The Flora story
With a mission to ‘add vitality to life’ and a background in nutrition research, Unilever has been at the forefront of developing heart healthy margarines and spreads for over 40 years.
Pioneering heart healthy spreads
The link between increased consumption of saturated fats and coronary heart disease was firmly established in the 1950s. Unilever responded to this in 1964 by launching Flora polyunsaturated margarine, the healthy alternative to butter, lard and hard margarine which are all high in saturated fats.
Since then Flora products have all been adapted in line with new scientific knowledge.
Leading the way in spread technology
During the 1990s scientific research established that trans fatty acids have a negative effect on blood lipids and can increase the risk of CHD (Coronary Heart Disease). As a result of this research, in 1994 Flora became the first spread to contain no hydrogenated vegetable oils and be virtually trans fat free.
More recently Flora increased the amount of omega-3 polyunsaturated fats in all its Flora spreads.
Introducing plant sterol enriched foods
A more recent addition to the Flora product line is the range of Flora pro.activ plant sterol enriched foods, which have been proven to actively reduce cholesterol.
In 2000, the first Flora pro.activ low fat plant sterol enriched spread was launched in Europe.
The range was extended in 2003 to include Flora pro.activ milk and yogurts and in 2004, the Flora pro.activ ‘one-a-day’ yogurt drink was launched.
Today the Flora range of pro.activ spreads and drinks is available in over 30 countries worldwide.
