Patent for Humanity Award to:
Intermark Partners Strategic Management for ‘NutraLac® Nutrient Extraction Technology’
Award Recipient: Dr. Glenn H. Sullivan
Award Presentation: U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy and
U.S. Department of Commerce Undersecretary Teresa Stanek Rea
The NutraLac® technology embodies a unique multiphase process that utilizes specific enzyme combinations under precise time and temperature conditions to optimally extract the bioactive phytonutrient isolates from rice bran and other cereal grains. This method achieves a significantly enhanced protein, carbohydrate, micronutrient and antioxidant complex, thereby increasing the overall nutritional values of the derivative as a functional nutraceutical food ingredient for nutritional supplementation in chronically malnourished populations worldwide.
Rice bran is a by-product of the rice milling process and is exceptionally high in natural phytonutrients and phytochemicals which have been scientifically documented to have potentially significant health benefits when properly extracted, isolated and concentrated, thereby providing a sustainable and low cost nutritional ingredient for meeting the needs of undernourished populations in nutrient deficit regions. Rice is the most widely produced cereal grain worldwide, with over 40 million tons of rice bran available annually for human nutrition when properly stabilized and the bioactive phytonutrients scientifically extracted to enhance bioavailability in the human gastrointestinal tract.
What was lacking in prior attempts to develop a commercially viable extraction process is that such attempts produced derivatives that were not competitive in their nutritional profiles when compared to commercially available substitutes like whole milk, whey and soy protein. Yet rice bran itself possesses a nutritional profile superior to these alternatives. The problem is that rice bran itself is not readily available for human consumption due to rapid enzyme oxidation activity that most often renders it to livestock feed, and the fact that rice bran is not readily digested in the human digestive system.
The NutraLac® technology overcomes this problem through strategically integrated enzyme, time, temperature and centrifuging regimes that result in a commercially superior and nutrient rich bioavailable extract for human consumption. It is this nutrient rich extract that is being formulated into supplements for pregnant mothers, lactating mothers and infants up to thirty-six months of age; a time when an infants’ physical, mental and metabolic processes are largely developed, and a life-stage when chronic malnutrition can be remediated. Moreover, rice bran is hypoallergenic, gluten free and low glycemic.
The NutraLac®™ formulations are currently being administered in Central America to eradicate chronic malnutrition at an early stage in the life of infants, thereby enhancing the overall physical and socioeconomic well being of the population and reducing food welfare costs at the national level over time.
See www.sustainable-nutrition-intl.org or contact Dr. Glenn H. Sullivan at gsullivan@ntiassoc.com.