‘Huge’ opportunities in the emerging cognitive health market: Enzymotec USA CEO
“The cognitive category is about a fourth the size of the cardiovascular health category,” said Elzaphan Hotam. “We believe that there is a huge potential because we know the size of the population in the United States and the world.
The company markets a range of lipid-based ingredients, including phosphatidylserine (PS).
“Our brain is 20% fat, and there is a reason we crave fats,” Hotam told NutraIngredients-USA’s Hank Schultz at the recent SupplySide West show. “Fats are essential for satiety but also to deliver essential nutrients to our bodies.
“PS is found in high concentrations in our brain. It seems to be serving the normal functioning of nerve cells. Think about an electrical wire that conducts electricity – the PS is one of the important elements that enables this conductivity to occur.
“As we age, PS levels are depleted and we are not consuming enough, and so it’s recommended to consume PS on a daily basis.
“The primary commercial use of PS is for dietary supplements but there is definitely room for functional foods, and PS is GRAS and we believe that in the future it will have a big role as a functional food ingredient.”
