Which came first: the research or the marketing? In the case of amino acids it's the research that's driving the business. With a long history behind it and an expansion into other areas besides sports nutrition, this segment is entering a new phase of growth. According to the Freedonia Group, Cleveland, OH, this growth will be the direct result of the trend toward healthier and active lifestyles and the proliferation of amino acids into multiple product areas. In 1999 the amino acids market posted sales of $178 million for the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical segments, which is an 8.1% increase from 1989 by Freedonia's estimates. By 2004 the market is expected to increase to $244 million and in 2009 to $331 million. This is a category that has been around for years-as has the science behind it-with marketing just beginning to catch up. In a pleasant change of pace, this segment of nutraceuticals is following the natural progression of science before marketing. This bodes well for an industry that has become notorious for putting marketing before research.

Right now the discovery of new amino acids have been few and far between but the future looks promising as amino acids are beginning to show up in multiple product areas, exhibiting multiple benefits. Also new is the fact that amino acids are being singled out more for their specific benefits rather than grouped together to address overall wellness.

An Amino Acids History Lesson
Amino acids play many different roles in promoting overall health. There are 20 amino acids that make up 50,000-100,000 different proteins in the body. Out of these 20, nine are considered to be essential; these are histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine. The food sources that provide these amino acids include poultry, eggs, milk, cheese, meat, yogurt, soy and fish and are considered complete proteins because they provide all nine amino acids. The remaining 11 amino acids are referred to as nonessential and include alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, proline, serine and tyrosine.

Amino acids penetrated the nutritional supplement market in 1979, according to Anthony Almada, MSc, founder and chief scientific officer, IMAGINutrition and MetaResponse Science, Aptos, CA. "Amino acid awareness grew primarily through the efforts of a company called Tyson, which had two lines of products, a retail line and a physician line," he said. "It marketed products for sports nutrition and metabolic therapies." Mr. Almada went on to say that Tyson was a revolutionary company that went against the grain by advocating single amino acids. He explained, "At the time, companies were advocating various forms of proteins and peptides (fragments of proteins), which are similar to a couple of pearls stuck together with each amino acid representing a single pearl and a knotted pearl necklace signifying a whole protein." As a result, Mr. Almada said that the company grew the awareness for the category among consumers. "It planted the seed, then fertilized it," said Mr. Almada.

Adding another perspective on amino acids' beginnings in the nutritional supplement market was Don Blaine, general manager, Kyowa Hakko, Aliso Viejo, CA. "There were formulas with some amino acids in them in the 1980s or even earlier," he said. "L-tryptophan was one of the first to be widely used in liquid protein products for weight loss in health food stores."

Historically amino acids were studied at great length in Japan. In fact, it is the Japanese companies that hold the lion's share of amino acids market. However, China is also gaining momentum in this area, according to Robyn Frisch, president, Rochem International, Great Neck, NY. "China was the latecomer to the category and became involved only ten years ago," she said. "But China can provide competitive ingredients that are high quality and low cost; quality is very important to the producers in China who know it is key to meet United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) standards."

Also attesting to the legacy of amino acids was Michael Schaefer, chief operating officer, Pacific Nutritional, Vancouver, WA, who said, "The research on amino acids is very extensive because they have been around for a long time. They just haven't made it into the supplement arena as deeply as vitamins, minerals and herbs yet."

What's Hot?
The short answer-not much. According to most in the industry, the discovery of new amino acids is not as prevalent as discovering new or expanded uses for them. However, one company has made progress in heightening the awareness for what is considered to be, in the U.S., a new amino acid. Enter L-theanine, which is an amino acid found almost exclusively in tea plants, constituting 1-2% of the dry weight of tea leaves. It is also the predominant amino acid component in tea and exists only in the free (non-protein) form. Scott Smith, senior manager, Taiyo International, Minneapolis, MN, which manufactures L-theanine (Suntheanine™) through its parent company Taiyo Kagaku, Yokkaichi, Japan, said, "There is a lot of research in amino acids such as L-glutamine and a lot of the others but as far as new amino acids, L theanine is it. It is very new to the U.S. market, having launched in January 2000, but it has been known to exist in tea leaves for over 50 years."

Most of the research into L-theanine is currently being conducted in the area of stress reduction without drowsiness, according to Mr. Smith. "Green tea is very unique in that it has very high levels of caffeine, even higher than coffee, depending on the variety. But it has also been noted that green tea is very calming," explained Mr. Smith. "So we started to look at this contradictory situation and our research into L-theanine grew. L-theanine, in small amounts, is an antagonist to caffeine, so even though you are getting the positive effects of caffeine, in terms of staying alert, you are not getting the negative side effects associated with caffeine such as jitters and nausea." Other areas of research include using L-theanine as an alternative to Ritalin, controlling blood pressure, sharpening mental acuity and concentration. Also, in the area of cancer research L-theanine seems to work synergistically with other cancer drugs.

Pacific Nutritional's Mr. Schaefer discussed several other key amino acids and their indications. "The amino acids that I have noticed more in today's market are the branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), valine, leucine and isoleucine, for energy and muscle building and L-glutamine for giving muscles the fuel they need to do their job," he said, adding, "Also popular are L-tyrosine, phenylalanine and L-arginine." Discussing some of the up and coming amino acids, Mr. Schaefer said, "The only new entities on the horizon are L-carnitine and L-glutathione, which are not true amino acids but are in the amino acid family. L-glutathione especially will be used more because of its antioxidant capabilities."

Over the past couple years, according to Kyowa Hakko's Mr. Blaine, L-arginine has grown, including in the area of heart health. However, he commented, "This amino acid is key for the moment, but who knows what will happen, because there is a lot of potential for others as well. Often marketers look at some of the scientific information and come up with ways of utilizing a particular amino acid to make it popular."

Mr. Almada said the trend right now is the single bullet approach with amino acids. "In the beginning it was a shotgun and now it is more of a sniper, single bullet approach," he said. "You need amino acid 'x' for this condition and amino acid 'y' for that condition or metabolic state. And there are only a few that are prominent. So now, rather than blends, the approach is 'I will take high dose, multiple grams of L-glutamine or L-arginine or N-acetyl-cysteine but I won't take 20 or so different amino acids blended together.' The problem with amino acid blends, designed to replace, in part, dietary protein, is that they are very expensive and offer no scientifically validated advantage over proteins or peptides unless one has a hypersensitivity/allergy to a food protein. Single aminos are once again being used basically as drugs and as conditional nutrients."

Key Segments And Applications
There is no doubt that sports nutrition popularized the amino acids segment, but the future consists of expanding into more varieties of foods and beverages, with indications including weight loss, heart health and erectile dysfunction. Rochem's Ms. Frisch discussed the possibilities. "Sports nutrition is still holding a very strong position for amino acids compared with general use," she said. "But amino acids have potential for a very wide range of applications in the nutritional supplements industry."

Patrick Wilson, director of marketing, Seltzer Chemicals, Carlsbad, CA, focused on functional food applications, particularly beverages and bars. "Functional foods have become easy for everyone from athletes to weekend warriors to the elderly to get the necessary amino acids," he said, adding, "Originally the amino acid market was targeted toward the hardcore athletes but now it is receiving more attention in the mass market. In reality there are a lot more benefits for the average person, especially for baby boomers who are looking for the growth hormone-stimulating amino acids such as L-arginine and for the weekend warriors who look for the post exercise recovery benefits that L-glutamine can offer."

Mr. Blaine also foresees a migration of amino acids from supplements to functional foods but predicts that supplements will remain strong. "More and more amino acids are finding their way into beverage formulations and as the beverage industry grows, the use of amino acids will grow in that segment of the market," he said. "But amino acids are more popular in supplements than in food products for now. I do think the line between supplements and food is becoming more fuzzy all the time, however, and with the history and the information available regarding amino acids it is reasonable to imagine that they will find there way into 'healthier' foods."

Consumer Awareness Remains Low
As noted previously, most consumers consider amino acids to be synonymous with sports nutrition and body building, but the awareness is starting to expand into other areas. According to Rochem's Ms. Frisch, "I think with all of the media and research efforts going on, consumers will become more aware of the benefit of different amino acids. However, I don't think they can get very specific as far as naming the individual items," she said.

Mr. Wilson of Seltzer Chemicals said consumer awareness of amino acids is lacking and manufacturers should undertake educational efforts. "If you asked consumers about amino acids, they really don't know as much as they should. Consumer awareness is way too low and I think there needs to be better marketing and education to the mass market on behalf of the distributors and the manufacturers." Mr. Wilson said Seltzer Chemicals is trying to improve this situation by working closely with manufacturers and promoting studies. "We are directly linked with the University of Southern California (USC) School of Pharmacy and are helping to establish the education system for the school," he offered. "We are trying to put a big push on educating the pharmacy school about amino acids, because currently studies are mostly concentrated on the herbal side of this business."

Pacific Nutritional's Mr. Schaefer agreed. "Awareness is pretty low but growing. They are still a little confused out there because there is not a lot of documentation educating consumers in this area," he said. On the safety side he urged caution. "When consumers maintain a poor diet the chance for a single amino acid supplement causing harm is greater than when you maintain a healthy diet. People should not take amino acids for a long period of time and should know that amino acids are best absorbed if taken on an empty stomach." Lastly he said, "If you take excess amounts of one you will deplete the others. Consumers should use more caution than they do with a vitamin."

Finally, Mr. Blaine commented, "In terms of awareness, consumers identify amino acids within the segment of sports nutrition but there has been quick growth in awareness for L-arginine in support of heart health," he said. "The marketplace has done a good job in that regard."

Poised For Explosion?
While it has taken years to get to this point the market finally seems ready for amino acids. According to Mr. Wilson, the amino acid market is experiencing steady growth and is on the brink of explosion. "It is still growing, especially in the sports nutrition area and it is slowly migrating out to the mass market," he said. "I think it is going to explode due to functional foods because of the energy bars and energy drinks and the fact that consumers are becoming more familiar with the ingredients going into these finished products."

Mr. Blaine agreed. "I think there is a lot of room for continued growth and we are hoping and planning to be a vehicle for getting information from our laboratories in Japan to the marketplace in various ways so that the market will continue to grow. I don't believe that it has already matured because there is still a lot of potential not only for supplements but also for food formulations. As both segments become more intertwined, that in turn will spur growth for amino acids as well."