Local Plants and Technology in Thailand Helping Reduce Osteoporosis and Memory Loss
Plants have been used for millennia to cure people and maintain them in good health. Healers in many countries have inherited profound knowledge of plants, herbs, and their indications. In Thailand, a group of researchers use ancestral wisdom about herbs and explore their benefits and how combining them can enhance their properties. The first functional supplement the company commercialized enhances memory function and reduces osteoporosis in menopausal women.
Prof. Dr. Jintanaporn Wattanathorn is the Director of the Research Institute for Human High Performance and Health Promotion at Khon Kaen University. Her main interests lie in functional ingredients and food, and developing innovations that will serve health promotion and prevention.
Functional Food at the Heart of JWF’s Nutritional Products
She co-founded a company in 2020 with Assist. Prof. Wipawee Thukham, also working for the Research Institute, shares the same interest with a particular focus on neuroscience. Jintanaporn is the Chief Technology Officer, and Wipawee is the Chief Production Officer of JWF, the two first letters standing for their initials and the F for functional food. The company also relies on a team of researchers, including several psychiatrists, non-communicable diseases and feminine health experts.
JWF manufactures functional ingredients, functional food, nutraceuticals, conducts research, and undertakes in-vitro and in-vivo studies (pre-clinical), and clinical trials.
Both scientists decided to set up JWF rather than sell their petty patent to a big company and lose control of their value proposition, which would depend on the company’s policy. “As researchers, we have ultimate goals,” Jintanaporn said. She added that having a company allows them to be independent in their choices and ways to achieve their goals.
Muvita Bone Healing Supplement for Osteoporosis
Helping Counter Effect of Menopause on Bones
The first product JWF commercialized in 2023 is the brain and bone health supplement “Best Brain & Bone” under the brand name “Muvita.” According to the two researchers, Best Brain & Bone improves memory performance and restores the dynamic balance between bone formation and bone resorption in menopausal women, prone to memory function decline and loss of bone density, known as osteoporosis.
Bones, Jintanaporn explained, are made of dynamic tissue, which goes through a cycle of formation and resorption. Bone formation results from osteoblasts (cells), while osteoclasts (cells) work to resorb bones. Healthy bones depend on the dynamic balance between those two types of cells. However, as people age, particularly women after menopause, osteoclasts tend to take the primary role in the balance and provoke undesirable bone resorption.
Resorting to a high intake of calcium alone can have a counter effect, she says, as it could encourage an overload of calcium in the body since the osteoblasts cells, in smaller numbers, cannot metabolize the calcium into bone formation.
JWF’s product improves the dynamic balance of bones by encouraging a high density of osteoblasts and their proper functioning, allowing them to process calcium supplements and bringing decreased action from osteoclasts.
A 2-in-1 Supplement for Memory Boosting and Improved Bone Density
In the brain, neuronal cells are also affected by aging, leading to poorer memory performance since they play an important role in the learning and memory process. The memory boosting supplement promotes healthy neuronal cells, thus improving the memory function.
“Best Brain & Bone” has been tested on animals through brain density measures and behavior tests. In humans, the electrical signals that neuronal cells use to communicate with each other were measured with Event-related potential (ERP), a brain wave measurement, and cognition tests.
For bone density, animal testing revealed an increased bone thickness. With a much slower process, the effect on human bones was measured with markers indicating the enhanced osteoblasts’ function.
The effects on bones show after an eight-week protocol and on cerebral functions after a four-week protocol, according to Jintanaporn.
The brain health and bone density supplement comes as individual daily doses containing powder made of the functional supplement and soymilk, to be mixed with water or yogurt.
Enhancing the Benefits of Traditional Thai Herbal Medicine
Mixing Wisdom with New Technology
“Best Brain & Bone” is plant-based, as are many others in the company’s pipeline. “Our ultimate goal,” Jintanaporn said, “is to integrate the local wisdom with our technology.” Thailand is a country of many herbs, and the company works on plant extracts, studies their alleged benefits, and increases their effects by combining them.
A Thai distributor commercializes the product online and offline in specialty shops. The company is negotiating with some pharmacies to add the product to their functional food offer.
Promoting Patented Brain and Bone Enhancer through Branding
JWF has a petty patent on their brain and bone enhancer and is now seeking to register their brand name “Muvita,” hoping to extend their market penetration in Thailand and outside its borders and register their patent in several countries.
Other products are nearly ready for commercialization, such as a product enhancing mental wellness, and another one fighting the metabolic syndrome, which is involved in several non-communicable diseases such as obesity, insulin resistance, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases.
A WIPO expert provided IP commercialization strategy and valuation to support the company in its development.
