The Canadian Natural Health Products Directorate (NHPD) granted Frutarom a product license for its Benolea cardiovascular health support ingredient. Benolea supports cardiovascular health by maintaining healthy blood pressure levels, according to the company. A recent clinical study by Endang Susalit, PhD, et al, showed the extract of olive leaf (Olea europaea) was effective in patients with stage-1 hypertension, demonstrating that Benolea can lower blood pressure. As of December, Benolea, manufactured in Wadinswil, Switzerland, using Frutarom’s proprietary HyperPure process, will be available to local dietary supplement manufacturers in Canada.

Benolea will be marketed in Canada by CK Ingredients, an Ontario, Canada-based distributor of specialty food and supplement ingredients.

According to The Heart and Stroke Foundation, research affirms that heart/cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 killer in Canada. It also is the most costly disease in Canada, placing the greatest burden on the national healthcare system. Based on the latest available heart disease and stroke statistics, about 40% of Canadians have high blood cholesterol (Statistics Canada, 2012), and nearly 20% of Canadian adults (about 6 million) have high blood pressure (Wilkins et al, 2010).

Since ancient times, olive leaves have been used for medicinal purposes, exhibiting a wide range of activity, especially for cardiovascular health. Benolea offers the health benefit of olive leaves in a very convenient form for dietary supplement manufacturers.

“We are excited to receive the Products Licence for Benolea from The Canadian Natural Health Products Directorate (NHPD),” said Yannick Capelle, Product Manager for Frutarom Health. “Benolea is already marketed successfully as dietary supplements successful sold in the US, Germany, Finland and Bulgaria. We are confident Canada may now also benefit from the introduction of similar products.”