Innovation and speed to market are critical factors in increasing a product’s chance for success in the functional food market. Ithaca, NY-based International Food Network (IFN), recently unveiled a new service called GastroLab in vitro gastrointestinal modeling technology designed to help formulators confirm their functional food products and supplements perform as they were intended to by monitoring them through the digestive process.

IFN’s GastroLab modeling concentrates on the upper portion of the digestion system, focusing on stomach processing. Conditions such as gastrochemical make-up and pH profile are tailored to evaluate physicochemical properties of interest.

“Food and beverage companies face enormous pressure to bring new products to market quickly,” commented Peter Salmon, CEO of IFN. “Our GastroLab system shortens product launch periods, while minimizing risk and enhancing results. We have the ability to determine what will survive the rigors of the digestive tract and develop new food and beverage forms to optimize their functionality.”

In an interview with Nutraceuticals World, Dr. Phil Camburn, managing director of IFN, explained that a variety of factors came together to inspire the creation of the GastroLab technology. “IFN worked closely with one of our clients to improve a mature nutraceutical product to provide a marketing advantage,” he said. “The in vitro model allowed us a realistic environment to test formulation options and to develop a more efficacious product. We later realized that this type of model has general applicability for product development and we extended its use to other projects and clients.”

According to IFN, the technology provides rapid R&D guidance to developers who want to enhance the functional benefits of ingredients and/or products, and assists developers who want to build in new benefits. Current applications include: Active and/or Functional Ingredients, Enzyme Kinetics, General Digestion, Delivery Technologies and Ingredient Survival and Degradation.

“Any product or ingredient with an activity or a functionality which has the potential to be changed under digestive conditions is suitable for study,” said Dr. Camburn. “Also, in preparation for animal or human clinical studies, preliminary screening of ingredient formulation or product forms can be accomplished more expediently.”

IFN claimed the technology pushes the bounds of product development beyond traditional formulation efforts because in vitro digestive process studies are uniquely customized to the product or ingredient, helping to launch new products faster, minimize risks and enhance results. “We can assess your product’s functionality and, using our product development expertise, develop alternative strategies to optimize its delivery across multiple platforms,” the company said, and added that companies using GastroLab also gain access to IFN’s “renowned product development expertise in formula development, from concept to commercialization, in a wide variety of food and beverage product categories.”

Dr. Camburn said GastroLab is markedly different from what’s currently available to food, beverage and supplement manufacturers, not just because of its inherent efficiencies and quick turnaround time frame.“Traditionally food, beverage and supplement manufacturers add overages of active materials to ensure that stated amounts are still available at the end of the product’s shelf life. However, the actual active amount that survives the rigorous conditions of digestion would be different than that stated on the label,” he said. “GastroLab allows a deeper understanding of what is happening to a product as it progresses through the digestive process and can provide useful information applicable to the product formulation.”

For more information about IFN’s GastroLab in vitro gastrointestinal modeling technology, follow this link.