Hofseth BioCare discusses importance of science-backed ingredients

30 Jan 2023 --- Nutrition R&D innovator Hofseth BioCare has received attention for its salmon-derived protein hydrolysate powder and its salmon fish oil OmeGo, featuring 21 fatty acids along with the company’s salmon-based calcium supplement, as studies demonstrates potential health benefits related to the products.

NutritionInsight speaks with Hofseth BioCare’s chief commercial officer, James Berger, and the head of medical R&D, Dr. Crawford Currie, about the findings and what they mean for consumers.

“The ingredients basically derive from fresh sashimi grade salmon, which is differentiated from anything else that’s out there in the market today,” Berger explains. “It’s difficult to manufacture with fresh fish and fish is ultimately the most nutritious animal protein out there.”

“We basically garner all the benefits of whole fish by the way in which we manufacture our ingredients.” He further details that the process is patented.

Science-backed benefits
Berger states that the company has three main ingredients on the market, all of which have recently been proven effective by clinical trials. OmeGo is the company’s salmon oil offering that was discovered to have a unique lipopeptide with anti-inflammatory properties. 

Additionally, ProGo – the company’s salmon-based protein offering – comes from the meat of the fish, is a strong antioxidant and has also been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties.

“It is different from other bioactive peptides out there in the market because not only does it contain a lot of type one and type three collagen and thereby, offers all of the benefits of collagen, but we have also discovered two new modes of action, which we’ve discovered through a unique sort of gene expression work,” says Berger.

“I’ll start with one of the modes of action based on work we’ve been doing the last four years with Stanford School of Medicine around gut health,” Dr. Currie adds. “We published a paper with Stanford University recently that showed the striking benefits of the peptides in gut health in an animal model study of inflammatory bowel disease (IBS).”

Reducing inflammation in IBS?
Dr. Currie elaborates that the study showed that the peptides in ProGo not only resolved much of the inflammation in the gut, but also protected the structure of the gut. He states that, even more importantly, the animals recovered from the inflammation quickly. 

“This was a striking difference to other collagen peptides on the market that were used as control which showed no difference compared to no treatment,” he explains. 

“They [other collagen peptides] did not reduce inflammation and neither did they protect the structure of the gut. They also did not protect the overall health of the animal.”

Berger states that utilizing all of the fish increases the sustainability of product manufacturing.

“With Stanford we have shown the important protective pathway that the body naturally uses to deliver this and that the bioactive peptides combined with antioxidant properties in ProGo are uniquely are able to work naturally with the body to help regulate the system and provide these really important gut health and overall health benefits.”

Utilizing the whole fish
Berger explains that CalGo is a collagen calcium complex created by grinding up the bones of the same salmon used for processing in the fish oil and powdered protein offering, which he says adds to the sustainability of production and benefits bone and joint health.

“We have an undenatured collagen type two that represents about 25% of the product and a natural calcium hydroxyapatite, which is identical to the ones of humans,” says Berger. 

“We’ve also run some clinical trials that showed six times higher absorbability and bioavailability of this product relative to calcium carbonate.”

Berger concludes that CalGo got clinical evidence showing the benefits of the ingredients.

By William Bradford Nichols