According to the company, Fucovital is the first fucoxanthin to receive a New Dietary Ingredient Notification (NDIN) acknowledgement for dietary supplements from the FDA.
In more than 500 peer-reviewed articles published since 2000, fucoxanthin has been found to be a powerful antioxidant that can help prevent obesity-related metabolic syndrome such as impaired glucose management, inflammation, high triglyceride levels, and liver disorders.
“Algatech will conduct series of studies to further substantiate the health benefits of fucoxanthin,” Hagai Stadler, Algatech CEO, said.
The global fucoxanthin market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 3.2% through 2022 to reach 690 tons from 588 tons in 2017, according to a report by Markets Research.biz.
Higher concentrations of fucoxanthin
Fucovital’s unique composition contains 3% fucoxanthin compared to other forms of the marine carotenoid traditionally extracted from harvested seaweed, which contains roughly 0.1% fucoxanthin.
“This expensive and time-consuming process, coupled with prior inadequate extraction methods, limits the amount of fucoxanthin available in the market and increases cost significantly,” Algatech said.
“Moreover, the old processes exposed product to contamination, relied on the harvest seasons of edible seaweed, and resulted in excessive waste.”
For Fucovital, Algatech identified a unique strain of algae, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, contains a much more concentrated (hundreds of times greater) amount of fucoxanthin compared to seaweed.
Algatech then successfully grew and standardized this strain in a closed and controlled cultivation system fully exposed to natural sunlight. Fucovital can be cultivated year-round and is not dependent on seasonal fluctuations.
“Fucovital is cultivated in a patented, eco-friendly, closed system, creating a pure, cost-effective new source of fucoxanthin with a consistent high quality,” Omer Grundman, PhD, Algatech’s chief R&D biologist and leader of R&D for Fucovital.
“Our manufacturing process is completely sustainable, relying on power generated at an adjacent solar farm. The closed-cultivation system is unlike other available products, and has a minimal ecologic footprint.”
Algatech said it is focused on commercializing the new microalgae ingredient in the US and Japan for 2018.
“Commercialization of new microalgae ingredients is something few companies have achieved,” Stadler said.
Fucovital is just one of series of microalgae ingredients the company is planning to launch in the next few years.