Abstract
One of the primary purposes of the studies that life science researchers carry out is to translate their findings into demonstrable impacts in the lives of the general population. If we study the mechanism of heart disease, for example, it is our hope that new therapies or preventative strategies can be created from these mechanistic data. In the field of nutrition, it is the ultimate goal to translate research findings on the health benefits of functional foods and nutraceuticals into products consumed by the public that will benefit their health, improve quality of life, prevent disease, and prolong life. However, the pathway from research on the health benefits of specific foods or food products into industry applications is often a pathway with multiple, unexpected roadblocks for the unsuspecting scientist. The purpose of this article, therefore, is to identify these obstacles that have confronted industry translation in the past by using flaxseed research as an example. The ultimate goal of the review is to alert those in research and in the food industry of these translational hindrances to avoid them in the future and promote a more rapid and effective translation of food/health research into marketing success.
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Key Points
Despite the importance of dietary supplements, diet, and life style interventions to improve health, the effective translation of these interventions in the regular habits of populations has proven challenging. The purpose of this article is to identify the specific factors that may have restricted translation of research on the health-related benefits of a flaxseed into the regular dietary habits of populations around the globe. The avoidance of these problems in the future may optimize the translation of dietary research into healthy food habits and improve the duration and overall quality of life.
With impressive health benefits for the ingestion of flaxseed, it would be expected to be rapidly incorporated and welcomed into the diet of the general public. However, its translation into the diets of the general public has not been achieved to a great degree yet. A missing data piece that would have encouraged the food industry to promote flaxseed is the absence of solid economic analyses of the impact of flaxseed on the medical field and the agricultural industry. These data would, if positive, be persuasive to the farmer right through to the food processor and the grocery store on the agricultural side of the equation to grow, develop, and sell more flax products, respectively. On the health side, a better understanding of its economic impact in reducing health care costs (less drug usage, less side effects) would open up markets as well. Additional well-controlled clinical studies on the health benefits of dietary flaxseed would also have attracted needed attention to flaxseed but, unfortunately, these have been relatively few to date. Ultimately, the flax industry and the food industry did not prepare a communication or marketing strategy to capitalize on the potential impact of the health results observed in flax studies. Without an effective media promotion, the existence of the health benefits and the significance of these results were lost on the public. The ultimate goal of this paper was to alert those in research and in the food industry of these translational hurdles to anticipate and overcome them in the future. The ultimate goal for health and food researchers in the future should be to unify their efforts with the business sector to promote a more rapid and effective translation of food/health research into marketing success.