Q&A with Eric Ciappio, PhD, RD, Senior Manager, Nutrition Science, Balchem Human Nutrition and Health
Q: What is Balchem all about?
Eric: Balchem is an ingredient supplier. Our largest market is the dietary supplement market, largely in the US. We have five key brands right now that we focus on: Vitasure, which is our encapsulated ingredients such as caffeine; K2VITAL, which is a vitamin K2; Albion Minerals, which is a line of specialty and chelated minerals; Optifolin+, which is one of our newest products, a choline-enriched form of folate; and VitaCholine, our flagship brand within our minerals and nutrients line. Balchem also has various other brands within our larger portfolio, servicing everything from animal health to plant nutrition and fertilizer, specialty gases, flavors, and various colors.
I largely focus on VitaCholine, our form of the essential nutrient choline, which is incredibly important, particularly during pregnancy and early life development. It's critical for brain and spinal cord development. In the last two and a half years or so, we've had several randomized controlled trials showing benefits for both mom and baby. Studies have shown that when moms supplement with choline during pregnancy, we see demonstrated bioavailability in pregnant women, which is rare. As a nutrition community, we often assume that results from studies in non-pregnant individuals apply to those who are pregnant, but this may not always be accurate. Fortunately, we now have data demonstrating bioavailability in pregnant women for this nutrient, which is very beneficial.
Q: What are some of the specific benefits of choline supplementation during pregnancy?
Eric: One recent example comes from last year – we’ve known for some time that choline shares a relationship with the omega-3 fatty acid DHA, but we now know that supplementing with choline + DHA during pregnancy improves DHA status better than supplementing with DHA alone. But perhaps importantly, we have shown that maternal choline supplementation improves cognitive function in babies. When moms take choline during pregnancy, you see lasting cognitive changes in their children measured as early as the first year of life. We have published data showing that these benefits persist even when the kids reach age seven. And just a few weeks ago at the ASN (American Society for Nutrition) conference, our collaborators showed data of 14-year-olds still seeing cognitive benefits, which is incredible!
We went to ACOG to promote some of these data and raise awareness among healthcare practitioners about the benefits of maternal nutrition, especially choline. ACOG is the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, obviously a captive audience as it relates to maternal nutrition. We learned that there wasn't much nutrition information at shows like ACOG, but there was a high demand for it from healthcare practitioners. We discovered that presenting at these medical conferences is very expensive for an ingredient supplier, but it's very needed because there's not a lot of nutrition information being represented.
Q: How did you approach the opportunity to present at medical conferences despite the high costs?
Eric: We thought this could be a great opportunity to partner with other companies in the dietary supplement industry to raise awareness about the benefits that prenatal supplements provide. Prenatal supplementation is arguably the time of life where supplements can make the most impact, with benefits like preventing anemia and neural tube defects. It's a great place to showcase the benefits our industry provides.
At ACOG 2024, we participated in a CRN-led effort by supporting the Prenatal Nutrition Center, which was an educational program at the conference intended to raise awareness about the benefits of prenatal supplements among OB-GYN’s. This was an industry wide effort, with support from Balchem, dsm-firminich, Church & Dwight, Kemin, OmniActive, and Pharmavite. This proved to be a way to have a greater presence at the show than any one company would have had if they went alone, and at a lower cost. We were able to reach hundreds of physicians at the show cost-effectively, demonstrating the impact that collaboration can have.
Q: Do you think there is a general awareness of the importance of prenatal supplements among physicians?
Eric: In fairness to some physicians, we in our nutrition bubble can forget that the world is bigger than us, with physicians needing to stay up to date on topics including diagnostics, treatment, and so much more. Plus, physicians vary their interest of nutrition. Speaking personally, when my wife was pregnant with our first son, we had a team of OB-GYNs, and some were more interested in prenatals than others. Some simply provided us with outdated handouts, and some dug deeper. It's a combination of their many responsibilities and their interest.
Q: What was your experience as a dad during your wife's pregnancy?
Eric: As the dad, they largely ignore you. It's about moms, appropriately so! I didn't want to get the stare down from my wife, so I mostly stayed quiet during our appointments and stayed off my prenatal supplement soapbox. However, in our professional lives, I believe that it’s our responsibility in the industry to help bridge that knowledge gap on prenatal supplementation and bring this information to physicians. There is a demand for it. Nutrition is inherently interesting. And if we want to be responsible members of this industry, I think we have a responsibility to supply it.
Q: What efforts have you made to raise awareness among healthcare practitioners?
Eric: We've made a concerted effort, particularly in the last few years, to raise awareness among HCPs and among key opinion leaders. I'm not of the mind that if you do a study, you just put it out there and let the world do with it what it will. That's just the first step. You have to get out there and promote it, help people understand it, market it, talk about it. It's not an "if you build it, they will come" situation. This isn't the Field of Dreams. You have to keep working once the study is done.
Q: Can you tell us about your partnerships with organizations like CRN?
Eric: I'll tell you, I love our external engagements with groups like CRN. CRN has been a great partner in many of our initiatives. Andrea Wong, Senior VP of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs at CRN, has been a great partner with something we're calling Prenatal Promise. The back story on this is about a year ago, an article was brought to our attention that was critical of the industry. And their criticisms needed context. We, being Balchem, CRN, and other member companies like Haleon, Bayer, Pharmavite, and Church and Dwight, partnered to write a letter to the editor in response, adding nuance to the discussion. The authors were eager to start a dialogue to improve some of these hurdles that formulators face with prenatal vitamins. From there, we thought of a research project to address knowledge gaps that were preventing recommendations and causing confusion.
Q: How did you manage to collaborate with the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) at the NIH?
Eric: Of course, that project needed funding. To Andrea’s credit, she opened a discussion with ODS and after some discussion was able to secure some funding for the researchers to support this project. If this all goes to plan, our hope is that we will have a joint public-private collaboration to create a prenatal supplement formulation guide for the industry, reflecting best practices identified by academics. This has the potential for a big public health impact, helping people navigate confusing information about prenatal vitamins. That's what gets me excited, the opportunity to influence nutrition and the larger ecosystem.
About Eric:
Eric Ciappio, PhD, RD is Senior Manager of Nutrition Science at Balchem, where he works with organizations in the food, beverage, and dietary supplement industries to help bring compelling new nutritional products to the market. Throughout his career, Eric has worked to improve the health of consumers by translating the latest advancements in nutrition research into substantiated messaging and product innovation. Eric previously has held a variety of roles in nutrition science, sales, and marketing at organizations such as Wyeth Consumer Healthcare, DSM Nutritional Products, and IFF Health. Eric holds a PhD in Biochemical and Molecular Nutrition from Tufts University and is a Registered Dietitian.