In an effort to set themselves apart from the crowd, more and more manufacturers and distributors are marketing products to particular health conditions, as such bypassing the dilemma of relying on consumer nutritional education and instead directly labeling the health condition a specific set of compounds supports.
Like many other supplement companies, Calgenex is aiming its soft tissue calcification support products primarily at the baby boomer generation - the generation with the most disposable income and also the age bracket in which the condition manifests itself most pervasively.
"The company was founded on the premise that calcification is a very important condition facing Americans today," Calgenex president and CEO Grant Carlson told NutraIngredients-USA.com. "We have too much calcium in our bodies that is then forming calcium crystals in our soft tissues."
The budding Tampa, Florida-based company was founded in February 2006 and has just announced the launch of its Calci Clear product line. Carlson says the products will initially be marketed in the US through both the Internet and infomercials, but he is relying on the originality of the product health target to bring it to retail shelves domestically and abroad.
"It's really a new category," said Carlson of the company's strategic focus on supplementation for soft tissue calcification.
Calci Clear consists of a three-step program of supplements, which Calgenex claims cleanses the body of calcium crystals while also keeping new crystals from forming. The company website describes ingredients EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid), citric acid, sodium citrate, malic acid, and green algae-derived chlorophyll as "sequestering agents" that bind with unwanted calcium crystals and heavy metals and flush them out of the body.
Carlson says Calgenex's blend of minerals, vitamins and chemical compounds is patent-pending and tests are currently underway on its products in various locations in the US. The Calci Clear ingredients include: green algae chlorophyll, chlorella, as well as antioxidants like alpha lipoic acid, pycnogenol pine bark extract, grape seed extract and coenzyme Q10.
Under normal mineral conditions in the body, calcification is limited to bones and teeth, but when soft tissue calcification occurs, tissue hardens into bone-like material. While calcium is an essential nutrient for the body, when other mineral deficiencies occur in the body - according to Calgenex - an imbalance can result in calcium flowing into the cells, which become more hyperactive and excitable.
Soft tissue calcification is associated with numerous chronic health conditions such as atherosclerosis, arthritis, kidney stones, prostatitis, psoriasis and cataracts. Also known as ectopic calification, the condition can be associated with cell death and can damage vessels, tissues, and internal organs.
Calgenex sought out its niche in a condition it says plays a role in many serious diseases.
"We recognized that soft tissue calcification and inflammation were at the heart of many health conditions affecting millions of Americans and that they could be addressed by certain ingredients found in nature," said Carlson.
A look at arthritis statistics gives a glimpse at the possible occurrence of soft tissue calcification in the US. Soft tissue calcification can result from arthritis - more specifically from crystal deposition diseases that fall under the category of inflammatory arthritis. And by 2030, an estimated 67 million of Americans aged 18 years or older will have doctor-diagnosed arthritis, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics.