TR International offers Chinese vitamin B6
bioavailable form of vitamin B6 made by Shanghai Jiubang, giving
American supplement makers an alternative to the more expensive
product made in Europe.
Shanghai Juibang started producing pyridoxal-5-phosphate, a form of vitamin B6 that is said to be more bioavailable than the more common pyridoxine, in response to requests from US customers.
Current supply of pyridoxal-5-phosphate is dominated by Italian group Recordati. But the form is more expensive than pyridoxine as it eliminates one of the steps normally required by the body to use the vitamin, providing it instead in its converted coenzyme form. This makes it more bioavailable.
TR International vice president Nick Bain says that the firm will be offering the product at 15 per cent less of the cost of European made material.
The Alpharetta, Georgia-based company was set up this summer with this purpose - offering cheaper raw materials to the dietary supplements industry based on exclusive agreements with factories in China and India.
The vitamin B6 will therefore become one of its 'foundation' products, Bain told NutraIngredients-USA.com.
"We estimate the nutritional supplements market to be worth more than 2,500 kilos a year," he said.
Bain says TR's customers have run comparisons between European pyridoxal-5-phosphate and the product made by the Chinese firm and found no difference in quality.
"We're also running comparisons ourselves, doing tests on potency and heavy metals. We should have the results in 14 days," he added.
Recordati was not available to comment at the time of publishing.
