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Brightseed & ofi in partnership to explore health benefits of popular spices
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Monday, 17 January, 2022, 16 : 00 PM [IST]
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San Francisco & Chicago
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Medical research has shown that there are bioactives in black pepper and garlic that are known for their medicinal qualities. However, not all compounds within these spices have been uncovered or explored for their total health benefits, and not all varieties are equal.
Through a partnership with Brightseed, a biosciences data company and a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, Olam Food Ingredients, a global leader in naturally good food and beverage ingredients, hopes to learn which varieties deliver the highest levels of bioactives. Its innovation team working at ingredient excellence centres in Fresno, California and Vietnam hope to discover exactly what health benefits exist in its US garlic and global black pepper varieties.
The company will use its award-winning Forager artificial intelligence platform to seek to identify complex molecular structures and novel compounds in these spice categories. Forager seeks to pinpoint the specific mechanisms of plant bioactives that likely correlate to a direct health benefit, thereby decoding the health impact of plant-based bioactive compounds and increasing the scientific understanding of these spices’ qualities.
Medical research has shown that black pepper produces piperine, a bioactive and antioxidant that has the potential to inhibit tumour growth and enhance the bioavailability of some therapeutic drugs. Medical research has also shown that garlic contains strong beneficial properties that may prevent common chronic disease states and other pathologies. Forager will analyse and seek to identify how different regions, cultivars, growing conditions, and processing methods impact phytochemical expression and bioactive potency across multiple areas of human health for its black pepper estates and its US-based garlic sources. All of Forager’s discoveries undergo in vitro validation and enable a de-risked clinical trial process for innovation.
Greg Estep, managing director and CEO of Olam Food Ingredients - spices business, said, "Throughout ofi’s history, we’ve invested in plant science, identifying and developing quality varieties of black pepper and garlic for our customers. Spices are largely valued for flavour but should also be explored for health applications. These data insights will help us unlock the health potential and differentiation in our spice supply and fuel future innovation. Ofi continues to invest in its broad product portfolio through our customer solutions and ingredient excellence centres.”
Sofia Elizondo, co-founder and chief operating officer of Brightseed, said, “We are thrilled to be working with ofi to drive consumer health conversations back to nature. Ofi has a strong black pepper footprint which provides Forager with access to a range of cultivars with a view to developing a robust comparative model of bioactive potency and density. Brightseed is seeking to build the data and validation that food and health industries need to establish a foundation on the true value of plants for human health optimisation.”
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