Frost & Sullivan rewards Indena for green tea research excellence

Frost & Sullivan noted that Indena has "gone from strength to strength by focusing on intensive research into these extracts"​ and developed "superior research capabilities".​ "Indena has effectively sustained its market reputation as an organisation dedicated to research,"​ F&S said. "Moreover its impressive tie-ups with academia, scientific journals and public image have greatly contributed to its market credibility." ​ Indena marketing director Christian Artaria told NutraIngredients.com the award was welcome recognition of the company's long-term commitment to research and development and quality control procedures. Indena is a pioneer in green tea research and has offered green tea extracts in Europe since the late 1980s. "We have been pushing hard in green tea research and product development for 20 years so it is nice to be recognised for that,"​ he said. "It provides a kind of validation for our work but we continue to invest heavily in this and other areas."​ Artaria said Indena had produced some of the first research that demonstrated green tea extracts could benefit cardiovascular health. Its research was ongoing and the company said it devoted ten per cent of its turnover to research and development projects. "This data becomes part of the ingredients we sell,"​ he said. "Clients receive the extracts but they also receive safety data, in vivo and in vitro data."​ Indena is responsible for manufacturing standardised extracts many of which had been adopted by Italian and European pharmacopoeias. Green tea has since become a wonder ingredient of sorts with studies indicating benefits ranging from its ability to benefit anal scarring to sleep disorders to Alzheimer's. While it began life as a powder that was almost exclusively used as a food supplement, it is increasingly being used in extract form in foods and beverages such as dairy drinks, yoghurts, confectionery, bars and, unsurprisingly, iced tea and other tea drinks. While the majority of its business is derived from supplying herbal extracts to the pharmaceuticals industry, Indena said the health food sector now accounted for 35 per cent of its turnover. The world's first green tea pharmaceutical had been launched in the US last year, he said. Europe may follow. "In addition, its innovative and market responsive product solutions have also helped ensure Indena's leading presence in the green tea extract market,"​ F&S wrote. "The company is recognised for its perceptive innovations that best fit the industry and consumer trends. It has a fine culture of encouraging inspiring dialogues between the internal research and development experts and customers. Today Indena is the leader in terms of safety, efficacy, innovation and its standardised extracts are the point of reference for the market." ​