Science

Meet FutureCeuticals, Our Boron Producer

6 min read
Boron as a powder on a gray background.
Boron as a powder on a gray background.

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Tell us a little about your company.

VDF, our parent company, started over 100 years ago in Northern Illinois as a culinary herb farm. We now have one of the largest freeze-drying operations in the world, supplying dried herbs to major companies like McCormick spices. About eighteen years ago, we began to see a lot of interest in fruits and vegetables in supplements. We believed that we could apply rigorous research to developing powerful products grown on our own farms. Today, under the name FutureCeuticals, we’re the industry leader for science-based fruit and vegetable-derived formulas. To support our efforts, we have a research center in Irvine, CA, which is the hub for this kind of biotech, and we’re constantly adding to our team of researchers and biochemists.

And what about Fruit-X-B?

FruiteX-B is our version of calcium fructoborate, a plant mineral complex that occurs in certain fruits, vegetables, and legumes. To get scientific for a moment, it’s an intact single molecule entity comprised of a portion of a fruit molecule attached to a boron atom and a calcium atom.*

In the case of this particular complex, you don’t extract it from your produce. Instead, you’ve found a way to mimic it. Why is that?

The reason we don’t directly extract it is because it’s only found in nature in trace amounts. Because of this, we’d have to waste huge amounts of fruit to get enough to make a difference for people. Luckily, our chemistry group was able to reproduce the molecule that nature makes so we were no longer limited by quantity.

And your production process?

Our process is the result of hundreds of thousands of dollars of research, and we’re incredibly proud of it. We feel it’s something the supplement industry could put down as a poster child for quality. We first use a non-GMO fructose, and our calcium and boric acid are all lab-grade. We then combine all of this in a very gentle reaction that creates a molecule that’s a replica of what’s in nature. Every batch gets rigorously tested against a known standard, and we also test both the ingredients when they arrive and the final product when it’s ready to ship.*

Tell us a little more about the research behind the complex.

This particular complex is something that’s been hyper-concentrated into a modality. We’ve produced 14 peer-reviewed academic papers on FruiteX-B, and the results have been trully compelling. In one study, we compared it to glucosamine. Because our mission has been to find complexes that produce excellent results for people, we were extremely happy with these results. Our work is also ongoing.*

For what kinds of purposes should people like us be taking it?

It’s important that people not think of this as the same kind of vitamin or mineral you’d get in your daily diet that’s just been added to a pill. We look at it as something designed by nature that you can’t get from nature alone.*

Meet Our Expert

WhoWeAre-Mastaneh

Dr. Mastaneh Sharafi, PhD, RD, VP of Scientific Affairs at Ritual

Dr. Mastaneh Sharafi has a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and is a Registered Dietitian. She received her training from Penn State University and University of Connecticut where she researched dietary patterns, chemosensory perception and community nutrition. Her dietetic work is focused on promoting healthy eating habits by translating the science of nutrition into practical information for the public.

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WhoWeAre-Mastaneh

Dr. Mastaneh Sharafi, PhD, RD, VP of Scientific Affairs at Ritual

Dr. Mastaneh Sharafi has a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and is a Registered Dietitian. She received her training from Penn State University and University of Connecticut where she researched dietary patterns, chemosensory perception and community nutrition. Her dietetic work is focused on promoting healthy eating habits by translating the science of nutrition into practical information for the public.

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This article was written by our content specialist.

vhoff

Victoria Hoff, Writer

Victoria Hoff is an accomplished writer, journalist, and former wellness editor who has covered a wide variety of health, nutrition, and wellness topics during her tenure. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts from New York University, and after writing for Vogue, Elle, Byrdie, The/Thirty, and more, channeled her editorial skills into a marketing career.

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vhoff

Victoria Hoff, Writer

Victoria Hoff is an accomplished writer, journalist, and former wellness editor who has covered a wide variety of health, nutrition, and wellness topics during her tenure. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts from New York University, and after writing for Vogue, Elle, Byrdie, The/Thirty, and more, channeled her editorial skills into a marketing career.

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