OmniActive says it’s ‘well positioned’ to take advantage of growing US interest in herbs and botanicals

07-May-2018 - Last updated on 08-May-2018 at 14:04 GMT

OmniActive said it is transitioning from an ingredient company to a health benefit provider with its expanded personalized botanical ingredients portfolio, managing director Sanjaya Mariwala said. ©GettyImages/JPC-PROD

Since its acquisition of natural extract supplier Indfrag for $35 million last year, OmniActive Health Technologies is solidifying its presence in the US specialty botanicals and extracts market with a focus on healthy aging and healthy living.

The US herbal market grew by nearly 8% in retail dollar sales surpassing $7 billion in 2016 and is projected to continue a path of sturdy growth, according to a September 2017 report by Herbalgram, the publication of the American Botanical Council.

“We merged with Indfrag because we saw a huge opportunity to become a better supplier to our customers by acquiring them,” OmniActive managing director, Sanjaya Mariwala, told NutraIngredients-USA.

“Their ingredients allow us to expand our capabilities to do more customized formulas, blends, and ingredients to provide our customers personalized attention.”

According to Mariwala, Omniactive currently offers 10 of the top 30 herbal ingredients listed by Herbalgram on the market today.

To that end, OmniActive has folded Indfrag’s specialty botanicals and extracts into three categories – which the company brands as Xtracs, Olixirs, and Ogments – to help it become a competitive player in this growing category, according to Mariwala.

“As companies continue to tap into growing consumer interest in herbs, we feel we are well positioned to offer the expertise required to satisfy this demand,” Mariwala said.

“This entails integrated supply chains, clinical substantiation, regulatory and marketing support, sustainability, transparency, innovation, and quality assurance andmanagement.

We believe anyone operating in today’s herbal market must have all of these pieces in place in order to be successful.”

Mariwala added that "control of farm to product has been a core differentiator and it continues to give us significant leverage as consumers demand transparency in their botanical supplement products."

Ingredient company to health benefit provider

According to Mariwala, its newly-formed specialty botanical and extract solutions portfolio is targeting the healthy aging and health living markets with a specific focus on eye health, joint and bone health, weight management, cognition, endurance, and sexual health.

Xtracs, one of OmniActive’s three core botanical ingredient pillars, is a portfolio of "extracts from nature" intended to give dietary supplement formulations an extra healthy advantage with ingredients such as moringa leaf powder.

Its second pillar, Olixrs are premium botanical powders that support health and vitality including healthy living and aging extracts such as green coffee, garcinia cambogia, ashwagandha, boswellia, banaba, curcumin, and more.

Lastly, its Ogments group are described as “differentiated ingredients” to help boost health benefits and formulation flexibility including organic garcinia, green coffee, and ashwagandha, Mariwala added.

“We have officially transited from being an ingredient company to a health benefit provider,” Mariwala said. “We will stay close to consumer and market trends that revolve around herbals so we can make sure we are providing the right positioning and support for our customers.”