Ayana Bio launches three new plant cell cultivated ingredients
The three new ingredients add to the echinacea and lemon balm the company launched in April of this year.
Dog Rose PCA delivers joint health and immune support, Hedge Nettle PCA provides healthy inflammatory response and antioxidants, and Sage PCA offers healthy inflammatory response and cognitive support, said the company.
Speaking with NutraIngredients-USA at last week’s SupplySide West in Las Vegas, Frank Jaksch, CEO of Ayana Bio, said: “We’re focused right now on trying to develop ingredients where plant cell is going to work most effectively, at least in the early stages. Echinacea and lemon balm were two good first ones, and now adding Sage, Hedge Nettle [and Dog Rose].”
Ayana Bio’s plant cell technology is a means to create plant materials without growing plants in the ground. The plant cell cultivation technology starts by identifying the best plant cell lines—just like traditional plant breeding. These plant cells are propagated from real plants (similar to stem cells) and assessed throughout the cell cultivation process for important characteristics like bioactive potency, stability and purity.
The company then provides the nutrients the plant cells need to grow and multiply.
“We’re growing plants as cells and then we’re growing those in fermenters, and by doing that we can get a lot more control over exactly what those plant cells are going to do. We don’t have to worry about contaminants, we can control for that. We can control the bioactives that are being produced by the plant better than you ever could by growing this stuff in the ground, which I think is important for this industry,” Jaksch told us.
Jaksch also discussed the economics of plant cell cultivation, the regulatory picture for the ingredients, and why high-cost ingredients like saffron and cacao are definitely part of their plans. Watch the video for the full interview.
