French herbal firm seeks global sports nutrition win

Sporting performance enhancement; endurance; recovery and mind-body harmony are the four platforms of Fytexia’s entry into botanicals-based sports nutrition.

Southern France-based Fytexia said its move was “triggered not only by sports nutrition’s fast-growing revenues, but also by the extension of its consumer base from hardcore bodybuilders to everyday fitness enthusiasts.”

Fytexia, recipient of venture capital funding via a buy-in from French firm Alchimed in June this year, said it would launch its polyphenol-focused range at the trade show Supply Side West in Las Vegas, Nevada in October.

The firm said there was mostly unexploited” potential in the blends arrived at after R&D work headed up by its Innovation and Scientific Affairs chief, Dr Julien Cases.

The four branded blends include combinations of extracts of grape, pomegranate, green tea, citrus fruits, L-carnitine, guarana, elderberry, mangosteen and pomegranate.

“With the market evolving into the mainstream, brands willing to sustainably occupy the new space must create products suited for mainstream exposure,” the firm said.

It said such products should be “supported by strong human evidence, and made of non-GMO ingredients that people can recognise and trust.”

Next level…

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Lionel Schmitt. Image: MidiLibre (Shane STARLING)

President Lionel Schmitt said the Archimed investment would “speed up our development by leveraging our science platform and our international setup to take the company into the next level.”

However there is some restriction on claim making in the EU as most botanicals do not possess authorised health claims although some exist on a national level, and in other parts of the world.