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Print Edition StoriesThursday, July 2, 2009
Ocean Spray, Welch's pursuing scientific claims of fruits
By Julie M. Donnelly
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Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. has won a patent for a method of extracting oil from the tiny seeds of cranberries, which the patent claims can be used for “treating or reducing the occurrence of breast cancer,” among other diseases. It’s a bold claim, but when asked if he believes the yellowish oil that smells and tastes faintly of cranberries could really have that power, inventor Wassef Nawar says, “Absolutely.”
It takes a tremendous number of berries to come up with anything approaching enough cranberry-seed oil to have a therapeutic effect. But Ocean Spray has plenty of cranberry carcasses, with seeds intact, after squeezing them for their juice — and officials there say this may be a good way to use them. The method covered by the patent would call for a large-scale extraction plant to produce the cranberry seed oil in mass quantities.
Companies around the country are in the hunt for the next big health drink. It’s easy to see why: A report by the Wellesley-based market research firm BCC Research found that the global market for so-called nutraceutical products increased to $123.9 billion in 2008 from $117.3 billion in 2007. The firm expects that dollar figure to rise to $176.7 billion in 2013. The market for nutraceutical beverages, while roughly even with nutraceutical foods and supplements in 2008, is expected to beat out both other categories by at least $15 billion by 2013.
But the cranberry oil extraction technique detailed in the patents wouldn’t just be for beverages: Cranberry seed oil is already sold in liquid and capsule form as a supplement in health food stores and online. Christina Khoo, manager of research sciences at Lakeville-Middleboro-based Ocean Spray, said the cooperative is exploring a number of different, new uses for cranberry seed oil. One possibility is to create a coating that could be put on foods such as cereal. Such a coating could be used for future Ocean Spray products or be sold to another company.
Khoo said she is part of a growing team of scientists at Ocean Spray — she declined to say how many — who are researching the health benefits of cranberries. The team conducts internal research and also supports outside academic research.
Ocean Spray’s juice-drink competition is spending time compiling scientific data too.
Casey Lewis, the corporate dietician at Concord-based Welch Foods Inc. is in charge of getting the word out to the public about the cardiovascular benefits of Concord grapes. She said new evidence has shown that the fruit has cognitive benefits as well. “The pilot study found that a group of seniors with early memory decline made an improvement in certain memory functions, as compared to a group taking a placebo,” she said.
At Dr Pepper Snapple Group, which owns brands such as Nantucket Nectars, the health-related offerings seems to be multiplying by the month, including Canada Dry Green Tea Ginger Ale, Cherry 7Up with antioxidants, and super premium Snapple teas with white, green and red teas. The company claims that studies of green tea consumption indicate that consuming 300mg of a certain antioxidant in green tea throughout the day boosts metabolism.
Watching their words
But caution about overselling the health benefits of juices and other drinks is widespread.
“It’s very difficult to make scientific claims — because they have to pass muster with the FDA — except what science can prove,“ said Cindy Taccine, Ocean Spray’s senior manager for integrated marketing. Ocean Spray, Welch’s and Dr Pepper Snapple Group officials were all careful in interviews to say that their products help “maintain” or “support” a healthy heart, immune system or urinary tract, rather than cure or prevent diseases.
And they may be even more conservative in their marketing after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration came down on General Mills Inc. last month for what FDA officials considered exaggerated claims about Cheerios’ ability to reduce cholesterol and fight heart disease. The FDA said that with those kind of claims, Cheerios was marketing itself more like a drug than a food, and it risked being classified that way.
Khoo said that despite the patent’s claim that cranberry seed oil could be used to treat diseases, the company has no plans to sell the technology to a pharmaceutical company, for instance. But inventor Nawar had other ideas for his method for large-scale cranberry seed oil extraction.
“I hope it would lead to the development of effective anti-cancer drugs,” he said.
$123.9B A report by BCC Research found that the global market for so-called nutraceutical products increased to $123.9 billion in 2008 from $117.3 billion in 2007
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