When two or more companies cooperate, the combined benefits and advantages are often much more than the sum of the individual parts. For example, each party gains from the experience and expertise of the other, which enables everyone involved to tap into the pooled resources and achieve more. A perfect example of such a collaboration is the one between Omya and GELITA. Together, they have created a new prototype for the health and wellness market: a cacao-containing drink for bone health.

What’s special about this partnership? Two innovative approaches to a common problem were combined in one product solution. As both calcium and collagen peptides are important for healthy bones, they make an excellent team when paired together.

Globally, osteoporosis contributes to almost nine million bone fractures every year. A great deal of these injuries are preventable, however, and consumers are increasingly looking to make positive changes — even from a young age — to take better care of their health. Calcium is known to play a significant role in bone health as it contributes to building and strengthening our entire skeleton.

Omyaforte™ from Omya, the mineral expert from Switzerland, provides a highly available source of calcium for manufacturers and their product formulations. Compared with other calcium products, Omyaforte™ is highly bioavailable, which means that only a small dose is required to meet most recommended daily intakes.

Omya had previously created prototypes for bone health applications; but, for this one, they were looking for an ideal partner and quickly found it in GELITA. With FORTIBONE®, specific Bioactive Collagen Peptides (BCP®s), the leading manufacturer of collagen peptides provided the optimal ingredient for the new formulation.

Studies show that supplementation with the specific collagen peptides in GELITA’s FORTIBONE^® can support bone health by increasing bone mineral density. The peptides stimulate the cells to enhance collagen metabolism, which helps to increase the production of new bone tissue. Clinical trials show that bone mineral density can be increased significantly with an intake of just 5 g of FORTIBONE® per day.

The combination of both ingredients proved to be ideal for the development of a drink to target bone health. And, in addition to their well-defined health benefits, neither Omyaforte™ nor FORTIBONE® have a perceptible effect on the taste or texture of the end product. As drinks containing milk are already associated with healthy bones by many consumers, the development team decided that a cacao-based beverage would be a perfect way to introduce the final application to the market.

The result is a cocoa-containing powder that both tastes good and delivers a health benefit by increasing bone density. One portion (25 g) contains 240 mg of calcium, which represents 30% of the recommended daily requirement, and 5 g of FORTIBONE®. The powder dissolves easily in 200 mL of cold or warm milk, water or any milk alternative.

Both companies describe their cooperation as pioneering and extremely successful. “We are definitely looking forward to other projects with Omya and, of course, showing the final prototype to our customers,” says Franziska Dolle, Product & Account Manager, Health & Nutrition, and Global Product Manager for FORTIBONE® at GELITA.