Connecting across disciplines - agriculture and health opportunities for society

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By John Kelly

At a recent meeting entitled Food Meets Function in London, Ontario, health professionals including dieticians, conferred with agriculture producers, researchers, agribusiness and the food industry to relate the connection of functional foods, health and the opportunities to contribute to the Canadian economy. Functional foods can be defined broadly as those foods contributing more to human health than just their nutritional value. Examples of such products would be omega-3 eggs and milk, probiotic yogurts, prebiotic breads and enhanced crops that provide active ingredients that specifically impact human health.

In Canada, there is a plethora of technologies and opportunities, and indeed, research and development in this area is world leading. These products can be developed through a variety of methods, including advanced feeding of livestock and poultry for the production of specific healthy compounds, traditional crop breeding for enhanced active ingredient production, and through genetic enhancement using the tools of biotechnology.

There are many Canadian based success stories including, from the livestock sector, the research, development and sale of milk containing docosohexanoic acid (or DHA for short). This compound has many health benefits, and currently in Canada processors can indicate that it supports normal development and maintenance of the brain, eyes and nerves. This compound is subject to regulatory approval in many countries, and the claims, like in other sectors, vary from country to country. For example, in the United States, conventional foods containing DHA and eicosopentanoic acid (EPA) may have a qualified heart health claim on their label.

Ocean Nutrition, a company based in Halifax, has taken a different route to provide the DHA/EPA combination by creating the microencapsulation, fish oil-based MEG-3 technology. The growing number of foods fortified with MEG-3® that are being brought to market include juices, yogurt, cookies, chocolate bars, peanut butter, bread, pizza, nutrition bars, milk and soups.

Not normally found in plants, BASF and Monsanto have partnered to develop an EPA and DHA containing canola plant. And, Dow Agrosciences, with Martek Biosciences are working together to jointly produce a DHA-producing canola seed. They are doing this because there is a significant opportunity in the food and health sector and these organizations have identified that there is a need to be filled.

Omega-3 development is by no means the only target. Dr. Laima Kott of the University of Guelph has developed a way to substantially increase the amount of rosmarinic acid produced by the spearmint plant. Rosmarinic acid has been studied for use as an alternative medicine to treat a variety of human ailments, including heart and chronic lung disease, autoimmune arthritis and numerous other conditions. This may be an opportunity for another Canadian based food technology to positively impact health!
Fruit and vegetable growers have long known that their products deliver health to society, and now the growing knowledge of positive benefits of antioxidants such as anthocyanins and resveratrol is further linking agriculture directly to health of Canadians. Blueberries, Saskatoon berries, cranberries, and dark grapes are but a few that contain these active ingredients.

The importance of identifying key stakeholders, and engaging them cannot be over-emphasized. So, key influencers such as those dieticians who attended the meeting in London are now better informed on what new and innovative technologies agriculture and food is delivering to improve the health of Canadians. Agriculture producers, researchers and policy makers must continue to act on making these healthy components available to the consuming public for both the health of Canadians and the economy.