First Cocoa Extract from Naturex, Barry Callebaut Collaboration Hits Market

The collaboration between cocoa supplier Barry Callebaut (Zurich, Switzerland) and botanicals firm Naturex (Avignon, France) has yielded its first cocoa extract designed for the heart-health supplements market. The new high-flavanol CocoActiv ingredient, which launched a few weeks before the recent Vitafoods Europe 2016 trade show, contains 300 times more flavanols than regular chocolate and allows for a 13.5 EFSA health claim relating to heart health, Naturex says.

Late last year, Barry Callebaut and Naturex signed a five-year licensing agreement under which Naturex will produce and market purified cocoa extract from Barry Callebaut’s unique, flavanol-rich cocoa beans for the heart-health food-supplements sector. A central part of the agreement is Naturex’s right to market the ingredient with the proprietary 13.5 EFSA health claim, “cocoa flavanols help maintain the elasticity of blood vessels, which contributes to normal blood flow.”

Currently, the 13.5 health claim applies to dietary supplements only, so CocoActiv is designed mainly for use in tablets, capsules, or gummies, according to Elizabeth Bui, director of the nutrition & health business unit at Naturex.

Read more:

Different Paths to Clean-Label Cocoa

Cocoa Flavanols: Emerging Research Is Taking Us Deeper Inside the Cacao Bean

Naturex Will Leverage Cocoa Flavanols EU Health Claim for Heart Health

Michael Crane
Associate Editor
Nutritional Outlook Magazine
michael.crane@ubm.com