The extract, called Actiplants Cherry Purevital, has an anthocyanin content of 16% and an ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) value of around 6,500.
The sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) launch should interest sports and food supplement players in all regions, spokesperson Christina Witter told us.
“Functional food makers could also be interested – especially in the sports area like sports drinks for example.”
Cherry extracts are not new but Symrise says it has achieved the highest anthocyanin concentration due to its proprietary SymTrap extraction process, said Dr Stephan Hillers, managing director of Symrise BioActives.
In a statement the company said: “This is necessary because the sour cherry fruit contains less than 0.1 percent of anthocyanins. The process works at low temperatures and therefore preserves the delicate ingredients very effectively.
“The physical process nearly fully conserves the potent characteristic ingredients and enables the production of extracts with especially high concentrations of active ingredients. One indication of this is the extract’s bright red color.”
It pointed to research that shows the antioxidant-polyphenol mix which includes hydroxycinnimic acids can ease muscle pain and speed restoration of isometric strength.
The extraction process also completely removes sugar from the end product which takes 72 cherries to produce one gram of powder.
The German flavours and fragrances firm is taking more and more interest in the nutrition space with investments in probiotics and other areas in recent times via its BioActives division.
Symrise is the world’s fourth largest supplier of fragrances and flavourings after Givaudan, Firmenich and International Flavors and Fragrances. It operates in 160 countries and had a turnover of €1.6bn in 2011.