New Beverage Boasts Health Benefits

J.W. Childs Associates, the Boston investment firm that acquired Sunny Delight and the rest of Procter & Gamble's juice business last year, plans to begin marketing a new beverage next spring called Elations, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

The new fruit-flavored dietary supplement has the same daily amount of two naturally occurring supplements that a recently-released National Institutes of Health study found to be effective in reducing knee joint pain. The initial results of the study showed that a combination of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate were effective in relieving moderate to severe osteoarthritis pain.

Each 8-ounce bottle of Elations provides 1,500 milligrams of glucosamine and 1,200 milligrams of chondroitin, the daily amount tested in the study.

The drink supplement, initially available in three flavors -- Raspberry White Grape Twirl, Cranberry Apple Twist and Ruby Red Grapefruit Lift -- also contains 100 percent of the recommended vitamin C intake and 30 percent of the daily recommendation of calcium.

Pricing for the supplement, to be sold in eight-bottle packs, hasn't been disclosed, but Elations developers see it tapping into a huge and growing market, the report said.

Rick Zimmerman, Elations general manager, said the supplement is aimed at the aging baby boomer population, which finds that nagging joint pain interferes with their ability to do simple things such as play golf or work in the garden. Glucosamine and chondroitin are available now in pill form, but many people don't want to ingest the up to six pills a day required, he said.
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