Smartek by Nektium™ is a new umbrella brand name created to tell the story of Nektium’s suite of state-of-the-art, in-house technologies, developed to bring the best out of botanicals.
The company states: "At Nektium we believe in harnessing the power of nature to enhance health and well-being. That's why we're thrilled to introduce Smartek by Nektium™, our in-house developed advancement in smart delivery technology for phytonutrients. Uniting the best of science and nature, Nektium extracts botanicals in its own manufacturing facility and applies proprietary food grade process technologies to enhance the botanical delivery, enabling ease of use in application, efficacy, and stability of its bioactive compounds."
In short, ingredients that are more effective and easier to formulate with. This can help brand owners and formulators to innovate smarter and faster, simplifying and accelerating their product development process.
- Improved Stability & Shelf-Life: Increases the physical and chemical stability of bioactive compounds to support a longer shelf life.
- Enhanced Functionality, Ease of use: Optimising powders for better dispersibility and easier handling in final product creation. Some technologies provide instant dissolution and clarity in liquid solutions.
- Superior Sensory Qualities: Delivers organoleptic enhancements for a more neutral taste and odour, opening up new possibilities in on-trend formats including beverages and gummies.
- Optimised Efficacy and Cost-in-Use: Optimises delivery of the active components, through improved bioavailability and release control, allowing for lower effective doses and more efficient formulation.
The company goes through their frequently asked questions below:
1. What is Smartek by Nektium™?
Smartek by Nektium™ is an innovative suite of proprietary, in-house technologies for the smart and convenient delivery of botanicals to allow optimal efficacy and ease of use in formulation.
These technologies were developed to help our customers to innovate - smarter and faster! Smartek by Nektium technologies shield the bioactive ingredients from external influences, ensuring the key bioactives are stabilised and optimised to deliver maximum health benefits at the lowest
possible dose combined with physicochemical properties that allow easy integration into the final product formulation .
Smartek by Nektium™ research focuses on overcoming key challenges in formulation with botanicals to enable faster innovation and ease of use in a broad range of applications.
2. What are the key benefits of Smartek by Nektium™?
Product Innovation becomes faster and easier for formulators/brand owners. Smartek by Nektium™ offers more versatility in product formats, delivering health benefits in convenient consumer-trendy applications like gummies and beverages. Shorten development time of attractive, highly efficacious, and cost-effective end/final products by formulating with optimised delivery of botanicals:
- Improved stability: Increased physical & chemical stability of bioactive compounds. Fewer interactions to support longer shelf life.
- Improved functionality: Powder optimised for functionality, better dispersibility and easier to handle and formulate within final product creation.
- Improved Sensory: Organoleptic optimisation, more neutral taste and odour, minimal impact on final product sensory.
In addition, Smartek by Nektium™ often can enhance the absorption and bioavailability of the bioactive components, allowing for a lower effective dose.
Moreover, the ingredient functionality is optimised for the end formulation, going beyond what's been previously obtainable for botanicals: improved efficacy of bioactive compounds, powder dispersibility or dissolution, and even the ability to fully solubilise, creating a transparent liquid solution.
● Improved bio-absorption (bioavailability): The technologies improve absorption of the active component into the blood, supporting improved efficacy and the delivery of the same amount of bioactive delivered in a lower dose. That makes it easier to formulate.
● Enhanced solubility: Improved solubility allows for innovation in new delivery formats such as beverages, shots, and other delivery formats where water solubility and stability are key.
3. What manufacturing processes are utilised in Smartek by Nektium™?
Nektium manufactures the botanical extracts in their own state-of-the-art facility in Spain. The in-house process technology and R&D teams develop the Smartek methodologies based on each individual botanical and its bioactives. Using proprietary combinations of safe, regulatory approved delivery technologies and carefully optimising and controlling each step in the production process, the researchers capture the maximum potential of the botanicals and their key bioactives.
Processing technologies under Smartek by Nektium™:
Our experts use proprietary combinations of safe delivery technologies including:
- Complex coacervation
- Multi-stage microencapsulation
- Molecular and matrix inclusion systems
- Controlled ionisation
- Hydration and cocrystal lattice formation
4. Which ingredients have been optimised with Smartek by Nektium™?
Smartek has already been used to develop several products in Nektium’s botanical extracts portfolio. These include:
Vanizem®: Our fast-acting mood- and sleep-enhancing extract of Aframomum melegueta (Grains of Paradise), which is extracted and processed using a patented, complex coacervation technology. This allows the conversion of an oily extract into a powdered product.
The unique Complex coacervation technology helps to:
- Optimise delivery at a low dose (100-150mg) by stabilising the key bioactives, vanilloids
- Offer protection against oxidation of active ingredients, improving the shelf-life.
Vanizem - complex coacervation
Zynamite® S: A fully water-soluble, neutral taste, low-dose formulation of Nektium’s award-winning Zynamite® nootropic for cognitive performance and non-stim mental energy, which taps into the growing demand for functional beverages.
Our patented Mangifera indica leaf extract, Zynamite (original grade 60), was subject to a proprietary Smartek by Nektium™ step that brings full solubility of mangiferin, a normally poorly water-soluble bioactive. The process does not alter mangiferin's phytochemical composition or the structural properties of the molecule.
The resulting Zynamite® S has much higher solubility in water than the original Zynamite® 60% mangiferin formulation. The solubility enhancement translates into improved bioabsorption.
Figure 1: A pharmacokinetic study in humans demonstrated that Zynamite® S achieves 2.4 times higher mangiferin absorption over 24 hours, and 3.2 times higher absorption during the first two hours (peak blood concentration) published data
The increased bio-absorption linked to the superior solubility of Zynamite® S was validated by a human clinical study, showed a reduced dose of Zynamite® S (just 100–150 mg) continuously improves cognitive function and emotional balance in situations of acute stress.¹⁰
Formulators wishing to develop Beverages or other formats requiring solubility and neutral sensory can tap into the soluble Zynamite grade benefits – thanks to Smartek by Nektium™
- Low effective dose of just 100-150 mg
- Fully soluble and stable in aqueous solution
- Very easy to use in beverage formulations
Zynamite S is transparent in solution with small colour impact, Neutral taste and organoleptics - reduced astringency and bitterness of mangiferin. Stable at low pH
5. Do you have a registered brand and logo?
Yes. Smartek by Nektium™ is a registered word trademark and logo owned by Nektium. With trademark registration already finalised in Europe and on its way in US and other key countries
6. Are the Smartek by Nektium™ technologies patented?
To safeguard innovative delivery technologies, Nektium employs a dual-track intellectual property strategy, often retaining proprietary knowledge as trade secrets while selectively pursuing patents for certain inventions.
The Complex coacervation technology used for Vanizem is patent pending.
This patent covers the specific polymers formulation used in the complex coacervation of Aframomum melegueta seed extracts, and the resulting phytochemical composition of the microencapsulated extract obtained from the seed of Aframomum melegueta (i.e., ratios between the concentration of vanilloids), and finally the use of the microencapsulated extract obtained from the seed of Aframomum melegueta for preventing and/or reducing stress, anxiety, mood disturbances, and/or sleep disorders.
