SlimBiome wins ‘Weight Management Ingredient of the Year’ at NutraIngredients Awards
OptiBiotix Health’s functional weight loss ingredient, SlimBiome®, has won the ‘Weight Management Ingredient of the Year’ award at the NutraIngredients Awards 2018 held in Geneva on 16th May. This award recognises the industry’s leading innovative and clinically proven ingredients for weight loss. SlimBiome® is a next generation functional weight management ingredient, which actively helps people to consistently manage their weight loss by reducing their food intake, without the usual food cravings.
SlimBiome® contains non-digestible prebiotic fibres, which increase microbial diversity. An increase in the diversity of microbes (microbiome) in the gut has been shown to help people lose weight more quickly and most importantly sustain this weight loss . In addition to prebiotic fibres, SlimBiome® contains a water-soluble dietary fibre that promotes a feeling of fullness, a mineral which helps to maintain a healthy metabolic rate. This fibre works by forming a viscous gel when it is exposed to an aqueous environment. This delays gastric emptying, leading to a feeling of fullness. It can also reduce post-meal surges in insulin and glucose.
Stephen O’Hara, microbiologist and CEO of Optibiotix, commented, “We are thrilled to receive this award which provides independent industry recognition of the innovation and scientific credibility behind the development of SlimBiome® and it’s potential to help manage weight gain and improve users’ health and wellbeing. Our new approach to weight management contrasts with many existing products which lack strong scientific rationale and typically rely on customers’ self-control to restrict calories and as a consequence have high failure rates.”
He continued, “This award reflects the growing scientific and consumer evidence which shows that the incorporation of SlimBiome® into food products helps customers to manage their weight loss, typically 1.2kgs per week, by reducing food intake without food cravings. Hunger free dieting is now a viable option for consumers, and we are working with national and international partners to incorporate SlimBiome® into a wide range of food products, so that our next generation functional weight management products can help improve the health and wellbeing of consumers around the world.”
OptiBiotix created SlimBiome®, in collaboration with Professor Jason Halford, a world expert in satiation, and Professor Bob Rastall, an expert in the modification of the human microbiome, in the wake of the growing accumulation of animal and human studies demonstrating the role of the microbiome in weight gain and obesity.
The SlimBiome® formulation is currently the functional ingredient in the GoFigure® range of weight loss shakes and bars. Customer surveys have found that an overwhelming majority of customers who used the products over a continued period lost an average of 1.2kg per week, as well as reporting that the products led them to reduce their food intake, typically by eating smaller food portions. 93% of customers reported that using the products led to reduced snacking.
About OptiBiotix
OptiBiotix was formed in March 2012 by Stephen O’Hara to develop compounds which modify the human microbiome – the collective genome of the microbes in the body – to prevent and manage human disease.
The aim of OptiBiotix is to discover and develop microbial strains, compounds and formulations, which modulate the human microbiome and can be used as food ingredients and supplements or active compounds for the prevention and management of human metabolic diseases, examples of which include obesity, cholesterol and lipid distribution and diabetes.
OptiBiotix has established a pipeline of microbiome modulators that can impact on lipid and cholesterol management, energy harvest and appetite suppression. The development pipeline is fuelled by its proprietary OptiScreen® and OptiBiotic® platform technologies designed to identify metabolic pathways and compounds that impact on human physiology and bring potential health benefits. These platforms are applicable across a wider range of other human diseases.
www.optibiotix.com