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A healthy digestive system is crucial for overall wellbeing, and medical experts emphasize that probiotics play a significant role in maintaining the balance of gut bacteria, boosting the immune system, and improving digestion. Probiotics, which are live microorganisms such as bacteria and yeast, are naturally found in dairy products like yogurt and cheese, fermented foods such as pickles and kimchi, and can also be taken as supplements.
Many people worldwide have begun to incorporate probiotics into their health regimens. NoCamels reports that amid growing global demands, Israeli startup Wonder Veggies has developed a unique way to make probiotics more accessible by infusing them into everyday fruits and vegetables.
Innovating probiotic delivery
Wonder Veggies' innovative approach was created with a grant from Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture. The company spent four years developing a method to integrate probiotics with fresh produce, a task previously deemed impossible. The proprietary technology involves a "simple spraying technique" applied during the growing stage, using a special liquid formulation created by the company. This technique infuses the probiotics into the tissue of the fruits and vegetables, ensuring higher bioavailability – the rate at which an active ingredient is absorbed into the body.
Superior bioavailability and protection
Wonder Veggies' method cultivates probiotics within the produce itself, providing a protective barrier against stomach acid, which typically dissolves probiotics found in dairy and fermented foods. This innovation ensures that a higher quantity of probiotics reaches the gut, enhancing their effectiveness.
“Our own technology is enabling the probiotics to penetrate, propagate and survive inside the tissue of the fresh products, and the tissue provides a great protection against the acidity of the stomach, so we lose much less and more gets to our gut,” Wonder Veggies CEO, Danny Weiss told NoCamels.
Consuming probiotics through fresh produce avoids the challenges posed by dairy products, fermented foods, and supplements. Dairy foods exclude over a third of the population due to lactose intolerance or veganism. Supplements can be costly and difficult for up to 30 percent of people to take, and fermented foods are often an acquired taste.
“If you’re consuming your dairy products/fermented foods/food supplements and you like them, that’s fine. “[But] fresh produce provides the ultimate delivery system with better bioavailability compared to all current consumption opportunities… no consumption-based limitation, best delivery system, highest bioavailability,” Weiss explained.
Wonder Veggies offers a practical solution by delivering probiotics through fresh produce, which has no consumption-based limitations and offers the highest bioavailability compared to other methods. This approach is not only more inclusive but also aligns with dietary preferences and health requirements of a broader audience.
A promising future
Wonder Veggies plans to scale up its technology and go commercial by 2025. Initially, they will launch in Israel, leveraging the local market as a testbed to refine their technology. Following this, they aim to enter the US market, where several retailers have already expressed significant interest in their probiotic-infused produce. Subsequent expansions are planned for Europe and Asia.
Food retailers are increasingly seeking innovations that promote better health for consumers. Wonder Veggies' probiotic-infused fruits and vegetables meet this demand, offering an innovative solution that ticks all the boxes for health-conscious consumers and forward-thinking retailers alike. Wonder Veggies is poised to revolutionize the way people consume probiotics, making it easier and more effective to maintain a healthy gut through everyday dietary choices.
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