By Cindy Green

As one wave of consumer demand crests and subsides -- the "fool your palette" low-fat foods -- a new wave is hitting America. Healing foods that can stifle a cold or even ward off cancer are all the buzz in value-added ag circles.

Whatever name they go by -- medicinal plants, nutraceuticals, functional foods, natural therapeutics -- they're the foods touted to prevent or cure health problems, and AURI is looking at them with an eye to opening up new crop and product markets for Minnesota agriculture.

"We're talking about food that's designed or contains material for specific health benefits," says Bill Stoll, AURI food scientist. "Cheerios, for example, has a high oat fiber content, demonstrated to reduce blood serum cholesterol."

Properly evaluating a nutraceutical's potential takes many sets of research glasses -- horticulture, agronomy, botanics, food science and nutrition, medicine, pharmacology, engineering, marketing, economics. That's why AURI is helping establish a U of M consortium, headed by the Center for Alternative Plant and Animal Products, to evaluate project proposals in the nutraceutical and medicinal plant category.

"We need the research continuity to go all the way from idea testing to deciding if a product will be commercially viable. The University of Minnesota is in an ideal situation to address all those gaps," says Debby Filler, a U of M plant scientist who is heading the consortium.

Wild window of opportunity
Currently, "wildcrafting" -- picking exotic plants in the wild -- threatens extinction of some popular species, especially as news of their medicinal benefit spreads. Nevertheless, "what looks like a problem actually provides numerous opportunities for rural people," states a recent World Bank report. "Of all the new frontiers of agriculture, the cultivation of medicinal plants is among the most powerful for doing good for the world."

A variety of plants claiming medicinal value may have "Minnesota grown" potential -- St. John's wort for depression, grape seed extract for inflammations, feverfew for migraines, echinacea (purple coneflower) for colds, chamomile for stress.

"There's huge interest in these plants; some of which is based on heresay and testimonials rather than research and clinical trials," Filler says. "Yet, there's every reason to believe that many will be shown to have therapeutic value ... In Europe, they are way ahead of us in testing these materials."

"If links (to health) are proven, it will open up alternative crop opportunities," says Todd Thompson, AURI deputy director. "If we find out that St. John's wort is a great treatment for depression, the markets are there and you will see people growing it. It's the reverse of growing a crop and then looking for the market."

Stamp of ancient approval
Using ginseng to stay alert, licorice to relieve stomach problems or cayenne to stop the pain of an open wound may be in vogue. But using plants to cure disease dates back to ancient times, particularly in Asian cultures, and herbal remedies are still prevalent today. According to the World Health Organization, 80percent of the world's population uses plants for medicine.

"We've all experienced home remedies," Stoll says. "My grandfather use to put turpentine (made from pine oil) on sores. I don't remember if it worked, but he sure thought it did. The problem with a lot of the home remedies is they're all anecdotal testimonies."

AURI food scientist Charan Wadhawan is seeing science validate home remedies used in New Delhi, India where she grew up. "My mother use to make turmeric poultice packs -- warmed oil, flour and turmeric in gauze cloth. I remember her holding a pack on my leg that was swelling up from being hit. It made my leg yellow, but it reduced the inflammation." Indians still use turmeric for treating arthritis and inflammations.

Modern studies confirm that curcuminoids in turmeric, which give the spice its distinctive yellow-orange color, are anti-inflammatory and may inhibit the formation of cancer cells.

Acceptance improves with age
Medicinal foods are catching on fast with the 76 million baby boomers struggling to retain youthful vitality. And healthy baby boomers could be a force well into the next century. There are currently more than 61,000 U.S. citizens over age 100; by 2020, the census bureau predicts there will be some 214,000 centurions.

(Generation X, on the other hand, appears to be skeptical about the future and isn't swayed by claims of long-term nutritional benefits.)

"We do have an aging population. If you can drink tea with gingko to improve your memory, and it doesn't cost a lot more, why not?" Thompson says.

"Consumers today are losing faith in modern medicine, and many are taking a holistic approach to life ... treating and nourishing the total body in order to improve health, rather than taking drugs to treat specific ailments," writes Donna Gorski, senior editor of Dairy Foods, in the January 1998 edition of the magazine.

Indeed, "Many people with chronic disorders hate the idea that they're sick," says Bob Jones, an executive at a Cambridge, Mass. nutraceutical firm. "They perceive drugs as something sick people take. If they can manage chronic conditions with food, they would prefer to do so."

Many medications, including aspirin, are derived from plant materials. But once chemically altered, they're considered drugs subject to FDA scrutiny, Stoll says. Food components in their pure form can enter the market more freely. However, food or nutritional supplements cannot make health claims unless validated by scientific studies. Such claims are usually made in external publications, not on product packaging. Stoll says standards for nutraceuticals are likely to tighten as their medicinal use becomes more widespread.

Wadhawan agrees: "There will be more restrictions and regulations in this area. The FDA is working on it because when consumers buy an herbal extract, they need to know how potent it is ... Other components could be included that are not really beneficial to health."

Eat the right foods
Nutraceuticals can be whole foods or extracted components added to other foods. Tomatoes, for example, contain the antioxidant lycopene, which imparts the rosy red color and is reputed to be twice as powerful as beta-carotene. Consumers don't need to take lycopene supplements -- they can just eat tomatoes. However, to improve lycopene absorption, the tomato should be processed, such as in sauce, and consumed with a little added fat.

Other phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables can benefit consumers through direct consumption. Isoflavones in soybeans may reduce the risk of certain cancers including breast, lung, colon, rectum, stomach and prostate cancer. Polyphenols in green tea have been shown in animal studies to fight carcinogenic free radicals. Raw broccoli is rich in phenethyl isoiocynanate, another anticarcinogen.

Phytochemicals or vitamins and minerals can also be extracted and added to other foods or used alone as supplements. "Almond oil (rich in vitamin E) can be put in capsules and used as a nutraceutical that has proven health benefits," Wadhawan says.

However, phytochemicals might not be as effective when they're isolated or processed. "Hypothetically, let's say an ingredient added to tea is purported to solve stomach problems. But maybe no one has determined if this ingredient is water soluble and accessible," Filler says. "People may be spending their money on products that will have little or no effect. It might be that by a small change in processing, it could have great value."

Product potential plus
New foods combining vitamin and mineral supplements with herbal additives are flooding the market. A green tea blended with Siberian ginseng and alfalfa touts 110 percent RDI of Vitamin C, plus 20 percent of Vitamins A and E. Other market entrants include calcium-fortified rice, pretzels with an energy-blend Italian seasoning, a "Fatigue Buster" drink that includes electrolytes, antioxidants and ginseng, bagels fortified with omega-3 fatty acids, and a beverage rich in beta-glucans claiming cholesterol-reducing benefits.

Another hot category of nutraceuticals is "probiotic" cultures containing organisms like Lactobacillus acidophilus, responsible for changing milk into yogurt. Probiotic cultures are frequently added to dairy products to improve digestion, and scientists are discovering new culture strains, such as Lactobacillus reuteri, popular in Sweden. By balancing intestinal microflora, probiotics promote intestinal health. Live, active cultures are showing up in an array of products, including carbonated yogurt-juice drinks and frozen desserts.