Balchem and Van Eeghen Form Choline Marketing Partnership

Balchem Corporation and Van Eeghen Functional Ingredients have joined forces to market VitaCholine to European supplement producers, capitalizing on the recently authorized health claims and investments in Balchem Italia, Marano, Italy.

14 Feb 2013 --- The two companies have announced this novel strategic alliance to build on a long-standing successful distribution relationship. Van Eeghen is a family-owned company with more than three hundred fifty years’ experience in the food ingredient business. “The alliance will use the best of both companies; superior technical, manufacturing and scientific support plus a strong local sales presence in Europe,” says Jeroen Van Eeghen, CEO of Van Eeghen. Erik Bakkers, an alumnus of Lipid Nutrition and recent addition to Van Eeghen will coordinate the market introduction of VitaCholine products across Europe.

Eric Smith, Balchem’s Vice President of Marketing and Sales, Food, Pharma & Nutrition comments: “This partnership will address the large growth potential for food and supplement fortification. VitaCholine delivers nutrition that is ‘Essential for Everybody’. Supplementation is an important way to address the evident shortfall of choline in the human diet.”

Choline is one of the few nutrients recognised with three EU-authorised health claims. Among other functions, choline is irreplaceable in the human diet for its roles in the maintenance of normal liver function, homocysteine metabolism (important in cardiovascular health), and normal use of fats in the body.

VitaCholine is Balchem's brand of choline, a nutrient that is vital for all human life stages. Choline is central to human nutrition because of the multitude of important biological roles that it plays. Balchem produces VitaCholine according to the highest quality standards and differentiates the fortification business with superior technical and scientific knowledge. Being a supplier to the Infant Nutrition industry for more than 25 years proves Balchem’s commitment to highest quality. The VitaCholine product portfolio consists of USP-grade choline products for tablets, capsules, OTC products, medical nutrition, infant formula, and food.

“Choline has been used for many years in the Infant nutrition market and medical food segment, but new science in the last decade has opened a lot of new opportunities for Choline. The basis is in cognitive health, because it is a precursor to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine and present in mother milk, so therefore it has been used in Infant nutrition for more than 25 years,” says Erik Bakkers, Business Development Manager Europe at Van Eeghen.

“With the new science that has been summarized in the dossier that is used for EFSA (where Balchem played a very important role), we show the benefits for hearth health (reduction of homocysteine), liver health and fat metabolism. Actually Choline is essential for everybody and so far only used in a few niche products.”

“New opportunities are available in the sports nutrition market because it has a positive effect on the intensity and duration of physical activity, as well as the ability to recover rapidly. Also liver health, heart health and cognitive health have a huge potential. Combinations with other ingredients, like B-vitamins, DHA, L-carnitine and Gingko can help to differentiate existing product on the market,” he concludes.