Called NovaSol Sustain, the solution uses CoQ1O to address fat reduction and alpha-lipoic acid for satiety, corporate development manager Franck Behnam revealed to NutraIngredients.com.
It has been the subject of an independent study by two respected scientists in the field of nutrition, Dr Ute Gola of the Institute for Nutrition and Prevention in Berlin, Germany, and Prof Dr Biesalski, head of the department of biological chemistry and nutrition in Hohnheim, Germany.
The results, which will be presented in full at a Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology in San Francisco, April 1 to 5 2006, led the Gola and Biesalski to say: "For the first time a natural combination for weight management and weight maintenance is available, which represents an all new therapeutic and successful approach."
AquaNova's carrier system for active substances works rather like microencapsulation but on a nano scale. The active substance is contained within product micelles which are just 30nm in diameter - that is, one millionth of a millimeter.
Normally the human body must convert nutrients into product micelles before it can use them. By delivering them ready-micellized, the technology cuts down on the amount that would otherwise be lost in the conversion process.
"We provide active substances already micellized, so the body can use it better," said Behnam.
AquaNova's combination of CoQ10 and alpha lipoic acid is said to yield a synergistic effect, resulting in a "significant reduction of the waist and so-called visceral fat".
Visceral fat is surrounds the vital organs and is metabolised by the liver which turns it into blood cholesterol. It is directly associated with serious health conditions such as coronary heart disease in women and prostate cancer.
The development of NovaSol Sustain was funded by AquaNova itself with a six-figure R&D budget. Behnam said that the company is aiming for product differentiation, avoiding the hype surrounding some other weight loss products on the market thanks to its strong scientific foundation.
Although it is a global launch, the company expects NovaSol Sustain to be particularly well received in the US, where weight management is a big issue.
"We have quite some expectations from the US," said Behnam. He does not anticipate that it will be a flash-in-the-pan ingredient that is launched to much fanfair one minute and gone the next, but that it will remain on the market for some years.
AquaNova has previously worked to apply its technology to the two ingredients independently: it partnered with Degussa to develop a soluble and more bioavailable form of the antioxidant alpha lipoic acid, and in January announced NovaSol Q, a new soluble CoQ10.
A study indicated that NovaSol Q is absorbed up to four times faster than market leading products and un-micellized CoQ10 and that more of it is absorbed. This, said Behnam at the time, opens the way for functional water and other beverages containing CoQ10 thathave the same appearance as normal beverages.
The NovaSol technology has also been used to create a vitamin E ingredient that does not cloud liquids, called SoluE, in partnership with BASF, and a vitamin C called SoluC.