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Healthy outlook for Vital Foods
Health supplement firm Vital Foods has found a
viable way to produce Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids from kiwifruit
seeds. The discovery is though to be a world first for the globally
expanding nutraceuticals market.
Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids are important for
brain and eye development in children, and Omega 3, which is usually
derived from fish oils, has also been proven to reduce the risk of
coronary heart disease.
Vital Foods Managing Director Bruce Donaldson has
known about the kiwifruit seeds’ potential to produce omega oils for
almost a decade, but up until recently he says it has not been cost
effective to just process the fruit for its seeds.
With sales of a kiwifruit-based digestion remedy in
several international markets, and the development of a patented
process to isolate kiwifruit enzymes, the company is set to process
around 1500 tonnes of kiwifruit next year.
This means Vital Foods is starting to generate a
reasonable amount of seed to process commercial volumes of omega 3,
Mr Donaldson says. Kiwifruit produced omega 3 capsules will be made
in Germany for the first time in November.
Sunday Star-Times, 31 October 2004 |
