Arjuna Expands Nutraceuticals Production, Enters the Natural Preservatives Space

29 Aug 2016 --- Indian headquartered natural extracts company Arjuna is looking to expand its position internationally, amid a period of strong growth at the company. In April 2016, Arjuna reported a turnover of $40 million approx. for the 2016 calendar year, which was up by +22% on the previous year. The company is now expanding production at its Coimbatore facilities in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, with plans afoot for a doubling in capacity for the production of curcumin extract from the stalwart Indian vegetable turmeric and the upcoming launch of a 90% purity omega 3 oil, on the back of a series of recent technological breakthroughs.

With steady investment of 12% of turnover back into R&D, this strong investment in innovation is leading to significant breakthroughs. Arjuna, which was formed in 1992 and now employs over 400 people, is also entering the food ingredients sector for the first time, with the launch of a new bakery ingredient solution for shelf life extension, based on a fusion of rosemary extract and other ingredients [X-tend]. Arjuna is also set to introduce a line of yellow and orange natural colors based on carotenoids and paprika. Moving forward, Arjuna will launch a new nutraceutical product based on the traditional Indian herb called costus, which has been known to lower blood sugar levels in diabetics anecdotally and is now being taken to a higher research level. 

Arjuna revealed the launch of a new food technology division at the company’s Cochin R&D facilities in the south of India’s Kerala state. Joint managing director Benny Antony (pictured at the company’s Cochin facilities) explains: “We traditionally operate in the nutraceuticals space, based on our past experience of 25 years. But at the same time we feel that the food segment also needs a lot of innovation. Based on our knowledge and people we chose to launch this new segment.”

For Antony, natural preservatives are one of the important segments within the food category. “We have developed a formula for replacing existing synthetic preservatives containing mainly rosemary extract. This product is for especially extending the shelf life of bread and cake. We just launched this product with a new team of people and they are introducing the product.” X-tend allows for the extension of the shelf-life of some bakery products from 3 days to 10 days. 

He notes: “Its’ part of a new food technology division that we just started about 6 months ago. The first area of development is on the preservation side and the second is on natural colors. We are looking to offer a yellow and red color for bakery creators. They are mainly based on carotenoid pigments and especially curcumin.” 

The launch of curcumin based natural colors is logical for a company whose flagship product is BCM-95, the world’s largest selling bio-available turmeric extract. Turmeric is a highly common vegetable product in India, as an essential ingredient in curry, but its’ curcumin content has been linked to various benefits, including cognitive health. The company produces approximately 7,000 MT of curcumin raw material product each year and is set to double capacity in early 2017 amid growing demand. BCM-95 is Arjuna’s patented formulation and is manufactured by synergistically combining curcumin and Ar-turmerone, the essential oil of turmeric. 

The company claims that while other bioavailable turmeric extracts use various synthetic additives to enhance bioavailability, the therapeutic benefits of turmeric can only be maximized by combining curcumin with Ar turmerone. In BCM-95, this unique synergy forms a 95% bioactivity-enhanced curcuminoid complex that makes it the world’s most bio active turmeric extract with superior bio availability.

“People are looking for new products from natural sources in order to benefit their health,” says Managing Director PJ Kunjachan (pictured with Marketing Manager Jomy Jose at a turmeric plantation). “BC-95 is our branded curcumin product. This is the number one selling product worldwide. The increasing demand for this product initiated us to double the capacity right now in the next year.”

Arjuna is also expanding its omega 3 production at its Coimbatore facilities to install new machinery for high purity omega 3 products, with production likely to commence before the end of 2016, once plant construction has finished. The product is based on Indian sardine oil and utilizes a new technology. “We have bought a technology for isolating omega 3 at the maximum concentrate level. That is one of the major areas we are looking for as the omega 3 market is developing strongly year by year and has huge potential,” he says.

The company will continue to offer its 50-70% product which right now is almost exclusively for the Indian market, but the new high purity product will be predominantly aimed at export markets. “We are mainly concentrating on foreign markets for this and especially the US. Now the Indian market is also developing, but not to the same level,” he notes.

For Kunjachan, the omega 3 launch will be a major product for the supplements space, but at the same time, the company is looking to develop other supplements from medicinal plants in India and that is claimed to be one of Arjuna’s major advantages. 

“We are concentrating on health food ingredients, mainly those with tradition in Ayurvedic medicine. We are isolating each compound and we are doing the animal model, clinical and toxicology studies. After all these things we can introduce them into the market,” he says. “If you are prepared to spend money and time on research and development, the sky’s the limit. Resources are available in India.” 

The most exciting launch revealed from the company is one that they have been working on since 2002, but which is now finally starting to move close to commercialization. Costus extract may work as a diabetic herbal medicine, with potential in the diabetes space.

“We are always looking for innovative products from nature and so we got an idea that the costus plant, which has been traditionally known as the insulin plant,” says Antony. “So we started work in 2002 in order to understand the chemistry and were the first company to do so. So we got a very interesting finding from our initial pre-clinical animal study. What we found is that it in animals we got a good anti-diabetic effect and at the same time this extract can regenerate pancreatic islets,” notes Antony.

The company received a US$1 million investment from the Indian government department of biotechnology 3 years ago, for a product that could function as part of a strategy to help address India’s enormous diabetes challenges and this project has just been completed. “We are very positive on the outcome of this project. At the moment we have 6 granted US patents and right now we are going ahead with a new composition patent on costus,” says Antony.

He stresses that anti-diabetic plants need a lot of investigation and that health claims are some way away as yet, however. The company is therefore currently planning a study of 220 people [110 of whom are diabetic and the other 110 are therapeutic diabetic, who are just on dietary restrictions]. The company is already collaborating with Baylor University in Dallas on an in vitro analysis of costus, with results expected in 4-5 months. “You need pre-clinical studies, but you also need in vitro studies to understand the mechanism. So now we have collaborated with where they will perform in vitro analysis on the costus extract,” Benny concludes.

With further work ongoing into the potential of amla extract for cardiovascular health and the marketing of red spinach extract as a nutraceutical for sports performance, this south Indian company has a strong innovation pipeline, as it closes in on its 25th anniversary in 2017. Further innovative nutraceutical launches can also be expected.

by Robin Wyers in Cochin, India