Positive results for Alltracel bioactive + sterols
investigations into the effect of its cellulose
cholesterol-lowering technology in combination with plant sterols,
which may help smooth the route to its use in functional foods.
The bioactive has previously been referred to as m.doc, the tradename for the company's woundcare product based on a different variation of the same technology. However it has now been decided that the bioactive will go to market under a different name that is yet to be decided.
The trials began in mid-January, and were designed to investigate dosage, timing and phasing, and combination effects of the bioactive with plant sterols and omega-3 fatty acids with respect to lowering cholesterol.
When commercially available sterols were consumed in combination with the Alltracel bioactive, LDL 'bad' cholesterol was seen to decrease significantly more than when either one was taken alone - a reduction of 20.4 per cent, compared to 10.7 per cent for just sterols.
"This represents an average efficacy increase of 91 per cent across the sterol based products," said the company.
Alltracel's communication made no reference to findings relating to omega-3.
Chief marketing officer Noel Toolan told NutraIngredients.com in April that the bioactive's mode of action is different from that of sterols or omega-3, "so the effect would be additive".
A research team at UCD's Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research reported last year that the bioactive's mechanism involves interactions with cholesterol, bile salts and very low density lipoproteins in the gut.
"One of the functions of bile salts is to extract proteins from what you eat. If the bile salts are bound with the [bioactive] particles than they are not very efficient in extracting cholesterol," said Alltracel technical director Ciaran O'Reilly at the time.
The company is understood to be in discussions with major food companies in the EU, US and Japan about commercialisation of the bioactive and its use in functional foods.
