French Supplement Manufacturer Pharmatoka Adopts Cranberry through Adopt-an-Herb Program

AUSTIN, Texas (August 3, 2016) — The American Botanical Council (ABC) announces the support of Pharmatoka for ABC’s Adopt-an-Herb botanical education program. Pharmatoka has adopted cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon), a fruit native to North America and traditionally used by indigenous populations for its nutritional and medicinal benefits. Pharmatoka’s adoption supports ABC’s extensive HerbMedPro database, ensuring that this essential resource remains up to date for researchers, health professionals, industry, students, consumers, and all members of the herbal and dietary supplement community.

“ABC is deeply grateful to Pharmatoka for its financial support of the curation and expansion of ABC’s HerbMedPro database by adopting cranberry,” said Mark Blumenthal, founder and executive director of ABC. “Pharmatoka is a world leader in the development of high quality, clinically researched, standardized cranberry extracts that have applications in the dietary supplement and pharmaceutical industries.”

HerbMedPro is a comprehensive, interactive online database that provides access to important scientific and clinical research data on the uses and health effects of more than 250 herbs. Each adopted herb is continuously researched for new scientific articles and pharmacological, toxicological, and clinical studies, ensuring that its HerbMedPro record stays current and robust.

HerbMedPro is available to ABC members at the Academic level and higher. Its “sister” site, HerbMed, is available free of charge to the general public. In keeping with the ABC’s position as an independent research and education organization, herb adopters do not influence the scientific information that is compiled for their respective adopted herbs.

About Cranberry

Cranberry is a trailing, evergreen shrub prized for its tart, red fruit. Historically, Native American tribes consumed cranberries for a variety of conditions, including blood poisoning, scurvy, stomach and liver problems, fever, and mumps. Increased research into cranberry juice and extract focuses on the ability of proanthocyanidins (PACs) found in cranberry to reduce the adhesion of uropathogenicbacteria, such as Escherichia coli, to uroepithelial cells. This anti-adhesion effect may help prevent recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) and alleviate the symptoms of UTIs. Cranberry fruit also is being investigated for many other potential benefits for the immune system, cardiac health, stomach health, and more.

In 2016, the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP) published an updated, comprehensive monograph on cranberries, highlighting the exceptional potential health benefits of cranberry’s numerous constituents.

About Pharmatoka

Since 2004, Pharmatoka has researched the efficacy of PACs, the primary bioactive flavonoids present in North Americancranberries. The company’s flagship product, branded Ellura and Urell, contains an active daily dose of 36 mg of PACs and was formulated after the French government granted a physiological health claim for cranberry fruit. Pharmatoka was integral to bringing this ingredient to the attention of the government. With more than 10 years of dietary supplement experience, Pharmatoka is committed to the highest level of quality of its products, and to their safety and efficacy.

“We also consider that Pharmatoka, being a leader in E. coli bacterial anti-adherence issues, has to provide education and access to all analytical, technical, and medicinal aspects of cranberries,” said Gunter Haesaerts, founder and CEO of Pharmatoka. “Pharmatoka has been engaged in defining adequate PAC quantitation methods, promoting bioactivity of juice extracts, participating actively in providing information for the recent AHP cranberry monograph and the search for adequate analytical methods to pinpoint adulteration. Our worldwide promotion of the anti-adherence properties of PACs is useful in the fight against the growing resistance of pathogenic bacteria against existing antibiotic treatments. We are proud to work actively with ABC, and we follow ABC’s leadership in keeping the botanical world clean and efficacious.”

About the American Botanical Council’s Adopt-an-Herb Program

Pharmatoka is one of 40 companies that have supported ABC’s educational efforts to collect, organize, and disseminate reliable, traditional, and science-based information, including clinical studies, on herbs, medicinal plants, and other botanical- and fungal-based ingredients through the Adopt-an-Herb program. This program encourages companies, organizations, and individuals to “adopt” one or more specific herbs for inclusion and ongoing maintenance in the HerbMedPro database. To date, 45 herbs have been adopted.