Flora

The Flora brand offers consumers heart-healthy products, so take 'heart for living!'

Make a healthy sandwich onlineHeart-healthy choice

For more than 40 years Unilever has played a leading role in helping consumers maintain healthy hearts.

Recognising Unilever as a world leader in nutritional research, the medical profession asked the company to create a healthy alternative to butter, lard and hard margarines.

Lowering cholesterol

This led to us developing a blood cholesterol-lowering spread that was high in polyunsaturated fat and low in saturated fat. 

Becel lifestyle, man cutting cheese

Proven health benefits

Its success has led to brand extensions into a milk drink, yoghurts and 'one-a-day' yoghurt drinks, which also have proven health benefits. 

Did you know

  • About 17 million people die of cardiovascular diseases, particularly heart attacks and strokes every year.*
  • High cholesterol causes a third of all cardiovascular disease worldwide.*
  • By 2020, heart disease and strokes will become the leading cause of death and disability worldwide, with the number of fatalities likely to reach more than 20 million a year - and by 2030 the figure will rise to more than 24 million a year.*
  • For a 40-year-old man, a 10% reduction in cholesterol will halve the risk of heart disease.**   

  • Around half of the world's population has blood cholesterol levels that are too high

  • Nearly a third (30%) of people acrosss the world have raised blood pressure levels                       

Innovations

In 1999 we launched spreads with plant sterols – marketed as Flora Pro·Activ. These spreads have been clinically proven to reduce the absorption of cholesterol in the body and are endorsed by key scientists and health professionals around the world.

Key facts

  • Unilever is the world's leading manufacturer of margarine. 
  • Flora is also known as Becel and Promise in some markets
  • About 12 million people around the world consume Flora products. 
  • Becel / Flora Pro·Activ has been approved by regulators in more than 20 countries.
  • Becel / Flora Pro·Activ has been endorsed by key scientists and health care professionals worldwide. 
  • A programme of scientific research has established that the phytosterol esters used in Becel / Flora Pro·Activ – which help lower cholesterol – are both safe and effective. 
  • Becel / Flora Pro·Activ is the world’s best-selling cholesterol-lowering food brand.                    

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