BASF, Aenova and Kappa Develop New Dietary Supplement Applications with Phytosterol Vegapure

17 May 2017 --- Newtrition, the dedicated health brand of BASF, has announced a partnership with Aenova and Kappa to release new food and dietary supplement applications with Vegapure, the only plant sterol ester officially approved for use in food supplements within the EU. The successful partnership has already resulted in the development of a range of consumer formulations, BASF reports. 

Scientific evidence has shown that supplementing dietary phytosterols can particularly benefit individuals with an elevated blood cholesterol and cardiovascular disease risk. In addition to diet, lifestyle and medication, phytosterols lower levels of blood total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol through competition with cholesterol absorption in the intestinal tract.

The interest in using food supplements for specific needs has increased in Europe in recent years. To address this trend, Newtrition developed Vegapure phytosterol, which can help reduce cholesterol and which also received a positive opinion from the EFSA for food supplements. This product development extends the range of available applications for phytosterols and provides more variety for the consumer such as capsules, sachets and shots.

“As a leading health ingredient manufacturer, it is important for us to continuously collaborate with our partners and find new opportunities to provide the right nutrients to the right people at the right time,” says Julia Raquet, Vice President Human Nutrition Europe at BASF. “We are very proud to market new end-consumer formats together with our partners, combining our premium ingredient with their flexible technologies. This synergy gives consumers a broader choice of formats that best fit their individual daily habits.”

BASF joined Aenova to launch the phytosterol complex Vegapure Emulsorb, which forms micro-droplets and for which a patent is pending, under its health brand Newtrition. The vegan capsule has been shown to most effectively reduce cholesterol bioaccessibility in digestion models. 

“This formulation is a turnkey solution for manufacturers of dietary supplements, since it is delivered blistered and packed, facilitating differentiation and speed to market. Both companies are delighted to have achieved a convenient new vegan dosage form offering consumers Vegapure Emulsorb using Aenova's VegaGel technology,” states Bernd Ehlert, Senior Vice President Licensing & Retail Aenova.

During Vitafoods 2017, Egil Greve, CEO of Kappa Bioscience, told NutritionInsight, “We are looking for more successors to our formulations together with our partners. This is the way forward. It’s not just about the ingredients, [it’s] about providing the industry with new solutions, new innovations and new ways of bringing out an ingredient so that consumers have something new on offer.”

The collaboration between Kappa and BASF will let both companies offer the 4Kardio Forte Stick, a powder formulation to be dissolved in water. This stick pack contains Vegapure from BASF, Kappa’s K2VITAL DELTA, magnesium and vitamin B1, a very beneficial combination for cardiovascular support. Vegapure is the active ingredient for lowering cholesterol and K2VITAL DELTA is the world's only microencapsulated vitamin K2 MK-7 that grants full stability in critical formulations. 

“4Kardio is a novel product formulation that addresses the cardio health segment in a new way,” Kappa Bioscience's VP Sales and Marketing Jörg Bu¨ttinghaus explains. “Thanks to our partners we were able to put industry-leading technical and ingredient experience in the same room with K2 formulations expertise. The result is a powerful, healthy and tasty dietary supplement that will find its way to consumer markets fast.”