Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019).

Avive Naturals Inc of Bedford, Nova Scotia (www.avive.ca) is cGMP certified facility approved and licensedx000D
by Health Canada to manufacture Natural Health Products (NHP) since 2010. To meet the growing consumerx000D
demand, the company wish to manufacture and market dietary antioxidants-rich capsule derived from thex000D
haskap berry, an emerging "superfood" in Canada. However, the company is challenged to manufacture anx000D
NHP with the consistency of the antioxidant content in the final product as required by Health Canada. Thex000D
major antioxidant bioactives of haskap are anthocyanin's, which highly differ due to harvest maturity ofx000D
cultivars as well as subjected to degradation during processing and storage. The proposed project will establishx000D
harvest maturity indices to decide the optimum bioactive content for mechanical harvesting of this newlyx000D
introduced berry. Pre-treatments and drying methods will also be identified for maximum retention ofx000D
anthocyanins during the manufacturing. Understanding the impact of light during storage will help thex000D
company to decide the type of packaging required for the final product. The characterization of anthocyaninx000D
content and antioxidant content of the final product will provide the company a basis for calculating thex000D
recommended dose of the new NHP. In addition to the intended anthocyanin content and antioxidant claim, thex000D
proposed research will also explore the potential of recommending this NHP product for the management ofx000D
type 2 diabetes. This new industry partnership will directly help not only the company to develop a new NHPx000D
but also to promote a high-value cash crop in Canada. Moreover, the new NHP will also contribute tox000D
managing the growing Canadian healthcare burden due to chronic oxidative stress-associated disorders.