Herb Pharm rollouts aim for 'transitional natural consumers'
The products—Inflamma Response, Passionflower and Turmeric—are delivered through more familiar formats like softgels and capsules.
“We offer our consumers herbs that have been popular for their supportive and healing properties for hundreds—and even thousands—of years,” Herb Pharm director of marketing Michael Gillette told NutraIngredients-USA. “We’re targeting what we like to call the ‘transitional natural consumer’—somewhere in between LOHAS and mainstream. Someone who has an awareness of, an interest in and perhaps a specific need for healing herbs, but is not an experienced user and would be more familiar with and/or comfortable taking a capsule/softgel, as opposed to one of our liquid tinctures.”
The Inflamma Response capsules, part of Herb Pharm’s System Restoration family of products, incorporate “widely researched and utilized” medicinal herbs, including tumeric, boswellia and ginger, in addition to Chinese healing herbs, Reishi mushroom and bupleurum. Each herb is extracted using natural liquids such as water and alcohol for a concentrated range of therapeutic compounds that don’t require synthetic chemical solvents.
Traditionally used as a calming herb in Europe and the Americas, passionflower is reported to provide support for occasional and mild anxiety and relaxation in times of stress. Recent studies have demonstrated the herb’s effectiveness, and also have shown passionflower to provide help in managing high blood pressure. Herb Pharm’s Passionflower capsules combine the flowering herb extract and certified organic whole herb in order to maximize its therapeutic benefits.
Curcumin has grown in popularity in recent years for helping the body to reduce chronic inflammation, purported to be a root cause of several degenerative diseases. Many use it as a natural remedy for reducing symptoms of arthritis, given its strong anti-inflammatory profile.
“Tumeric softgels offer an herb that has a long history of healing in the traditional medical systems of China and India, and modern clinical research increasingly confirms and advances turmeric's diverse health benefits,” Gillette said.
The softgels combine concentrated extracts to ensure delivery of verified amounts of the curcuminoid and tumerone compounds within the broad spectrum of Turmeric's natural chemical profile. The addition of a CO2 extract of certified organic black pepper (Piper nigrum) also helps aid the body's utilization of the turmeric's full potency, he noted.
Growing interest in integrative medicine, holistic approach to health
“Whatever the consumer is looking for in regard to natural anti-inflammatory herbs, the potential for both the Tumeric Softgels and Inflamma Response capsules is vast. We have seen a growing interest in not only our anti-inflammatory herbs, but the rest of our herbal products in general, as more consumers become educated on integrative medicine and holistic health.”
The firm doesn’t use branded extracts or ingredients; instead, it grows most of its own herbs on an organic farm in Southern Oregon. An herbal expert team creates proprietary blends exclusive to Herb Pharm. The herbal extraction facility is a few miles from the farm, and all products are lab tested after extraction to ensure they contain no synthetic solvents, and are gluten free, non-GMO and vegan.
