www.benecol.com
www.raisioingredients.com

Raisio’s Benecol Division is a pioneer in functional foods. The first product, cholesterol-reducing Benecol margarine, was launched on the Finnish market in 1995, and since then the range of products sold under the trademark has grown steadily. These fall into the specialized food segment between medication and food, which is divided into nutrition supplements and functional food ingredients.

Raisio has a cooperation agreement with McNeil, part of the Johnson & Johnson Group. Under the agreement, McNeil is responsible for marketing Benecol products in North America, the EU (excl. Finland, Sweden and Denmark), China and Japan, while Raisio is focusing on the rest of the world.

Raisio Benecol markets functional food ingredients based on sterols. The sterol's cholesterol lowering effect in blood plasma has been long well known. Stanol is one of the sterols. Compared to sterols, stanols hardly get absorbed at all. Raisio Benecol has developed a patented method to make of stanol fat soluble stanol ester.

The invention

Benecol products are the result of development work that started at Raisio as far back as 1989. That year, Ingmar Wester, R&D Manager of Raisio’s Margarine Subdivision and his team discovered how to turn plant sterols and stanols into fat-soluble plant stanol ester, which can be used for food production and which is the active ingredient of Benecol products. A patent application for plant stanol ester and the method was filed in 1991.

A period of intense clinical research followed. The aim was to prove beyond all doubt that plant stanol ester has cholesterol-reducing properties. More than 30 scientific studies have shown that stanol ester is effective in reducing cholesterol in blood serum. There is also indisputable evidence that as part of a daily diet, stanol ester can reduce total cholesterol levels by an average of 10 per cent and the harmful LDL cholesterol by about 15 per cent.

Benecol in the world

Cholesterol-reducing foods, of which Benecol is probably the best-known, are an important component of functional ingredients. In addition to Finland, Benecol products are available in the USA, the Benelux countries, the UK, Ireland and Sweden.

Benecol products:

• have a quick effect – most of the reduction in cholesterol levels will occur within two weeks
• have a permanent effect – when used continuously and in sufficient quantities
• have a specific effect – stanol ester has a working mechanism of its own
• have an additive effect – they add to the cholesterol-reducing effects of medication and a heart-friendly diet

Raisio Benecol acts globally in the food ingredients market. The aim of the Division is to create a worldwide network of partnerships through which stanol and sterol esters can be marketed to consumers. Raisio Benecol markets also other sterol based products. One of the promising new market areas is Argentina.

The world demand for functional ingredients is expected to grow rapidly in the next few years and thus the Benecol Division is investing heavily in research and development.

In Finnish