Harnessing tomato power: Lycored launches wellness extract to support beautiful aging

15 Nov 2019 --- Tapping into the healthy aging market, Israeli wellness company Lycored has launched a new extract, Lumenato, made from natural tomato nutrients and antioxidants to support beauty and skin health. It is touted as helping skin age beautifully by boosting its ability to maintain natural radiance and inner glow. Next to Lycored’s best-selling product Lycomato, Lumenato is set to become the company’s flagship ingredient.

“More consumers are realizing that there simply isn’t one single thing that will lead us to age in a beautiful way. Over the last five years, we have had multiple innovation opportunities to keep the Lumenato project on track. The process of commercializing this proprietary new technology was full of opportunities to think outside the box, learn and expand,” Golan Raz, Head of Global Health Division, Lycored, tells NutritionInsight. 

Rony Patishi-Chillim, CEO of Lycored, adds that ingestible skincare is currently “one of the most exciting categories in nutrition.” The company is acting upon consumer demand for natural, scientifically proven supplements supporting skin aging. 

"We installed a HD camera at the heart of the tomato fields and allowed open access online to anyone who feels like watching real tomatoes as they grow," Raz tells NutritionInsight.Lumenato is a carefully calibrated extract of natural tomato nutrients and antioxidants optimized to work synergistically and maintain skin’s natural softness, resilience and suppleness. Undergoing a CO2, solvent-free extraction process, Lumenato is able to keep nutrients as close as possible to their natural form while maximizing their potency and synergy. This means it supports a solvent-free declaration for ingestible skin care applications.

“The decision to use a CO2 extraction process wasn’t a simple one. We had to develop an entirely new process, from cleaning the line at the pre-extraction phase to making sure that the entire active profile was being extracted. We didn’t compromise during the development phase and paid attention to small details,” Raz explains. 

Ensuring product authenticity
A vertically integrated company, Lycored grows its own tomatoes. This way, the company knows exactly where each tomato comes from and can provide assurance of authenticity over its products. 

“Beyond that, our quality control team is extremely sensitive to the importance of tracking the cultivation and production process from the farm to the production line, and then to the lab and all the way to our customers,” says Raz. 

The ingredient contains an unprecedented composition of the carotenoids zeta-carotene, phytofluene and phytoene, which nourishes how skin looks and feels, says the company. The latter two carotenoids are colorless and naturally in tomatoes and other vegetables. Accumulated phytofluene carotenoids support skin health by acting as UV absorbers, as antioxidants and as anti-inflammatory agents.

 “As we grow older, our skin requires greater upkeep to maintain its softness, radiance and resilience. Lumenato harnesses the natural power of the tomato to support the skin from the inside out and help us age beautifully,” Karin Hermoni, Head of Science, Health, at Lycored, adds.

Currently patent pending, Lumenato is developed for ingestible skincare supplements. It is plant-based, vegan, free from allergens, gluten and animal testing. Moreover, Lumenato is also kosher, halal and non-GMO certified. “We take human wellness, as well as the wellness of animals and the planet, very seriously,” Raz affirms. 

Lycomato is available in min. 6, 7 and 15 percent natual tomato lycopene applications.Inspiring other ingredients
Lumenato builds upon the success of Lycomato, one of Lycored’s best-selling products. Etgar Levy-Nissenbaum, Senior Vice President, Global R&D at Lycored explains that Lumenato is inspired by Lycored’s relationship with nature and tomatoes. “But it’s also the result of years of research and testing, as well as a vertically integrated production process,” he says.

Lycomato is the company’s proprietary blend for supplements, a standardized tomato extract consisting of carotenoids, tocopherol, and phytosterols, which are all naturally abundant in the tomato. The dietary supplement is commercially available in soft gel capsules.

Lycomato is also being marketed as the first tomato extract to carry the Non-GMO Project Verified seal. It is certified Kosher, Halal and has Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) certification. 

Outside of the healthy aging sector, Lycored also provides products and conducts research revolving around men’s health. Diabetes and cardiovascular disease are the most common health concerns for older men in Western countries, a Lycored survey found last year. The research also indicated that US men are more worried about heart disease than they are about cancer. 

Another problem in the men’s health space is sleep deprivation caused by nocturnal urination. Lycored provides Lycopro – a blend of carotenoids, trace minerals, vitamins, cumin and black pepper extract – to address urinary function in middle-aged men. It can also reduce prostate size in men suffering from Benign Prostate Hyperplasia, a common cause of the increased need to urinate. 

By Anni Schleicher