ID Nutra receives EFSA novel food application for satiety ingredient
Now a non-endangered, safety validated specimen, H. parviflora, has been approved as a Novel food for European community market as a whole-food ingredient.
“Since 2015, when this whole food ingredient of H. parviflora was accepted in Ireland, it has been under scrutiny in the EFSA Novel Food workgroup,” explained Iris Danieli, CEO of Desert Labs.
“It has been a long journey due to structural changes at EFSA, but finally we’re here.”
The decision follows a claim submitted to the authority’s register of questions in 2016, where US firm Desert Labs filed the application for the dried parts of H. parviflora, that grow above the ground.
ID Nutra, the commercial partner for Desert Labs in the EU, has branded the concept SatiPlus, in which Karin Nielsen, vice president of ID Nutra described the ingredient as “100% natural and a whole-food – aligning perfectly with natural and clean label trends.”
“We expect to assist formulators in implementing SatiPlus in many innovative “anti-snacking” solutions for consumers; such as capsules, tablets, soft drinks, fortified sweeteners, nutrition bars, lozenges, gummies and chewing gums,“ she said.
‘Opportunities for building a diverse usage’
The successes from US and Asia, as well as the convenient dosage of this active botanical adds to its purported qualities as an effective suppressor of thirst and hunger.
Its natural powder form contained in flavoured 3 gram (g) ice cubes or placebo cubes was given to 204 subjects during a 40-day study, which resulted in a statistically significant loss of BMI, weight and waistline observed. No adverse events were reported.
Desert Labs, which has self-affirmed Generally Recognised As Safe (GRAS) status in the US, launched ‘Snack Less’ gum in the US in 2012, with each piece containing 125 milligrams (mg) of the H. parviflora.
Since then the firm has been able to build up a body of evidence evaluating its safety with a number of published pre-clinical toxicological studies.
Results related to metabolic syndrome in a thirty-day study of persons with insulin resistance and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease demonstrated efficacy and no evidence of adverse events.
“The successes from US and Asia, as well as the convenient dosage of this active botanical, leaves opportunities for building a diverse usage,” added Nielsen.
