Developed by its in-house research team, Nektium reports that Smartek shields and stabilizes bioactive compounds, maintaining their efficacy throughout the production process.
“We’re using innovative combinations of smart technologies to offer potent functional benefits in convenient low doses that fit seamlessly into on-trend delivery formats,” Nektium CEO Miguel Jiménez said.
Based in Gran Canaria, Spain, Nektium specializes in supplying botanical ingredients, including mango leaf extract, Rhodiola rosea and a proprietary weight-management blend. According to Nektium, the new technologies make it easier for brands to use botanicals in popular formats such as gummies and beverages.
How Smartek works
Nektium’s research and development facility in Spain has developed a range of Smartek delivery technologies based on individual botanicals and bioactives.
“The combinations are selected for each botanical ingredient to deliver optimal efficacy, enhanced physicochemical properties and more neutral sensory characteristics,” the company stated.
The proprietary delivery combinations include complex coacervation, multi-stage microencapsulation, molecular and matrix inclusion systems, controlled ionization, and hydration and cocrystal lattice formation.
According to the firm, these technologies can increase product shelf life, provide greater formulation versatility, such as for gummies and beverages, and maximize health benefits at lower doses.
Quality assurance
Quality and traceability are increasing concerns within the botanical sector. Reports suggest that a quarter of bulk ingredients may be adulterated, and climate change is also affecting the quality of raw materials.
Nektium’s raw ingredients are sustainably sourced and fully traceable, and its botanical extracts are manufactured in compliance with current regulations and tested at their in-house laboratory.
“Our commitment to quality is embedded in every step of our vertically integrated supply chain, from sourcing to finished product,” Beatriz Ercilla Negrin, director of quality assurance and regulatory at Nektium, noted.
“By controlling the entire process and leveraging advanced technologies, we provide customers with botanical ingredients that deliver on the promise of quality, traceability, health benefits, and efficacy.”
Expanding portfolio
Nektium’s botanical extracts portfolio includes several products that have already used Smartek technologies.
Vanizem is a mood and sleep product that uses complex coacervation technology to deliver low-dose bioactives from Aframomum melegueta (Grains of Paradise).
Zynamite S develops Nektium’s award-winning flagship nootropic product, Zynamite, into a fully water-soluble version for cognitive performance and non-stim mental energy.
There are additional product launches in the pipeline, including a unique double microencapsulation approach to enhance delivery, impart neutral sensory properties and improve the dispersibility of botanical extracts in powder formats.
“We’re renowned for providing premium botanicals that address key needs such as cognition, sleep, stress and physical performance,” Jiménez said. “With Smartek by Nektium, we’re opening up exciting new possibilities in finished product innovation and taking efficacy and stability to new heights.”
