Life Extension expands supplement delivery format offering with new tea crystals

01-May-2018 - Last updated on 01-May-2018 at 15:36 GMT

Dietary supplement maker Life Extension recently launched Kenyan Purple Tea Crystals marketed for its polyphenol content. More tea products are set to launch this year, said senior health scientist Michael A. Smith, MD.

Though Life Extension’s portfolio includes many products using tea extract, these have been in capsule form. The launch marks Life Extension’s first foray into the crystallized delivery format. “Why a tea? Because people like tea, so it makes sense to use formats that people already enjoy,” Dr. Smith told NutraIngredients-USA.

The purple tea used in the product comes from the family-owned Emrok farm in Kenya’s Rift Valley region. The farm is Rainforest Alliance and ISO 22000 certified.

To create the Kenyan Purple Tea Crystals, Life Extension used a patented technology called PhytoClean technology, which cleanses the leaves with nothing more than water. According to the company, the extraction process is not only environmentally friendly—it also allows for a high recovery of polyphenols.

"Among Kenyan teas, purple tea is unique," Dr. Smith added. "With less oxygen available at the high peaks upon which it is grown, purple tea leaves produce less caffeine and more anythocyanins that are potent antioxidant compounds with well-established health benefits."

Kenyan Purple Tea Crystals are caffeinated with 1-3% caffeine, or 10-30 mg of caffeine per 1 g serving. In addition to the purple tea variety, Life Extension also launched a Green Tea Crystals product sourcing leaves from the same farm.

Down the pipeline: Focus Tea

Dr. Smith said that the company will be releasing more drinkable tea supplements this year.

Due to launch in the next couple of months is a product called Focus Tea, Dr. Smith told us at the SupplySide East show last month in Secaucus, NJ. The active ingredient in this product will be spearmint.

“We’ve known for a while that spearmint does help with memory,” he said. “’Improved cognition’—you say that to people and they’ll usually not know what that means. But when you question people and you break it down, what interests most people is memory and focus, or what some people would call mental clarity.”

“Spearmint has had good clinical research showing focus and memory improvement,” he added. “Our spearmint tea will have the right dose, the right standardization, it’s not just your everyday spearmint tea bag. It’s definitely formulated to be therapeutic.”