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FSC5041, Semester 1, 2024 Assessment Task 1

Assessment Task 1: Product review

Dairy Farmers- Heart Active Milk 1L

Photo source: Dairy farmers website

Introduction

Functional foods gain their importance in human life as they are claimed to promote health and prevent diseases especially cardiac diseases and obesity in young adults as they are enriched in various fortified vitamins, minerals, prebiotics, and probiotics.

These functional foods are personalized and nutritious as they are made to meet the requirements of nutrients, taste, and preferences of individuals. For example, some breakfast cereals target millennials with dietary requirements, some food allergies or attracting vegan consumers.

There have been special regulations and guidelines governing the labelling and marketing of these foods giving consumers 100% assurance regarding health claims of the product.

Overall, functional foods create a bend towards proactive approaches to health and nutrition, with consumers understanding its importance in support of well-being and longevity.

One key limitation of functional food is that they are fortified with bioactive compounds so the bioavailability, stability, and efficacy of bioactive compounds may change depending on their processing factors, formulation, dosage, and absorption as a result, it becomes difficult sometimes to maintain all the factors together in the right amount as claimed.

The product Heart Active, the company Dairy Farmers is well known for its health claims as low fat and reduction in levels of cholesterol by up to 10 per cent.

Also, it is highly pasteurized low-fat milk with plant sterols. The packaging displays 5-star health star ratings and a statutory warning as Not suitable for children under the age of two years as the protein content is much lower for the overall growth of the infants and according to Schedule 4, it is low in protein as it claims 8.3 g per 250 ml serving.

The claim is of a high level that straight away targets to reduce the LDL-C levels.

The product is known for its creamy and smooth texture that tastes delicious when served cold or hot. It is claimed to be rich in calcium with 308 mg per 250 ml serving size. It is because it contains plant sterols 0.80g per 250 ml serving size that could reduce the levels of cholesterol within three weeks of daily consumption by the consumer. It is believed that a daily intake of milk with plant sterols can reduce LDL cholesterol and the company claims that 2g of plant sterols which is 2-3 servings of Heart active milk followed by a healthy diet, and low saturated fat could give the best results. As per FSANZ & RDI calcium is 38% of daily intake and fat with 5% only. It even has fatty acids that are known for their heart-healthy properties like eicosapentaenoic acids (EPA) and DHA that were added to this product from the source fish oil. Antioxidants and fibre in dissolved form are also present in this product to help in the reduction of oxidative stress and inflammation.

It is clinically proven that the main effect of plant sterols if taken at 2g per serving is a 4.5% reduction in LDL cholesterol and a 15% reduction in TAG. It even has beneficial effects on the lipid profile of people with Hypercholesterolaemia. Cholesterol-lowering is the target for lowering CVD risk. But this product lacks PUFA traces whose combination with plant sterols works magic to control the LDH levels. Also, the presence of plant sterols is slightly less as claimed in this product to work in favour of cholesterol reduction.

As per the research study, the experiment was performed by considering people aged 35-55 years with mild symptoms of hypercholesterolaemia within two weeks providing them with 100ml portion of 2 g plant sterols in yogurt form and 2G fatty acids PUFA fish oil in capsule form showing their effects on plasma lipids, apolipoproteins, and LDL particle size. The participants were on randomised trials with a 2x2 factorial design. As a result, blood samples were collected, glucose was estimated from plasma and lipids were estimated from serum samples. Under observation, fish oil individually had hardly any effect on cholesterols concentrations rather TAG was reduced by 15% and an increment in HDL cholesterols by 5.4%. Although the combination of plant sterols and PUFA all together resulted in a reduction of LDL cholesterol. It has been found that cholesterol-lowering has been one of the reasons to treat CVD risk and this could be achieved through a healthy lifestyle, weight control and more physical activity. The risk of CVD can be reduced by intake of 2g/d phytosterols as it significantly reduces the LDL cholesterols levels. For results, ANCOVA was studied main effects of plant sterols and n-3 long chain LC-PUFA concerning their controls were observed.

So, the overall compliance for the yogurt drink and capsules were 96.7 and 95.2% respectively. Also, there was no significant interaction between plant sterols and fish oil n-3 PUFA on TC, LDL-C, HDL-C concentrations & TC with HDL-C RATIO

Therefore, daily consumption of 2-4g n-3 LC-PUFA from fish oil in the form of supplements along with plant sterols has an evident contribution to LDL-C lowering hence contributing to cardioprotective effects.

According to FSANZ food standard codes, the energy per 250 ml serving of this product contributes to 435KJ, which is a high-energy food. Low-fat levels as this product contains 1 g per 100 ml, slightly lower than FSANZ value. Hence, the claim about less fat is true and its transparent to the consumer. Plant sterols as 0.32 g per 100 ml serving. The standard value is 2g per day for plant sterols to properly work in combination with fish oil. Therefore 2-3 servings of Heart active milk are recommended per day to bring the change in cholesterol levels. The product contains 308mg of calcium satisfying the levels of high calcium as per FSANZ. Therefore, the claim as rich in calcium in the product stands true.

Reference

Chadwick RF. Functional foods. Berlin ; New York: Springer; 2003.

Hobbs JE. Regulating health foods. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Pub. Ltd.; 2014.

Wilson AM, McCullum D, Henderson J, Coveney J, Meyer SB, Webb T, et al. Management of food incidents by Australian food regulators. Nutrition & Dietetics. 2016 Jan 24;73(5):44854.

Buttriss J, Saltmarsh M, Society R, British Nutrition Foundation, Society R. Functional foods II : claims and evidence. Cambridge: Royal Society Of Chemistry; 2000.

HeartActive Milk | Dairy Products [Internet]. Dairy Farmers. Available from: https://www.dairyfarmers.com.au/product/heart-active/

Care scheme=AGLSTERMS A corporateName=Health and A. Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code Schedule 4 Nutrition, health and related claims [Internet]. www.legislation.gov.au. scheme=AGLSTERMS.AglsAgent; corporateName=Office Parliamentary Counsel; address=Locked Bag 30 Kingston ACT 2604; contact=+61 2 6120 1400; 2023. Available from: https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2015L00474/latest/text

Thank you