So... a dry powder a day keeps the doctor away?
From a Biz Review article about a biotech food company planning to potentially set up on UAlbany's east campus: "Fruitura's business plan calls for extracting the cells of fruit and vegetables that contain nutrients, replicating those cells, rendering them as a dry powder and mixing them into chewing gum, yogurt, cosmetics, or as a healthy 'booster shot' in a drink of water or juice." The company says it plans to start with red grapes. (Maybe for the resveratrol? By the way You know what's the for-sure health benefit of apples and grapes and other fruits and vegetables? They're not french fries.) [Biz Review]
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So this is the kind of bullsh*t Tech Valley has to offer? Faux healthy fortified "food" products. Instead of farm-to-table, it's farm-to-lab-to-test tube-to-mouth. Because chewing gum is the best delivery system for nutrition.
And maybe they'll be given economic development incentives with my tax dollars.
... said chrisck on Oct 22, 2013 at 1:03 PM | link
Yes, for the resveratrol and other components. [I'm one of the scientists involved in bringing them here, although Martin Tenniswood is the chief mover.] We hope to get some funding from them to support some of the lab's work in looking at diet and Alzheimer's, etc.
The big deal about Fruitura's tech is being able to grow the cells in bioreactors without losing their high levels of bioactive compounds. That's proven difficult previously.
... said Ewan on Oct 22, 2013 at 2:23 PM | link
p.s. Chrisck: nothing faux. The entire aim is to differentiate by having _real_ scientific benefits to offer.
Whether that will turn out to be the case, we don't yet know - I haven't run the experiments. But I can promise that the results will be valid either way.
... said Ewan on Oct 22, 2013 at 2:25 PM | link
@Ewan -- I'll have to give you the benefit of the doubt on this. Maybe you'll discover something unique and useful to prevent/treat/cure disease. However, much of food science historically has been dedicated to fortifying or enriching processed foods stripped of the natural nutrients found in whole foods. That is the basis of my skepticism. And people seem to be looking for easy "magic bullets" ("a healthy 'booster shot'" beverage) to compensate for generally crappy diets and other poor health behaviors (lack of exercise, lack of sleep), and many of the "functional foods" on the market are overpriced snake oil. I concede that some people, some conditions, require more than a whole food diet can supply. (I have to take Vit. D and B12.)
The Biz Review article doesn't do your research any favors in terms of credibility by citing chewing gum as a delivery system either.
... said chrisck on Oct 23, 2013 at 8:26 AM | link