Bioactives

“The greatest wealth is health.” Virgil

MacTavish:West use the term ‘Bioactives’ to describe the diverse and complex natural components of (mainly) plants which can be enjoyed in their natural state in fresh (or frozen) plant foods, or can be extracted, purified and concentrated.  In this form they can be used on their own as supplements or nutraceuticals, or added to all manner of foods – from margarine to baby milk, from smoothies to bread!  Bioactive plant extracts are also used as ingredients in the functional food industry to make other foods more healthy, or better flavoured or coloured. 

Natural plant-derived bioactives include sugars, polysaccharides, fibre (fiber), proteins and amino acids, oils and essential fatty acids, natural colours such as carotenes, chlorophyll, anthocyanins, flavour compounds like terpenes, water soluble components like flavonoids, phenolics and glycosides, and the most active group of all: alkaloids.  Many plant extracts function as natural prebiotics and probiotics – improving the way your digestive system works.  Many more are naturally high in antioxidant activity. 

MacTavish:West uniquely specialise in optimising fresh produce crops (fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds) on the basis of their intrinsic bioactive health properties.  These foods (some people call them ‘Superfoods’) include broccoli, carrots, beetroot, apples, soft fruit, kale, lettuce...you name it – we’re working on it!  We can help growers, processors, retailers and marketing people analyse, understand, improve, optimise, protect, analyse, promote and value-add this produce throughout the value chain.

MacTavish:West can also assist producers of crops which contain bioactive components find alternative uses for their waste or excess produce. We can help companies looking for new supplies and new ingredients for functional food or nutraceutical applications find something new, novel, unique and...bioactive!  We can help you get the supporting information together for composition, nutritional or health claims, and we can assist your marketing department make sensible statements for promotional purposes, supported by strong science.

There is an awful lot of very good science out there to support the claim that eating a diet rich in fresh (or frozen!), naturally flavoursome and brightly coloured plant-based foods (fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds) will help to protect your body from sickness and perhaps an early death from non-communicable diseases like obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancer.  We can help you find your way through this information and make it work for you.

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