcium fortified orange juice is such a stunning success, leading most consumers to believe that all orange juices contain calcium." He added, "Most consumers would benefit from a multi-mineral supplement, to avoid the excess calories they would need to consume to get a comprehensive and balanced intake of minerals. But multi-mineral supplements expose unaware consumers to some of the worst practices of our industry. That is, supplements formulated with the lowest cost mineral forms in full knowledge that the end product is essentially not bioavailable."
Bioavailability & Contamination
Bioavailability has long been an issue of concern for the industry. Commenting on this was Dr. DeWayne Ashmead of Albion Advanced Nutrition. "Only a small percentage of the population comprehends that different sources of minerals have different bioavailabilities. When this concept is explained, the issue becomes further complicated by conflicting reports on absorption," he said.
Interhealth's Mr. Downs further discussed the issue of bioavailability and the commoditization of chelates. "The largest quantity of minerals sold to consumers still comes from inorganic mineral salts. The next most popularly used minerals are chelated forms," he explained. "However, while originally considered specialty minerals (and still superior to inorganic salts), chelates have become highly competitive, low cost 'generic' (and poorly characterized) commodities that can't afford the burdensome costs necessary to justify enough superiority to grow the market."
The biggest challenge the mineral market is faced with, according to Mr. Downs, is promoting better forms of mineral supplements and justifying their increased cost with valuable, evidence-based benefits. "Most of the market is still avoiding the technical and cost challenges of promoting 'specialty' minerals," he commented. "While commodity minerals still outsell specialty minerals in quantity, many specialty minerals outsell their commodity counterparts in dollar volume due to their evidence-based benefits and justifiably higher costs."
In addition to bioavailability, contamination is another issue that has surfaced as a sore spot on the industry. Contamination of minerals with heavy metals, such as lead, arsenic and cadmium is of great concern. "Most ethical companies source minerals that have low levels of these heavy metals," Dr. Ashmead commented. "The problem, of course, is that low contaminant mineral sources are more expensive. Laboratory testing to assure the purity of these minerals is also expensive. These costs are passed on in part to the consumer. The consumer may not be aware of the extra effort to provide a cadmium-free zinc, for example, and thus chooses a cheaper source of zinc that contains high amounts of cadmium."
Consumer Awareness
Educating consumers is the main issue, according to most experts. It also happens to be the industry's recurring conundrum. With education these problems can be dealt with, but the industry has a long way to go.
"The level of consumer knowledge determines the trends," commented Mr. Downs. "Considering their widespread usage, minerals may be the most under appreciated and misunderstood of nutrients. The misunderstanding regards both the importance of minerals to health and the form of mineral being supplemented."
Going into further detail, Mr. Downs explained, "For the most part, minerals exist in many forms determined by what they are bound to. If bound to other minerals (ions), they exist in small tightly bound, compacted and hard units, just like in rocks, bones and shells, also known as inorganic mineral salts. These forms were intended to impart structural strength. They were not intended by nature to be eaten, although they are the most widely used in formulations due to their very low cost."
Also commenting on the issue of low consumer awareness was Albion's Mr. Motyka. "In general people are very poorly educated on minerals. There is some basic understanding that calcium is needed for bones and teeth, iron for blood and zinc to help with colds and flus," he explained. "Unfortunately, the media, which has the greatest access to the public and thus the best opportunity to help educate us all, tends to focus in on what is sensational, not educational. Emphasis is always on what makes people lose weight, gain energy or have greater sexual capacity, rather than on what we need to do to keep our bodies really healthy."
It is obvious that awareness is still highest for calcium. According to Ernst Gunther, global product manager, Boehringer Ingelheim, Ingelheim am Rein, Germany, "By far the most attention in the last 10 years has been focused on calcium for maintaining and preventing bone loss, followed by magnesium and zinc, which are still underdeveloped and will see increased attention in the future."
Purac's Ms. Hogetoorn said bone health has been in the spotlight, but the recent FDA claim for potassium is gaining ground with consumers. "Bone health is still the hottest concept, for which calcium, magnesium and vitamin D are very important," she said. "Potassium has also been in the news since FDA approved a new health claim stating that '...diets containing foods that are good sources of potassium, may reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke...' Companies are not only looking at adding potassium as an electrolyte in sports formulations, but also as a nutrient for heart health."
Building Science & Education
According to Designed Nutritional Products' Mr. Filippelli, the future growth of the minerals market is directly dependant upon the amount of money spent on scientific research and proper education. "Industry regulation is actually forcing greater expenditures in both of these areas," he commented. "This is possibly one of the best things that could happen in the market."
In the end, Ms. Wozniak commented, "As data from clinical trials continue to accumulate, the only way is up. Such trials will field test minerals and their delivery systems and reinforce the product category with sound science. As a result, the beneficial effects of minerals will be in reach of more and more consumers. For minerals, these are exciting times."