BeniCaros & benefits – nic

What is BeniCaros?

BeniCaros™ is an award-winning natural immune health ingredient. It is a unique polysaccharide (fiber) also known as rhamnogalacturonan-I (RG-I), derived from upcycled carrot pomace, a by-product of carrot juice production. RG-I is a complex polysaccharide, a part of pectin that is a major component in the cell walls of all plants. The carrot derived cRG-I in BeniCaros is unlocked from the carrot cell wall through our proprietary extraction method.

BeniCaros has been developed as a natural food ingredient to train the body’s immune defense system and improve resistance to respiratory infections. BeniCaros was launched for formulation in dietary supplements and functional food and beverages in the US in October 2021.

BeniCaros-RG-I-on-transparent-background

The benefits of BeniCaros

BeniCaros has unique immune properties

Daily intake of BeniCaros helps to prepare your immune system to be fit all year round.

Clinically and scientifically proven

BeniCaros has been scientifically tested in high quality clinical trials to demonstrate its beneficial impact on a healthy immune system.

Natural

BeniCaros is naturally sourced and produced, with zero artificial additives.

Plant-derived

BeniCaros is a unique polysaccharide (fiber) that has been unlocked from the cell walls of carrots.

Upcycled

BeniCaros is upcycled from carrot pomace, a by-product of carrot juice production.

Broad applicability

BeniCaros can be easily added to most foods, beverages, and supplement formats without compromising on taste, odour, texture or ease of consumption.

BeniCaros is a health ingredient that addresses a major consumer need

Consumer understanding of immune health has increased over the past few years. This has also prompted more demand for products that deliver benefits for overall wellbeing, with a strong focus on products that support a healthy, balanced immune system.

Consumer interest in foods supporting immune health has increased worldwide [1]

Numbers represent percentages of people wanting products to support their immune health.

[1]. Innova Consumer Survey 2020, click here to find out more

NutriLeads develops innovative natural ingredients with clinically proven benefits such as supporting immune health

How BeniCaros works

How does the immune system work?

The immune system is the body’s surveillance system that responds to intruders, for example pathogens. It provides defense against the various challenges that we encounter every day, most of which are fought off by the immune system without us even noticing. An optimal functioning immune system is crucial to remain fit and to be able to enjoy life to its fullest. To respond to infections, the immune system raises the interconnected innate and adaptive protective responses. The innate immune response is the body’s first line of defense. It reacts quickly to any infectious agent without needing to first learn how to recognize specific pathogens. Effective innate immune responses limit the extent of an infection early on and can curb many infections before we are even aware that they are there.
The immune system helps to maintain our health. Good health starts with a balance between healthy lifestyle and good nutrition. Maintaining general well-being is important to consumers, who focus on adopting nutritional solutions and a healthy lifestyle to help support their health and wellness goals.

Why is it important to train the immune system?

Just like other parts of the body, the immune system needs to be nourished and trained to function properly and effectively. A fit immune system ensures the best outcomes: quick, appropriate, and effective responses against infections. Immune fitness helps the body to remain in a healthy balanced state, or quickly bounce back to it, when faced with daily challenges from potentially harmful agents.

Like the rest of the body, the immune system requires energy and micronutrients to perform its basic functions. And to be at its best, it also needs to be trained, for example by being exposed to specific patterns (signals) from the diet and the gut microbiota. Fibers reinforce a healthy crosstalk between the gut microbiota and the immune system. Just as we know that not all vitamins are alike, this also applies to fibers – not all fibers have the same characteristics or function. For a fit immune system nutritional deficiency (e.g., vitamin B6, C, D and Zn) should be supplemented and the immune system needs to be exposed to the appropriate training stimuli – for example in the gut where the immune system is exposed to the diet and the microbiota.

Clinical studies show that daily use of BeniCaros prepares your immune system to be fit

How does BeniCaros work?

BeniCaros is unique like no other immune ingredient on the market – a daily intake of just 0.3 g per day trains the immune system to be fit.

BeniCaros, when consumed for example as a dietary supplement or functional food, reaches the small intestine intact where it can be recognized by cells that are part of the immune system. This recognition is the first step towards training innate immune responsiveness.
BeniCaros then transits to the large intestine, where it is fermented by the gut microbiota and selectively stimulates the growth of beneficial microorganisms and leads to the increased production of beneficial metabolites such as short chain fatty acids. Short chain fatty acids can leave the gut (via the blood/circulation) and are known to interact with immune cells (all over the body), thereby influencing immune responsiveness.
The immune cells that are “trained” in the small intestine (also) migrate throughout the body towards other sites/organs including the respiratory tract, where they play an important role in the early response against infections. Because these trained immune cells can respond faster, people taking BeniCaros can experience less severe symptoms, and a shorter duration of the symptoms if they become infected, for example by a common cold virus.

BeniCaros has dual mode of action in influencing the immune system:

1. By directly simulating the innate immune system and
2. By indirectly impacting the immune system via gut microbiota modulation

BeniCaros mechanism of action

How BeniCaros is made

Natural upcycled supply chain

NutriLeads has succeeded in harnessing the health-giving power of natural plant compounds, extracting them from affordable and renewable crops, and developing them into evidence-based health ingredients.

BeniCaros is the first health ingredient available from NutriLeads, based on the company’s unique RG-I (rhamnogalacturonan-I) health ingredients platform. It is based on carrot RG-I, which is upcycled from carrot pomace, a by-product of carrot juice production.

STEP 1

Carrots are grown naturally by trusted farmers, ensuring traceability

STEP 2

The carrots are washed with water and steam peeled

STEP 3

The carrots are pressed to produce carrot juice and a side stream

STEP 4

The by-product, carrot pomace , is the starting material for BeniCaros

STEP 5

RG-I is extracted from the carrot pomace using NutriLead’s proprietary production process and dried to produce a powder concentrate

STEP 6

NutriLeads tests the powder to ensure RG-I content and activity

STEP 7

BeniCaros is ready to be incorporated into consumer products

Supported by science

NutriLeads is developing a portfolio of sustainable and natural ingredients to strengthen human health through nutrition.

NutriLeads’ team benefits from a rich and diverse expertise in research and development, production and commercialization of health ingredients, and is committed to maintaining the highest scientific standards.

BeniCaros has been taken through rigorous pre-clinical and clinical studies to demonstrate its safety and positive effect on human health and to gain regulatory approval for market access.

Read the results of the scientific studies supporting BeniCaros:

16 May 2023

Carrot RG-I Reduces Interindividual Differences between 24 Adults through Consistent Effects on Gut Microbiota Composition and Function Ex Vivo

The human gut microbiota is characterized by large interpersonal differences, which are not only linked to health and disease but also determine the outcome of nutritional interventions. In line with the growing interest for developing targeted gut microbiota modulators, the selectivity of a carrot-derived rhamnogalacturonan I (cRG-I) was compared to substrates with demonstrated low (inulin, IN) and high selectivity (xanthan, XA), at a human equivalent dose (HED) of 1.5 g/d. The high throughput of the ex vivo SIFR^® technology, validated to generate predictive insights for clinical findings, enabled the inclusion of 24 human adults. Such an unprecedented high number of samples in the context of in vitro gut microbiota modelling allowed a coverage of clinically relevant interpersonal differences in gut microbiota composition and function. A key finding was that cRG-I supplementation (already at an HED of 0.3 g/d) lowered interpersonal compositional differences due to the selective stimulation of taxa that were consistently present among human adults, including OTUs related to Bacteroides dorei/vulgatus and Bifidobacterium longum (suspected keystone species), Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, Bifidobacterium adolescentis and butyrate-producing taxa such as Blautia sp., Anaerobutyricum hallii, and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. In contrast, both IN and XA treatments increased interpersonal compositional differences. For IN, this followed from its low specificity. For XA, it was rather the extremely high selectivity of XA fermentation that caused large differences between 15 responders and 9 nonresponders, caused by the presence/absence of highly specific XA-fermenting taxa. While all test compounds significantly enhanced acetate, propionate, butyrate, and gas production, cRG-I resulted in a significantly higher acetate (+40%), propionate (+22%), yet a lower gas production (–44%) compared to IN. cRG-I could thus result in overall more robust beneficial effects, while also being better tolerated. Moreover, owing to its remarkable homogenization effect on microbial composition and metabolite production, cRG-I could lead to more predictable outcomes compared to substrates that are less specific or overly specific.

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29 March 2023

Nutrition and immunomodulation – Focus on the dietary fiber RG-I Rhamnogalacturonan-I trains the immune system and accelarates immune responses

Good nutrition is vital for maintaining health and supporting optimal immune function. Several essential micronutrients are known to contribute to normal functioning of the immune system and may carry health claims on products when they contain meaningful amounts. Certain dietary fibers, for example pectic polysaccharides from carrot that are rich in rhamnogalacturonan-I (cRG-I), have also been shown to play an important role as they can educate, regulate, and modulate immune cell responsiveness. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the scientific evidence supporting the immunomodulatory role of RG-I via nutrition.

Abstract published in Agro-Food Industry Hi-Tech, Vol. 33, 2022

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07 December 2022

Ingestion, Immunity and Infection: Nutrition and Viral Respiratory Tract Infections

The aim of this review is to describe the effects of a range different dietary components on anti- infective innate as well as adaptive immune responses and to propose mechanisms by which they may interact with the immune system in the respiratory tract. Several dietary components are described including the unique findings with rhamnogalacturonan-I (cRG-I) (Govers et al. 2022)

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09 November 2022

Effects of Dietary Supplementation with Carrot-Derived Rhamnogalacturonan-I (cRG-I) on Accelerated Protective Immune Responses and Quality of Life in Healthy Volunteers Challenged with Rhinovirus in a Randomized Trial (Mckay et al, 2022)

The aim of this paper is to elaborate on our initial findings that dietary supplementation with carrot-derived rhamnogalacturonan-I (cRG-I) accelerates and augments local innate immune and anti-viral interferon response to a rhinovirus-16 (RV16) infection and reduces the severity and duration of symptoms in humans.

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FAQs

What is BeniCaros™?

BeniCaros™ is an award-winning natural immune health ingredient. It is a unique polysaccharide derived from upcycled carrot pomace, a by-product of carrot juice production. This fiber is also known as rhamnogalacturonan-I (RG-I), and we define the specific carrot-derived RG-I in the NutriLeads ingredient by the trade name BeniCaros (commercial name)

What is RG-I?

RG-I (Rhamnogalacturonan-I) is a complex polysaccharide. It is part of pectin, which is a major component in the cell walls of all plants. It is also referred to as the complex part or the hairy part of the pectin and it is precisely this complexity of the compound that is responsible for most of its activity. We developed the proprietary extraction method that enables us to unlock the goodness of RG-I from the cell wall of carrot pomace.

What does BeniCaros™ (cRG-I) do?

BeniCaros™ (cRG-I) trains your immune system to be at its best when it matters the most. Clinical studies have shown that BeniCaros™ helps train your healthy immune system and put it in the best position to respond to viruses faster.

How does BeniCaros™ (cRG-I) work?

When consumed as a dietary supplement or an ingredient in a functional food, for example, BeniCaros™ reaches the small intestine intact, where it can be recognized by cells that are part of the innate immune system. This recognition is the first step towards training the body’s immune responsiveness.
BeniCaros™ then moves to the large intestine, where it is fermented by gut microbiota. It selectively stimulates the growth of beneficial microorganisms and leads to the increased production of metabolites such as short chain fatty acids (SCFA)s. SCFAs can leave the gut and move around the body via circulation and can also interact with immune cells, thereby influencing immune responsiveness.
The immune cells recognized and ‘trained’ by BeniCaros™ in the small intestine can move throughout the body. When they reach the respiratory tract (or other locations), they play an important role in the early immune response against infections.
Because trained immune cells can respond faster, people consuming BeniCaros™ can experience less severe symptoms for a shorter duration if they are infected by a common cold virus, for example.

Can you just eat carrots to achieve the same effects as with BeniCaros™?

It’s not that simple. BeniCaros™ (cRG-I) is tightly bound inside the cell walls of carrots, so it needs to be unlocked before it can have an effect in the body. Our proprietary extraction method unlocks the goodness of cRG-I from carrot pomace.

Is BeniCaros™ a micronutrient like vitamins and minerals?

No, BeniCaros™ is not a micronutrient, it is a complex polysaccharide (fiber). It does help to support the immune system, albeit in a different way to micronutrients. The immune system needs vitamins and minerals to be able to function normally. However, to be at its best, the immune system also needs to be trained. BeniCaros™ trains the immune system and this helps to support innate immune responses.
You can read more here:

What is the recommended dose of BeniCaros™?

Based on our clinical studies, we recommend a dose of 0.3 g/day.

What is the intended population?

Healthy individuals older than 18 years.

Is BeniCaros™ a prebiotic?

BeniCaros™ does display prebiotic properties. However, to be officially classed as a prebiotic, we need to show that the effects of BeniCaros™ on gut microbiota modulation can be directly linked to a health benefit. We are currently conducting studies to show this.

Is BeniCaros™ safe?

BeniCaros™ is safe and can be taken every day. BeniCaros™ has been investigated in several clinical studies, which showed it is safe for use by healthy adults.

Are there any side effects associated with BeniCaros™?

Several clinical studies have demonstrated that daily consumption of BeniCaros™ is safe for healthy adults. No side effects have been associated with the recommended daily intake. Individuals with serious medical conditions or taking prescription medications should always consult a healthcare practitioner before taking BeniCaros™.

What is upcycling?

Materials that were once considered waste are given a new lease of life in the circular economy through upcycling. In this case, the side stream from carrot juice production is carrot pomace. This material is often discarded or used for animal feed, while it still contains valuable ingredients that have added value for human health, like cRG-I. We upcycle carrot pomace to produce BeniCaros™.

Train your immune system with BeniCaros