Written by: Anna-Lena Kaiser – Product Specialist Food at Lignopure
As you might already know, we’ve grown our application portfolio in the last years and added a new department to our company which is working passionately on lignin for food applications. We are immensely excited to dig deeper into the world of nutraceuticals, food supplements and food ingredients with our upcycled, environmentally friendly and additive-free product LignoLite. Since we want to introduce our new solution step by step, let’s begin with the basics and talk about the different application categories and the implementation of lignin in the food industry.
What are nutraceuticals?
Nutraceuticals refer to any substance, either food or part of a food, that provides medical or health benefits, including the prevention and treatment of disease. These are derived from foods and can be used in the form of pills, capsules, and liquids.
Difference between nutraceuticals and dietary/food supplements
Nutraceuticals must not only supplement the diet but should also aid in the prevention and/or treatment of a disease and/or disorder. Whereas food/dietary supplements’ main target is to complement the daily diet.
Food ingredients and food additives
Food ingredients are substances, that are added to food with the aim to enhance/add a desired effect from the food manufacturer. The term includes food additives, which can help to achieve specific technical and/or functional goals during processing, storage, or packaging. Examples of food additives include thickeners and emulsifiers, as well as preserving agents.
Lignin in food applications
Lignin is known to possess natural antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties, which are very important in the field of food applications. Thanks to years of research and development by our team of experts, we at Lignopure have found a way to unleash them to benefit health–related functions, and like this, making lignin a powerful ingredient in the world of nutraceuticals.
With this said, our team has been working diligently to develop high-quality multifunctional biobased lignin products that can be used in a variety of applications for the nutraceutical and food markets. Therefore, we are happy and proud to have found companies that are trusting us in the co-creation of prototypes and end-products based on our new LignoLite ingredient and with whom we are reaching B2B and B2C market readiness in parallel. We believe that these products will be a game-changer in the nutraceutical industry and we look forward to sharing them with the food and nutraceutical sector soon.
References:
A. Cencic und W. Chingwaru, „The Role of Functional Foods, Nutraceuticals, and Food Supplements in Intestinal Health“, Nutrients, Bd. 2, Nr. 6, S. 611–625, Juni 2010, doi: 10.3390/nu2060611.
https://www.foodingredientfacts.org/facts-on-food-ingredients/what-are-food-additives/
M. Silva und F. Lidon, „Food preservatives – An overview on applications and side effects“, Emir. J. Food Agric., Bd. 28, Nr. 6, S. 366, 2016, doi: 10.9755/ejfa.2016-04-351.