Artemis, an ingredient supplier known for its berry ingredients, is now offering a "whole food" calcium from a marine source.
Artemis, a legacy producer of berry ingredients, is delving into a new product area with a natural calcium offering derived from a unique marine source.
The company, which is based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, was highlighting the new development at the recent SupplySide Global trade show in Las Vegas.
For years, Artemis has been known as a supplier of berry extracts, including its Eldercraft line of elderberry offerings. Now the company is delving into minerals in a partnership with a company known as Vegan Minerals.
The source of the new calcium ingredient, branded as WholeCal, is a deposit of coralline algae off the coast of Brazil.
While not well known in common parlance (most people, by contrast, know what a coral reef is), coralline algae are an ancient classification of marine single-celled life that incorporate calcium into their cell membranes. They build coral-like community structures where other soft-celled algae and bacteria would accumulate in mats or slimy agglomerations.
Some of the earth's most ancient limestone deposits resulted from coralline algae growth hundreds of millions of years ago.
Calcium is the fifth most prevalent element in the human body. It's the main building block of bones and teeth and plays an important role in muscle and nervous system function.
Related:Prebiotic blend takes systems approach to gut health, inventor claims
A primary source of calcium in the diet is dairy products, which puts vegans at a disadvantage. According to Vegan Minerals, many of the calcium ingredients on the market are poorly absorbed because they lack what the company calls "cofactors" that boost uptake in the body.
The claim for the WholeCal ingredient is that it contains more than 70 additional trace minerals and amino acids, which the company claims boosts absorption.
"This is a milder, better-tolerated source of calcium," Leslie Gallo, president of Artemis, said. "Its honeycomb structure at the microscale makes for better absorption."
(A competitor that has been in the market longer, AlgaeCal, tells a similar story.)
The Artemis/Vegan Minerals ingredient is sourced from deposits along the middle coast of Brazil. In several locations around the world -- Brazil, Ireland and others -- bits of coralline algae skeletons wash up on the shore and form beaches, taking the place of the more familiar rock-based sand.
The advent of these algae-derived calcium ingredients is presumably far enough removed in time to avoid suffering reputational damage from the coral calcium debacle in the early 2000s, in which promoter Kevin Trudeau was fined by the Federal Trade Commission for over-the-top health claims. While this is a different source, "coral" and "coralline" are similar enough words for consumers to possibly confuse.
Related:New research reveals non-cannabis CBD source and multinutrient benefits for ADHD