Lallemand targets heartburn with fermented soy

Danish-based Lallemand Health Ingredients (LHI) has launched a fermented soy supplement backed by studies in 600 subjects demonstrating its ability to combat indigestion and heartburn.

Gastro-AD comes in powder, blister, bottle or chewing tablet form and is recommended at 1-2g/day. A 1978 study (Bogdanov) showed heartburn relief in one of two patients 10 minutes after consumption.

In another (Hirata, 2003), improvements in gastro symptoms were seen in 80% of patients.

But defining and demonstrating mechanisms of action has proved more difficult and so there exists no formal approval for the gastro links, certainly not from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) under the European Union nutrition and health claims regulation (NHCR).

“Certain of this product’s mechanisms of action have been elucidated and further studies are still on-going in order to get a better understanding of its exceptional benefits,” LHI said.

The company noted research had linked soy with, “cancer prevention, reduction of menopausal symptoms, antioxidant, cholesterol-lowering and anti-allergenic effects, gastric comfort.”

Lactobacillus (L. delbrueckii R-187) is used to ferment the soy, a “gentle“ process that preserved, “Gastro-AD’s biologically active metabolites and soy nutritional qualities.”

Heartburn is estimated to affect around 40% of people at some point in their life – and is on the rise according to some surveys.

According to the American College of Gastroenterology, 95m people in the US suffer from digestive problems. Some 60m are thought to suffer from heartburn, and 50m from irritable bowel syndrome. In addition, it is estimated that around 20m people suffer from stomach ulcers.