A pinch of knowledge

Victor Ferrari, CEO of Horphag Research, outlines the trend towards more responsible food and beverage decisions.

What trends are you seeing among consumers when making food and beverage purchase decisions?
Victor Ferrari. Consumers have begun to look beyond the ingredients on the box. They want to know why the ingredients are chosen, what health benefits the ingredients have and what the long-term effects of these ingredients are. We're seeing a shift towards a more educated consumer who chooses 'smarter foods' and thinks about a more thorough, long-term approach to well being.

What outside factors are driving these decisions?
As consumers strive to educate themselves on a more complete approach to health, we are seeing a drastic increase in available information on food and beverage ingredients. From the vast array of online content to the abundance of consumer health publications, this new availability of information is strongly impacting the way consumers make decisions. 

This access to information also means a new level of accountability for product manufacturers. Consumers are looking for products that offer real health benefits, and they want to see evidence that the food and beverages that they consume have effective, safe ingredients. As a result, it's not just the consumer who is raising the bar on ingredients, but it's also the manufacturer. Today, manufacturers are looking to build partnerships with ingredients with proven efficacy through research and safety data. While this additional scrutiny has proved challenging for some, it has only benefited the companies who continue to focus on the value provided by science and innovation.

What is the value of Pycnogenol as an ingredient as we graduate into the "next generation" of foods?
With the increased awareness of product value among consumers, people are looking for a return on every investment, particularly when it comes to their health. By choosing food and beverage products that include Pycnogenol, consumers are investing in an ingredient with more than 40 years of research spanning inflammation, joint health, cardiovascular health and circulatory health, skin care, women's health benefits and diabetes. Most recently, we found that Pycnogenol can improve microcirculation, retinal edema and visual acuity in the early stages of diabetic retinopathy, a study that was published in the Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics. Pycnogenol not only offers this host of health benefits, but the value of credible, ongoing research to support these properties. 

How will Pycnogenol continue as an innovator in this changing environment?
Pycnogenol has always set itself apart in the natural product marketplace with our commitment to new research. As a result, we are not only thriving within the structure of global regulations, but we continue to make new scientific advancements in the field. To date, we've invested more than $20 million in securing quality, safety and clinical evidence, resulting in more than 250 scientific publications and 80 clinical trials, and we will continue to invest approximately $1.5 million a year in conducting new scientific research. We will remain committed to producing a quality product, to meeting the ever-changing needs of the consumer and to maintaining the product integrity for which Pycnogenol has come to be known.

For more than 40 years, clinical trials and scientific studies have confirmed Pycnogenol's safety, absence of toxicity and clinical efficacy. Today, Pycnogenol is one of the most researched ingredients in the natural product marketplace, and remains on the cutting edge of the food and beverage industry shift towards more conscious consumption. 

As CEO of Horphag Research, Victor Ferrari oversees worldwide operations of the company, including international expansion and worldwide introduction of Pycnogenol. Ferrari spearheaded generally recognized as safe (GRAS) certification, validated manufacturing processes following good agricultural practice (GAP) and good manufacturing practice (GMP) and continues to invest millions of dollars a year in research, totalling more than 270 scientific publications.