Naturex Acquires Decas Botanical Synergies

Naturex (Avignon, France) has acquired Decas Botanical Synergies (Carver, MA), a specialty developer and manufacturer of cranberry ingredients.

Decas is best known for developing PACran, the first cranberry product to bear a government-sanctioned urinary health claim (in Korea). PACran is also backed by two large-scale human clinical trials on women and recurrence of urinary tract infections (UTI). The ingredient gets its name from proanthocyanidin (PAC), a compound present in cranberries and believed to reduce the adhesion of bacteria to the bladder.

In acquiring Decas, Naturex also inherits the cranberry supplier's full range of standardized powders and extracts, juice concentrates, and cold-pressed seed oils.

"Naturex's global network of strong customer relationships will help generate new avenues of interest for PACran and our entire stable of cranberry powder and extracts," said Decas director of sales and marketing Dan Souza in an interview with Nutritional Outlook. "Through Naturex's expertise, we plan to accelerate our R&D efforts and quickly deliver greater levels of substantiation to our products."

Cranberry consumption and supplementation is traditionally associated with UTI health, yet Nutritional Outlook recently learned of one U.S. patent (secured by Decas) for a whole-cranberry ingredient that may help control metabolic syndrome. The USDA has expressed interest in this since at least 2009, and Naturex is evidently following suit.

"Naturex looks forward to pursuing the ongoing research with the Decas Botanical Synergies team, for natural cranberry-based solutions that help to control the metabolic syndrome," said Naturex group marketing director Antoine Dauby. "This research theme is in line with our ongoing research projects in the metabolic syndrome area, the aims of which are to fight health disorders through the use of natural plant extracts."