Vitafoods Europe 2024: Argana details health benefits of its osmolyte ingredient, Betaine
07 Jun 2024 | Agrana
We caught up with Jochen Warnecke, the head of sales and marketing for Betaine, from Argana’s latest health ingredient brand, DuraBeet. Warnecke explained how the ingredient is an organic osmolyte that works on all of the cells in the body and keeps people hydrated, even when performing endurance sports or activities. He also detailed the product's versatility for beverage, food and convenient delivery formats.
Hello everybody.
This is William Bradford Nichols, the editor for Nutrition Insight, and I'm here live at Vita Foods Europe in Geneva, Switzerland.
And today we are speaking with Joen Werke, the head of sales and marketing for Betin.
How are you doing today, sir?
Very , thank you.
We're excited to talk to you about this new product.
Can you tell us about Bet real quick?
Absolutely.
So betae is the newest health ingredient from Agrana with our brand Durabeet.
We are represented here at Vita Foods to showcase the benefits of our newest product produced in Austria.
Can you tell me some of the main health benefits and how it works, what it does?
Absolutely.
Durabeat butane has two main health benefits.
The first one is betane is an organic osmolite.
That means betane is acting in all the cells in our body to maintain the osmotic balance.
When our body is stressed, when we're exercising, when it's hot outside, we are sweating.
All the cells in our body are losing water.
They're losing their osmotic balance.
The cell is shrinking.
And the cell is reduced in its original functionality.
What betae does in its osmotic function is betane enters the cell.
Betane is in our body all of the time.
We have betae naturally in our body all of the time.
Supplementing betane will allow the cells in our body to enrich the betane content which allows the cell to maintain the osmotic balance even under heat stress, even when we're exercising.
So, ah, with a better functioning cell, all the body's functions, our organs, our muscles can perform better.
The second benefit of betae is that it is, it is a methyl group donor, which means it is metabolized in our body in the methane cycle to important components, such as glycine, creatine, and taurine.
All of these, ah, metabolites are known to enhance sports and overall performance as as fitness.
And I see that you have like some different applications here.
Can you tell me a little bit about the versatility for formats and applications.
So Durabeat is extremely simple to apply in a diverse range of application types.
What I have here are small sachets.
This is a daily dose.
You can simply rip it open, add it to any kind of liquid or beverage.
It will dissolve immediately and can be drunk by the consumer.
So this is ideal to carry with you when you're exercising, when you're on the road, when you're.
Traveling on a plane, very convenient format.
On top of that, so simple formats such as directly using the powder capsules or pills, butane can also be included in beverage applications, food applications.
What we have developed ourselves is an energy drink where we replace the taurine that is usually contained in energy drinks with bitane.
The betae is supposed to create taurine naturally, so we do not have the peak of synthetic taurine that is added to beverages, but bitane is participating in the metabolization of taurine in our body, therefore naturally enhancing our energy levels.
Furthermore, we see bittae widely used in sports supplements.
So we're talking pre-workout and post-workout supplements to enhance performance during sports and recovery after sports.
Ah, you've kind of already spoken to this, but can you tell us a little bit about what market trends these these kind of products.
So first of all, BA is very , working with the market trend of sports performance, so we're talking about the sports nutrition industry, but we're also talking about, ah, overall health, especially longevity is a topic that is more and more prominent for the aging population.
And is more and more prominent also for the supplement and nutraceutical industry.
This is an additional benefit of betane that it actively reduces elevated homocysteine levels.
Homocysteine is increased in our blood usually when we, when we get a bit older.
Betane supports the reduction of homocysteine, which is a harmful substance in our blood, back to a normal level.
And so then it's not, even though it's good for sports nutrition, it, it has, it can, it can target demographics beyond that.
Can you tell me who, who maybe this is, most intended for.
So in terms of demographics, we are, we are targeting a wide, wide range of ages.
We are targeting young people who want to increase their sports performance, but we're also targeting the aging population who have issues with elevated homocysteine levels, but also who are not drinking enough.
The, the body dehydrates easily.
It's a very common issue for, for elderly people.
They do not drink enough and therefore their body dehydrates and their overall cell function and muscle function is compromised.
So it's kind of an overlooked aspect of that and I understand that you also have some maybe some exciting news about a clinical study.
Yeah, definitely, definitely.
So what's coming next from Ana and with Durabeat is a clinical study.
That we are doing in the United States.
There are already a variety of clinical studies out there that showcase the benefits of betane in sports nutrition.
What we are doing now is dive deep into our body to understand how beta is on the one hand, improving sports performance.
On the other hand, also how it is metabolized in our body.
We are doing.
A complete metabolic ana analysis with this study, we will have more than 300 metabolites analyzed before, during, and after beta supplementation, as as a 60 kilometer cycling trial.
Wow, it's all exciting stuff.
Thank you for talking to us today.
You're welcome.
Thank you very much.
All right, , thanks for sharing your insights, and we look forward to hearing more from you guys in the future.
Thank you.
