"We are thrilled to join forces with SUPCS to bring our plant probiotic solutions to the Israeli market,” said Helmut Essl, founder of Slimbiotics GmbH. “SUPCS's deep understanding of the local landscape and their strong relationships will be instrumental as we navigate the complexities of this market.“
The announcement follows a strategic partnership with DSM i-Health for the North American and Chinese markets. The SlimBiotics formulation will be commercialized under the Culturelle brand as well as the Estroven brand and positioned for metabolic health.
History
Slimbiotics GmbH was founded in 2019 by Austrian entrepreneurs Helmut Essl and Alexander Schütz with the goal of developing plant-derived, clinically-backed biotics and making them available to consumers looking to maintain a healthy weight and overall metabolic wellbeing.
Prior to Slimbiotics, Essl was the founder and CEO of HSO Health Care GmbH, a company offering the branded probiotic solution, Astarte, targeting women's urogenital health. Astarte was acquired by Chr. Hansen in 2020.
Slimbiotics has focused on research and commercialization of its Kimere-derived weight management probiotics.
Kimere is an African fermented food, a type of millet-based porridge regularly consumed in a specific region near Mount Kenya in Africa. The naturally-occurring fermentation process of Kimere yields a variety of strains, most notably L. fermentum, and of those the most promising have been isolated.
The discovery of the strains began with a group of medical researchers, including a Kenyan-born PhD student, who were studying native African food sources that could improve the constellation of symptoms related to metabolic health, such as impaired glucose metabolism and insulin resistance.
The strains in Kimere were isolated and characterized for their anti-inflammatory and gut barrier enhancing properties to increase microbial diversity and potentially help reduce weight-associated risks from changing metabolic conditions.
The company’s plant-derived strain combination includes L. fermentum K7-Lb1, L. fermentum K8-Lb1, and L. fermentum K11-Lb3.
Scientific substantiation
Initial results from the first clinical study of the product were published last summer in Nutrients*. Scientists from Kiel Center of Innovation and Technology and Johannes-Gutenberg University in Germany reported that three months of supplementation with the three-strain combination led to significant reductions in body fat mass, body weight, waist circumference, BMI, and other markets of metabolic health, compared to placebo.
“The number of significant results exceeded those expected from meta-analyses of previous studies involving probiotics targeting weight management and metabolic health outcomes,” wrote the researchers.
* Source: Nutrients
2023, 15(13), 3039; doi: 10.3390/nu15133039
“Effect of a Probiotic and a Synbiotic on Body Fat Mass, Body Weight and Traits of Metabolic Syndrome in Individuals with Abdominal Overweight: A Human, Double-Blind, Randomised, Controlled Clinical Study”
Authors: C. Laue et al.
