Rebecca Wright06.01.06
In 1943 Diamond V Mills was itself a "diamond in the rough," but over the past 63 years the company has become a shining example of innovation and quality in the agricultural animal nutrition business. Perhaps it is hoping the same will come true for its newest division, Embria Health Sciences, Ankeny, IA, which has gained widespread recognition in the nutraceuticals industry in a very short time.
A few years ago, given the success of its yeast ingredients in the agricultural animal nutrition business, company executives, including Paul Faganel, president, Embria, started to evaluate potential opportunities in the human health market. What started out as a "light bulb" idea eventually culminated in the launch of Embria in January last year. "Diamond V is very strategic and deliberate in taking on new markets, so this was a project that took a lot of time to develop," Mr. Faganel explained. "We needed to make sure we had all of the appropriate resources behind this new endeavor. We also need to make sure we set appropriate expectations."
What got Mr. Faganel and other executives thinking about a new venture a few years ago was the fact that people working in Diamond V's production facility were not taking their sick time. The reason? They simply weren't getting sick. The second thing executives noticed was that company insurance premiums weren't going up. In fact, Mr. Faganel claims, the increase in insurance premiums has been flat for the last two years.
To investigate further, the company brought in renowned industry researcher Alexander Schauss, PhD, FACN, president and CEO, American Institute of Biomedical and Social Research (AIBMR), Puyallup, WA. The first thing Dr. Schauss pointed out to Diamond V executives was that if they were to pursue the human health market, they needed to look for the absence of something. In Diamond V's case, this was the absence of illness among workers in its main production facility where the company's proprietary yeast fermentation takes place.
"Dr. Schauss started out by testing the fermented yeast's oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), which came back with a score of 614 on a gram per gram dry weight basis. The food with the next highest ORAC value is a black raspberry, which has a score of 190. This gave us good reason to continue analyzing our proprietary process," Mr. Faganel said.
This led company executives and Dr. Schauss back to the manufacturing facility where they recruited volunteers who had been with the company for at least 10 years to submit blood and saliva samples. Researchers matched study participants in age and gender to those who had not been exposed to the manufacturing process, who served as the control group.
"All subjects were exposed to the same viruses as everyone else, the only difference was that the 10 from the factory were the only ones exposed to the manufacturing process," Mr. Faganel explained. "We looked at immune parameters such as immunoglobulin A (IgA), which is the first line of defense in the human body. What they found was that IgA levels were significantly higher in those working in the facility, which resulted in two times the immune response compared to the control group.
The company initially used its eXselen selenium yeast ingredient offering to enter the human health market last year. However, its most recent launch, EpiCor, a brand new ingredient to the immune support category, is where Embria is currently focusing most of its energy.
The yeast Embria uses as the base for its products is very common, according to Mr. Faganel. "You can actually find this yeast strain in wine, beer and bread," he said. Where Embria flexes its innovative muscles, however, is in the fermentation process. By adjusting the fermentation parameters, the company can create a variety of ingredients with different nutrient profiles.
Mr. Faganel is particularly optimistic about EpiCor because it currently doesn't exist on the market today, unlike eXselen, which is a more common ingredient. In addition, due to the proprietary fermentation process, Embria is the only company that can manufacture it.
Mr. Faganel does admit, however, that the company faces an uphill battle with EpiCor due to consumers' poor understanding of immune function. "This is a difficult product to explain to people because of the complexity of the immune system," he said. "And there is not a lot of research to fall back on because we are creating the science base from scratch."
For the future, the company plans to launch a variety of products based on manipulating its yeast fermentation process. These products will flaunt a number of different metabolite profiles suited for a variety of health issues like inflammation and immune modulation.
Embria seems to be making quite an impression on the nutraceuticals market, making its presence felt everywhere from magazines to conferences and tradeshows. So it appears that its search for the absence of something has turned up some nutraceuticals with excellent potential.
A few years ago, given the success of its yeast ingredients in the agricultural animal nutrition business, company executives, including Paul Faganel, president, Embria, started to evaluate potential opportunities in the human health market. What started out as a "light bulb" idea eventually culminated in the launch of Embria in January last year. "Diamond V is very strategic and deliberate in taking on new markets, so this was a project that took a lot of time to develop," Mr. Faganel explained. "We needed to make sure we had all of the appropriate resources behind this new endeavor. We also need to make sure we set appropriate expectations."
What got Mr. Faganel and other executives thinking about a new venture a few years ago was the fact that people working in Diamond V's production facility were not taking their sick time. The reason? They simply weren't getting sick. The second thing executives noticed was that company insurance premiums weren't going up. In fact, Mr. Faganel claims, the increase in insurance premiums has been flat for the last two years.
To investigate further, the company brought in renowned industry researcher Alexander Schauss, PhD, FACN, president and CEO, American Institute of Biomedical and Social Research (AIBMR), Puyallup, WA. The first thing Dr. Schauss pointed out to Diamond V executives was that if they were to pursue the human health market, they needed to look for the absence of something. In Diamond V's case, this was the absence of illness among workers in its main production facility where the company's proprietary yeast fermentation takes place.
"Dr. Schauss started out by testing the fermented yeast's oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), which came back with a score of 614 on a gram per gram dry weight basis. The food with the next highest ORAC value is a black raspberry, which has a score of 190. This gave us good reason to continue analyzing our proprietary process," Mr. Faganel said.
This led company executives and Dr. Schauss back to the manufacturing facility where they recruited volunteers who had been with the company for at least 10 years to submit blood and saliva samples. Researchers matched study participants in age and gender to those who had not been exposed to the manufacturing process, who served as the control group.
"All subjects were exposed to the same viruses as everyone else, the only difference was that the 10 from the factory were the only ones exposed to the manufacturing process," Mr. Faganel explained. "We looked at immune parameters such as immunoglobulin A (IgA), which is the first line of defense in the human body. What they found was that IgA levels were significantly higher in those working in the facility, which resulted in two times the immune response compared to the control group.
The company initially used its eXselen selenium yeast ingredient offering to enter the human health market last year. However, its most recent launch, EpiCor, a brand new ingredient to the immune support category, is where Embria is currently focusing most of its energy.
The yeast Embria uses as the base for its products is very common, according to Mr. Faganel. "You can actually find this yeast strain in wine, beer and bread," he said. Where Embria flexes its innovative muscles, however, is in the fermentation process. By adjusting the fermentation parameters, the company can create a variety of ingredients with different nutrient profiles.
Mr. Faganel is particularly optimistic about EpiCor because it currently doesn't exist on the market today, unlike eXselen, which is a more common ingredient. In addition, due to the proprietary fermentation process, Embria is the only company that can manufacture it.
Mr. Faganel does admit, however, that the company faces an uphill battle with EpiCor due to consumers' poor understanding of immune function. "This is a difficult product to explain to people because of the complexity of the immune system," he said. "And there is not a lot of research to fall back on because we are creating the science base from scratch."
For the future, the company plans to launch a variety of products based on manipulating its yeast fermentation process. These products will flaunt a number of different metabolite profiles suited for a variety of health issues like inflammation and immune modulation.
Embria seems to be making quite an impression on the nutraceuticals market, making its presence felt everywhere from magazines to conferences and tradeshows. So it appears that its search for the absence of something has turned up some nutraceuticals with excellent potential.
