The University of Westminster has officially launched its Centre for Nutraceuticals which is the first-of-its-kind in Europe and will serve as a catalyst for improving human health and wellbeing guided by research and innovation.
As the nutraceuticals and supplements industry grows at an exponential rate around the world consumers are shifting towards nature based and ‘clean label’ products particularly in nutraceutical, functional food and cosmetics markets.
The Centre, based at the University’s School of Life Sciences, will use its world-leading expertise to meet this demand and will provide a much needed independent, credible and trustworthy source for scientifically validated information to better inform governments, regulatory bodies, the industry and consumers.
It launches with a high-profile partnership with elite athletes Mathieu Flamini and Mesut Özil to develop a new range of health supplements for their brand UNITY which will help people reach their performance goals.
In an unusual step for the industry, Mathieu and Mesut approached Professor Mohammed Gulrez Zariwala, a leading researcher in nutritional supplementation and Director of the Centre for Nutraceuticals, to collaborate and develop the new U ULTRA supplement range.
U ULTRA consists of four unique full-spectrum power blends, including Energy Sport Pro, to achieve peak performance, Immunity, to always feel your best, Mind, to perform under pressure and Recovery, to recover faster. All of which complement the four pillars of human performance: training, nutrition, mindset and recovery.
This is the Centre’s first ever formal collaboration and will build on its aim to be a globally recognised source of scientifically validated knowledge to bridge the gap between industry and the public sector in terms of knowledge exchange and collaboration and it exemplifies how the Centre’s research will tackle issues such as healthy ageing and immune health in a post-pandemic world.
The Centre has unique existing knowledge and expertise in the area of nutraceuticals, supplements, and functional foods. The core expertise of the Centre is also unique and distinctive, as its focus areas transcends disciplines including nutrition and public health, cell biology, material science, physiology and metabolism, formulation science, and nanotechnology.
The UNITY supplements are the first products on the market developed by the Centre and are part of a range with more to come. In addition, results of a first-of-its-kind nutraceutical clinical trial conducted by the Centre will also be published soon.
Talking about the Centre, Professor M Gulrez Zariwala, Director, Centre for Nutraceuticals, University of Westminster, said: “The pharmaceutical industry is science driven but the nutraceutical and supplement industry is still, in general, marketing driven. Mathieu and Mesut are high profile athletes and could have simply used their image and reach to launch the products, but they chose to collaborate with us as they saw the benefit of having a credible scientific foundation to the products.
"I hope that seeing a successful collaboration between an independent university based research centre and a company led by elite athletes will create greater appreciation that having a strong science led product innovation can be the key to commercial success. ‘’
Mathieu Flamini, co-founder of UNITY, added: “After searching high and low for the best supplements and being disappointed by what was on offer, we decided to take matters into our own hands by creating our own range. We collaborated with world-renowned scientists at the University of Westminster to produce the most effective supplements, using the highest quality, clinically-proven, highly bioavailable ingredients and our trademarked UltraTech™ technology and delivery system.”
For more information please head to the Centre for Nutraceutical’s website and the UNITY website.
