Diet Products
Competition among health care food manufacturers is heating up over the use of new materials. Until recently, one of the main ingredients of functional food products specialized in weight loss was the garcinia cambogia extract, or HCA. But the focus is shifting to L-carnitine, xanthigen, and chitosan this year, all of which are functional new materials permitted by the Korea Food & Drug Administration.
Cenovis recently released Fat Burn & Fat Block, based on L-carnitine and chitosan, to increase its share in the diet food market estimated at 2 trillion won (US$1.98 billion) in size with the body fat management program. Chitosan has been verified to prevent the absorption of fat into the body and the accumulation of body fat. L-carnitine converts body fat in the human body into energy to help reduce body fat. In a recent human body experiment, the amount of fat discharge through excrement increased after a 60-day intake of chitosan and a weight of approximately 3 kg was lost after a 30-day intake of L-carnitine.
In the meantime, Aekyung’s food brand Health N released the V24 Diet Program, which is a health functional food product containing xanthigen at a content of 99.9 percent. Xanthigen, which is increasingly popular in the United States these days, is made of natural elements such as seaweed extracts and pomegranate seed oil.
Korea Yakult added a tablet form of panduratin to its diet drink LOOK for body fat reduction, skincare, and bowel movement enhancement. It conducted a living-body test and found that an adult with a body mass index of at least 25 lost 2.2 kg in weight and 1.15 percent in body fat after the intake of panduratin for 12 weeks.
“Companies are trying to distinguish their products by using innovative new ingredients,” said an industry source, adding, “The new products are characterized by not just scientific functionality but also the convenience of ingestion and are expected to be increasingly popular with consumers who wish to manage their body weight in a busy life without going hungry.”