Oxford-founded life sciences company Phynova Group was crowned winner of the Ingredient of the Year (Botanical), beating finalists Naturalendo Tech and Grape King Bio.
Adding to the win was its research initiative “Advancing Nutritional Science for Metabolic Health: Comprehensive Evaluation of Reducose® Across Clinical, Mechanistic, and Real-World Dietary Conditions", which took home the award for Nutrition Research Project against entries from Senescence Life Sciences and ThreoTech.
At the heart of both wins is Reducose, a patented water extract of mulberry leaves, which, according to the company, is used in more than 200 product brands in over 40 countries.
Speaking to NutraIngredients after the win, Wouter Claerhout, vice president Asia-Pacific at Phynova Group, said the company has studied the ingredient for over a decade, with studies conducted across the globe, including APAC countries like China, India and Australia.
“The science is highly relevant for APAC, because what we do is we address one of the biggest challenges in the metabolic health space of the region, which is the exposure that people in APAC have to diets with high carbohydrate loads,” said Claerhout.
One of Phynova’s main goals back then was to develop an effective natural solution that could fit into daily habits without drastically changing the lifestyle. An example is the use of Reducose as a functional food topping launched in Malaysia by Nestle or in Oolong tea in China.
So far, the majority of the published research on Reducose focused on its effects on lowering post-meal blood glucose spikes. A 14-day study published in the European Journal of Nutrition last year reported that Reducose use could significantly lower postprandial glycemic response compared to the control group.
At the same time, the company is extending its research into aging, menopause, hormonal health and weight management.
For example, it is going to conduct a study on whether Reducose could help prevent weight gain in individuals who have stopped GLP-1 medication.
Aging is also of interest, as insulin resistance increases with age, and the company hopes to study whether improving insulin sensitivity could help support better aging.
“A lot of aging is driven by insulin resistance, and by reducing that insulin resistance, by improving insulin sensitivity, we can age better. This is why aging is the next frontier for Reducose, and a big one,” he said.
Within APAC, the company has recently entered markets such as Indonesia and Vietnam, with India seeing “extremely rapid growth”.
“We have launches also in Hong Kong and in China, so APAC is one of the biggest growth areas for Reducose and the way we promote Reducose is to leverage the science,” he said. “Science is the first element in the way we present Reducose and the science allows us to actually take Reducose not only into a blood glucose and insulin positioning, but expand it into new fields.”
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