The company took home the Ingredient of the Year - Botanical with Reducose in NutraIngredients-Asia Awards 2025.
The awards ceremony took place at Bangkok on September 17, where 17 awards were presented to innovative, commercially successful and clinically-backed functional ingredients, supplements, and specialty initiatives.
Reducose was praised by the judges for its significant commercial traction and its extensive, high quality clinical evidence demonstrating significant metabolic health benefit. Nestle China is among the companies using the extract in its functional food and drinks.
One of its key benefits is to inhibit the breakdown of sucrose and carbohydrates by up to 40%, as seen from clinical findings.
“A dose of 250mg gives an immediate effect of lowering post-meal blood sugar response by 40%, which also leads to a post-meal insulin response by about 40%.
“That is an immediate effect, and it is quite rare for nutraceuticals to work from the first time you take it, has an immediate and is fast-action,” said Chief Marketing Officer Wouter Claerhout.
In the same category were two other ingredients vying for the award, namely ElderCraft black elderberry extract by iprona and Physta Tongkat Ali standardised extract by Biotropics Malaysia Berhad.
More studies
Speaking to NutraIngredients, Phynova will be embarking on more clinical trials to find out its potential benefits as an adjuvant to diabetes treatment, as well as uses for cognitive and women’s health.
So far, there are 13 human clinical trials completed and eight more in progress.
“We will continue to invest in science, because with every study, we uncover a new benefit which inspires us to look at further health benefits,” Global Head of Science Andrew Gallagher said.
In India for example, the company is studying the potential of Reducose in supporting diabetic individuals.
“We are looking at how Reducose can support people who may be prediabetic, diabetic and are looking to get the most out of medications that they may be on, where Reducose could served as an adjuvant to supporting diabetic patients,” Gallagher said.
Elsewhere in South Korea, it is working with ingredient distributor Vixxol to study how the ingredient could manage post-meal blood glucose levels and support the body’s production of glucagon-like-peptide-1 (GLP-1).
Phynova is also running studies on how the extract could support weight management and the gut microbiome.
“We’re running studies on metabolic health, blood lipids, weight, blood pressure, microbiome, cognitive and sleep benefits, and benefits for menopausal women, because glucose excursion drives a lot of symptoms associated with menopause,” he said.
Glucose excursion refers to the extreme fluctuations in blood glucose levels and postprandial glucose excursions are a major contributor to glycated hemoglobin.
Watch the video to find out more about the award-winning ingredient, dosage formats that it could be made into, and the upcoming research.