Trademarked as BerriQi, the ingredient is able to help repair damaged lung tissue and reduce inflammation and mucus production according to pre-clinical in vitro and in vivo research.
Now, the ingredient has been selected for the first clinical study to be conducted in China under the New Zealand government-backed High-Value Nutrition National Science Challenge – a 10 year mission to grow the science excellence and knowledge to deliver high-value food products to the world.
The randomised-controlled trial, which is expected to involve 120 subjects, will take place over four weeks in this year’s winter.
The subjects will be required to drink BerriQi presented in the form of a beverage shot.
China Pharmaceutical University located in Nanjing will recruit subjects and collect the test samples.
“Given the pollution and number of smokers in China, we cannot find a more suitable clinical test location for BerriQi,” said managing director of Anagenix, Chris Johnson.
Speaking to NutraIngredients-Asia, Doug Rosendale, the firm’s product champion, said the study would measure the underlying mechanisms of the ingredient in lung repair.
“Because pollution makes your lungs stiff and scarred and breathing becomes hard, we expect the study will demonstrate that BerriQi restores lungs to normal after the lungs are exposed to pollution, and that it makes breathing easier.”
The firm will also examine the ingredient’s effect on skin health.
“Because the same repair mechanisms work for the skin and the lungs, so we hope that it will show better and less dry skin,” Rosendale said.
China plans
The clinical trial will be critical to the firm’s official market entry into China.
“The way we approach China is to complete this clinical study and because it is done in collaboration with a Chinese university, it will get a lot of mileage in China.
“And when we have that, we want to work with brands that are interested in building a product, invest in the advertising and promotion of the product. That's important for us,” marketing director Elizabeth Tay told us.
The firm is planning to work with Chinese end product manufacturers in incorporating BerriQi in the form of a beverage shot.
Taiwan, South Korea
BerriQi will be officially incorporated and launched in end consumer product between the end of this year and early next year.
The first two markets to launch are South Korea and Taiwan, where the ingredient is incorporated into a beverage shot.
