California-based health foods company Guzen Development has developed a new whole-food supplement ingredient, High Vitamin D Mushroon Powder.
The new vegan D2 ingredient is believed to provide formulators with an organic, whole-food supplement ingredient for the improving vitamin D market.
Standardized to 5,000 international units (IU) per gram of vitamin D2, the supplement ingredient is 100% mushroom powder with full mushroom content, and not an extract, the company claims.
This mushroom powder is made from Agaricus bisporus or white button mushrooms, which are grown, processed and produced in California by Monterey Mushrooms.
Guzen Development president and CEO Vincent Hackel told NutraIngredients-USA that the company’s mushroom powder also has viable levels of riboflavin, niacin, copper, beta-glucans and chitan-glucan.
The supplement ingredient is also a good source of the antioxidant ergothioneine, which is believed to protect against UV rays, protect mitochondria from degradation, help conserve circulating levels of other antioxidants, and clean reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS).
"The ingredient yields a natural flavor from its original source – mushrooms," Hackel said
"This attribute makes it a natural slight flavour enhancement for a variety of foods such as vegetable soups or side dishes," he added.
The ingredient, which can be used in both supplements and food, and transformed into tablets, capsules, powders and various foods, is available in either 1kg or 15kg pack sizes.
Vitamin D generally refers to two biologically inactive precursors – D3 or cholecalciferol, and D2 or ergocalciferol.
Both the precursors are transformed in the liver and kidneys into 25-hydroxyvitamin D, which is the non-active ‘storage’ form, and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D.
According to Guzen Development, a vast majority of vitamin D supplements come in the form of vitamin D3, which is sourced from lanolin or sheep’s wool, and therefore not acceptable for vegetarians.
Vitamin D deficiency in adults is believed to be associated to precipitate or exacerbate osteopenia, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, fractures, common cancers, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases and cardiovascular diseases.
Image: Guzen Development’s new High Vitamin D Mushroon Powder, whicc is made from Agaricus bisporus or white button mushrooms, can be used in both supplements and food and transformed into tablets, capsules, powders and various foods. Photo: Chris_ 73
