Bread and Baked Goods in the EU Soon to Become New Daily Sources of Vitamin D - Contributing to Reduce Vitamin D Deficiency

MONTREAL, January 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Lallemand is pleased to announce that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has issued a positive opinion on the use of Vitamin D2 rich baker's yeast (Saccharomyces Cerevisiae) in yeast-leavened bread, rolls, fine bakery wares and food supplements. Bread and other yeast-leavened bakery products can now become new daily sources of vitamin D when baked with Lallemand's baker's yeast, the world's first baker's yeast rich in vitamin D.

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According to  Dr. Christel Lamberg-Allardt, who is Professor in Nutrition and Head of Department of food and environmental sciences at Helsinki University(Finland), and an internationally recognized expert in vitamin D actively involved in the elaboration of European nutrition policies: "At least one third of Europeans is deficient in vitamin D, and some scientists even think a greater percentage of people are deficient in vitamin D. The major source of vitamin D is exposure to sunlight. But now, more than ever before, the world's population lives an indoor lifestyle and uses sunscreens. In addition, the geographical location (poor UVB at higher latitudes > 40 degrees) can interfere with the body's ability to produce vitamin D from sunlight. Therefore, it becomes more important to acquire vitamin D through dietary sources, but there are few natural food sources - breads could be an additional way to increase vitamin D intake and combat vitamin D deficiency".

Jean Chagnon, CEO and President of Lallemand Inc. commented that "Since many Europeans are not meeting their needs for Vitamin D and new dietary sources are needed,  EFSA's validation gives the baking industry a golden opportunity to offer a solution to this problem. Lallemand baker's yeasts are a vegetarian and natural source of vitamin D, enabling bakers to easily and efficiently enhance the vitamin D content of their baked goods, and bread in particular. This will positively impact on the intake of this important nutrient by making much of the daily bread in Europe a "daily source" of vitamin D".

Lallemand baker's yeasts rich in vitamin D (fresh cream, fresh compressed and instant dried yeast) are expected to be available in Europe at the end of the second quarter of 2014.

To read a poster of the study "Lallemand VitaD baker's yeast is as bioavailable as a vitamin D supplement", visit http://www.lallemand.com/vitaminD/studyFinland.pdf.

For the EFSA publication, please refer to: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/3520.htm
Lallemand Inc., Cilla Ingman, +1-514-522-2133, cingman@lallemand.com
Lallemand Inc. is a privately held Canadian company specializing in the research, development, production, marketing and distribution of yeast and bacteria. Lallemand has over 2,500 employees located in more than 30 countries on all continents. More information at http://www.lallemand.com and vitamind.lallemand.com.