Scientific and Technical Advisor to HVB program 2011-2012

Summary

Human evolution has been totally dependent on the ability of individuals to achieve a satisfactory state of nutrition and well being. Central to these requirements has been the availability of biological substances, many of which today are called in lay terms "bioactive compounds". These substances are derived from microbial, plant or animal sources, and thus can be considered to represent the commercially valuable product outcomes of more renewable resource manufacturing industries than alternative types of synthetic products generated from the petrochemical industries.

In scientific and process engineering contexts, industry has understood for more than two hundred years the economic potential and commercial value of individual "bioactive compounds" that can be obtained from the first two of these sources, although clearly the nutritional and health benefits of substances derived from microbial or plant sources have been imbedded in human folk-law and experience for several millennia. Today, major multi-billion dollar businesses have been created around these opportunities through the implementation of large scale fermentation technologies, multistage extraction and purification methods, robust product quality
control procedures and extensive scientific evaluation of the nutritional, biological and epidemiological advantages of these substances and materials.

As a consequence, many "bioactive compounds" derived from microbial and plant sources have found or are now finding their way as mixtures into functional or fortified food products as additives and ingredients, or as popular single use nutraceutical products. In practice, these commercial developments have had as their basis a long scientific and engineering heritage, which bridges multiple areas of human knowledge, technical experience and the operational practices of many industrial organisations and market sectors. For these reasons it is not surprising that bioactive compounds, such as vitamins, e.g. vitamin C or folate; essential minerals, e.g. calcium, iron or zinc salts; carotenoids, e.g. 13-carotene or lycopene; or other substances, e.g. L-carnitine, polyunsaturated fatty acids or coenzyme Q, all represent in their own right major commercial opportunities because of their important biological properties in delivering good health. 

In each of the above cases, the "breakthrough" leading to their development and commercialisation has hinged on the discovery of advanced processing technologies and the associated knowledge on how to make, deliver and assess the biological efficacy, safety and application scope of these products. It is also not surprising that with the commercial maturity of these products, new ways to carry out business have also emerged, involving different companies networked to operate with different expertise within the same or different business supply chains. Significant paradigm shifts in product opportunities, their manufacturing processes and marketing strategies have thus emerged in recent years with these microbial and plant derived bioactive compounds.