“NattoPharma was founded a little more than 20 years ago with the goal to clinically validate the benefits of Vitamin K2. It really was an unknown,” said Eric Anderson, manager of global sales for NattoPharma. Anderson spoke with NutraIngredients-USA as the recent SupplySide west trade show in Las Vegas.
NattoPharma, which started as a Norwegian company. The firm is now part of the Gnosis by Lesaffre stable of ingredients.
NattoPharma developed a fermentation method to produce its MenaQ7 ingredient, teh menaquinone form of the vitamin, knowns as K2, as opposed to vitamin K1, the phylloquinone form. Much of the research that delineates the different effects of the two forms was done by Prof Leon Schurgers, PhD, at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands with the cooperation of and funding from Nattopharma.
“In the past years we’ve now published 22 clinical studies on the benefits of vitamin K2, for bone health, for heart health for kidney patients. And we are learning so much more,” Anderson said.
“What I think is important is that we’ve now hit critical mass. We are seeing much more interest both from the research community and from the brands,” he added.
For more on Vitamin K2 watch the full interview.
