How Bioactive Folate and Choline Are Shaping Healthy-Aging Nutrition

Live from SupplySide Global 2026, Dominik Mattern, Vice President, Marketing & Science, Balchem, introduced Optifolin+, a choline-enriched bioactive folate designed to require fewer metabolic conversion steps than folic acid and support DNA integrity and methylation.

He cited research reporting 2 to 3 times greater bioavailability and bioaccessibility than folic acid, and described studies suggesting Optifolin+ boosts the methylation pool and SAM production. He also discussed common formulation challenges—including stability, taste, solubility, and dosage—and Balchem’s higher-density magnesium option.

Mattern highlighted Vital Choline’s cognitive-health applications, including research on maintaining brain-network efficiency and neural connectivity in postmenopausal women.

Transcript

Erin McEvoy: What is Balchem showcasing at SupplySide Global 2026?

Dominik Mattern: So we are showcasing Optifolin+ as one of our innovations here at the trade show. Optifolin+ is our latest ingredient innovation, which is a choline-enriched folate. It's a bioactive form of folate that is able to be metabolized with less conversion steps, as typical folic acid needs, which is pretty important for maintaining the integrity of the DNA. It is very relevant for epigenetic health and making sure that your DNA methylation is in a good state. Interestingly, Optifolin+, from a science and research perspective, has a 2 to 3 times better bioavailability versus folic acid, and a 2 to 3 times better bioaccessibility in terms of uptake into the bloodstream. It's just much, much quicker.

McEvoy: What does research behind this ingredient show, and what is still being studied?

Mattern: On the Optifolin+ side, we have been looking into the methylation advantage it has, given its molecular structure is quite unique in the way that we couple 2 choline molecules with the folate molecule. So we have seven methyl groups. That's why we call it, it has the 7 times methylation advantage, and we've proven this in a study that indeed by taking Optifolin+ you can you can boost your methylation pool, which then in return gives you more methylation power that ultimately shows up in a higher production of SAM, which is I would say the king currency of methylation in in in your metabolic system.

McEvoy:What formulation challenges come up most often, such as stability, taste, solubility, or dose, and how do you help consumers handle them?

Mattern: I think that all of these challenges come up quite frequently, and depending on the ingredient, you have maybe certain more bulky ingredients like magnesium, where the dose question becomes more of an important issue for formulators: How can I integrate 100 or 120 milligrams of a magnesium bisque glycinate into a capsule, which we answer by a new form of magnesium enhanced, which we have, which has a higher dosage and a higher density and a magnesium load, to make it possible for our customers and our brands to capitalize on a big magnesium bisglycinate trend that we see all over social media.

So dose can be a problem. Taste can be a problem. Bioavailability can be a problem. It really depends on the application form. I wouldn't say there's one specific issue that stands out. All of them are highly relevant to be addressed, depending on the final application that you're looking for.

McEvoy: Which consumer trends are shaping your product development, whether it is healthy aging, women’s health, gut health, sports nutrition, or cognitive support?

Mattern: All of these trends. If I would have to pick out 1 or 2, I would say longevity/healthy aging is a big one, which we address is Optifolin+, which is this bioavailable source of a bioactive folate that helps to protect the integrity of the DNA and the methylation pool that is required to support it. That I think is a pretty unique epigenetic health solution for cellular health, which is covered or answered by using Optifolin+.

On the other side, we see a lot of traffic and traction behind the whole idea of cognition, mental awareness, mental acuity, mental focus next to mood and sleep. I think this goes hand in hand, which is something which we address with VitaCholine, our branded choline product, which by the way 90% of the people are deficient of. And then I think there's also worthwhile to mention that we just issued or published a study on postmenopausal women, we all know that the industry lacks a bit of dedicated research on women. There's a lot have been done on the men's population, and we just published a study on postmenopausal women and how VitaCholine addresses or improves the efficiency the of the brain network and how the neural connectivity is being maintained and supported with vital coal in a postmenopausal state. So these are 2 examples where we address 2 of the latest biggest trends in the industry.