Organic micronutrient startup BIOVIT has secured £1.5 million in Innovate UK funding to shake up the fortified foods industry.
The startup will pioneer research on the bioavailability of micronutrients and aim to develop the world’s most precise AI-powered personalised nutrition system, scheduled for NHS trial in 2025.
Claiming to be the world’s first company to clinically develop and test natural vitamin and mineral blends – extracted from organic plants and fungi – for use in fortified foods, it also guarantees stability of its micronutrient composition, meaning declared nutrient levels are present after processing and at the end of a product’s shelf life.
In 2025, UK consumers will for the first time see organically fortified products on their supermarket shelves, with BIOVIT already developing products with more than 10 of the UK’s largest organic and natural food brands.
“All fortified foods, including breakfast cereals, meal replacement shakes, plant-based milks and more, currently contain synthetic vitamins and minerals,” said BIOVIT founder and CEO Ky Wright.
“Although similar, these lab-made, isolated vitamin and mineral analogues are most often structurally and functionally different to the natural versions, being less bioavailable and efficacious.”
Independent research commissioned by BIOVIT suggests that the vast majority of consumers (77%) aren’t aware that synthetic micronutrients are currently being added to enhance the nutritional value of their foods, while virtually all consumers (90%) would prefer natural nutrients to synthetic if given the choice.
“At BIOVIT, we want to offer a completely natural solution to food companies – especially those that are striving towards organic certification – and expect to see a growth in ‘natural fortification’ across the food industry,” added Wright.
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£500k of the Innovate UK funding has facilitated a partnership with Swansea University, allowing BIOVIT to conduct research to measure the difference in bioavailability and efficacy between natural vitamins & minerals and their synthetic counterparts.
An additional £1m from Innovate UK and a partnership with leading biomedical AI developers, Pharmatics, will enable BIOVIT to utilise the data from its 24-month bioavailability study to develop and train a pioneering AI-powered nutrition system.
Scheduled for NHS trial in 2025, the programme will measure individuals’ micronutrient absorption levels and utilisation rates, and using AI, can profile their metabolic type and nutritional needs and formulate a personalised nutrition product accordingly, making it the first personalised nutrition system in the world to match nutrition product formulations to micronutrient-metabolism types.
Empowering consumers with information relating to their personal nutritional needs and metabolism type will not only help identify deficiencies, but also reduce the risk of vitamin overdosing and any associated side-effects.
Felix Agakov, CEO at Pharmatics, said: “Our approach is unique because it combines large-scale scientific evidence with personal health data to deliver highly tailored nutritional interventions.
“Combining evidence from multiple relevant worldwide trials with personal data will create nutrition plans that are safer and more effective than one-size-fits-all approaches and methods that only learn from small datasets from individual clinical trials.”