Taiyo overcomes quercetin bioavailability and solubility hurdles with SunActive IsoQ launch

17 Feb 2022 --- Ingredients manufacturer Taiyo is launching its water-soluble quercetin precursor supplement with a substantially greater bioavailability than free quercetin. Sunactive IsoQ, made from isoquercitrin, is the company’s first release in a new series of enhanced flavonoids. The patented ingredient is available to US markets via NutriScience Innovations.

SunActive is easily formulated into powders, capsules, gummies, soft chews and beverages, says Alan Yengoyan, CEO of NutriScience Innovations.

Taiyo’s international vice president, Scott Smith, adds the company is expanding its bioavailable flavonoid series and exploring the health benefits with clinical studies. He states that these studies will open “new horizons” for sports nutrition, cardiovascular health, healthy aging and more.

More than 2,000 papers on quercetin in 2020
The plant flavonol, quercetin, is an antioxidant ingredient that reportedly relieves allergy symptoms, benefits immune health and sports performance, as well as having cardioprotective and chondroprotective qualities.

Quercetin is a flavonol commonly found in vegetables like red onions.In 2021, a UK study found the ingredient could reduce vascular inflammation, potentially lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease in those following a high-quercetin diet.

The normally bitter-tasting ingredient is most commonly found in grains, fruits and vegetables such as apples, capers, kale and red onions, and can reportedly also be found in honey derived from various plant varieties.

According to Taiyo, the ingredient was the focus of more than 2,000 published papers in the year 2020.

Despite demand for the ingredient, Taiyo says that taste, solubility and bioavailability have presented obstacles to formulators. The company says it has successfully overcome these barriers with SunActive IsoQ.

This was investigated in a 2021 study published in in the Journal of Functional Foods. The clinical study looked at the benefits of SunActive for healthy human volunteers.

The study found that SunActive had 25 times the bioavailability of free quercetin. Taiyo says this means that a 100 mg dose of SunActive can deliver the equivalent of 275 mg of bioavailable quercetin.

Composition of SunActive IsoQ
According to Taiyo, the supplement ingredient is derived from rutin, which is extracted from Japanese Pagoda tree blossoms via Taiyo’s “solvent-free,” enzymatic process.

This process yields a functional dietary ingredient that is “chemically identical” to isoquercitrin found in nature.

Taiyo says its microencapsulation technology allows the flavonol to be better absorbed and “highly converted” to free quercetin by the body. 

Last April, Taiyo and Bioenergy Life Science teamed up on functional ingredients for Phenolaeis’ chewy date snacks.

In September, Taiyo and Asiro partnered to make a prebiotic, maltodextrin-free and high-fiber fruit powder called CherryShield.

Edited by Olivia Nelson