Degussa empowers alpha lipoic acid with nanotechnology

21/02/06 Leading supplier of food-use safe nanostructured liquid formulas (“solubilisates”) for active substances, Aquanova has enforced the global marketing cooperation with the German specialty chemicals company Degussa. In this partnership Degussa Food Ingredients, one of the world’s leading manufacturer of the powerful nutraceutical alpha-lipoic acid (Alipure), markets Aquanova’s alpha-lipoic acid solubilisate under its brand name Alipure SOL.

“Alipure SOL is overcoming two of alpha-lipoic acids major obstacles in dietary supplement and food formulations, limited bioavailability and solubility”, confirms Dr. Roland Rabeler, Manager Strategic Projects with Degussa Food Ingredients. “We are very much looking forward to a cooperation with Aquanova in the field of functional ingredients. The partnership will give us the opportunity to boost our alpha-Lipoic Acid activities in a quickly growing market”.

Nanotechnology is expected to become a key technology for innovative food ingredients and also functional food or nutraceuticals. The nanostructured Aquanova products are food-use safe and leave the active ingredient chemically unmodified and make them available as ready to use solutions.

The Aquanova product NovaSOL Q for example even received GRAS-status (“generally recognized as safe”): it is the designation given to substances that are considered safe for direct or indirect additives to foods. The technology is modelled on natural mechanisms with respect to the well examined human’s natural micellation process of substances. Also alpha lipoic acid benefits from this technology. Since Degussa Food Ingredients´ marketing focus is on the Japanese market for alpha lipoic acid, both companies will now present the successful results of their cooperation at the world´s largest nanotech trade fare in Tokyo (February 21st– 23rd, Tokyo Big Sight, hall 4, booth A-06 J).

The nanostructured and liquid Alipure SOL is manufactured through AQUANOVA’s proprietary and patented solubilization process. The resulting solubilisates, which are always both water and fat soluble, contain the active ingredients, in the present case alpha-lipoic acid, in a nano particulate form, which means it is embedded in product micelles (mirroring the natural human micellation process) with a diameter not bigger than 30 nm. This allows application in crystal clear beverages, which has so far not been possible with the existing alpha-lipoic acid formulations. Owing to Alipure SOL, the dosage in beverages can be increased by up to 600 % compared to straight alpha-lipoic acid with its very poor solubility.

The second unique feature of Aquanova’s technology is the significant improvement of the physiological absorption (bioavailability) of poorly available fat soluble actives. Alpha-lipoic acid in Alipure SOL, for instance, is 70% more available than market leading soy oil formulation, offering the opportunity for even more successful and efficacious alpha lipoic acid supplements and functional foods.