Sustainable Nutraceutical Production: How Indian Manufacturers lead the way

Nutraceuticals, as can be understood by the term, is a literal and biomedical amalgamation of “Nutrition” and “Pharmaceuticals”, a thriving intersection of the fields of nutritive wellness and medical health. In today’s world where optimization has become requisitory in all spheres, Nutraceuticals have gained significant traction ever since its inception.

The growth in the market for nutraceuticals is largely owed to the functional broad spectrum that the drugs have proven to provide ranging from essential nourishment to targeted medical benefits. Nutraceuticals contain bioactive compounds such as vitamins, minerals, and other dietary supplements such as antioxidants, probiotics, polyunsaturated fatty acids and so on which are known to aid in managing health issues like obesity, cholesterol, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, arthritis, and cancer.

This revolutionizing avenue for achieving optimal health is produced meticulously and classified carefully according to their origin (plant-based or animal-based)  and composition derived according to the requirement of the specific product. The technological advances have enabled the production of nutraceuticals significantly by overcoming the major limitations in the production and extraction of these metabolites from natural sources, based on bioavailability and therapeutic potential. The extraction processes are followed by Careful manufacturing practices like encapsulation and tablet formation to help ensure stability, controlled release, and ease of consumption. 

Another paramount factor in the manufacturing process is quality control. The manufacturing of Nutraceuticals demands rigorous testing for purity, potency, and safety. The accurate quantification recheck and review are enabled by advanced analytical techniques like High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Gas Chromatography (GC), Mass Spectrometry (MS), and so on.

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Sustainability in Nutraceuticals Manufacturing: The Need of the Hour

We currently live in a world that requires sustainability to be its utmost priority. Similar is the situation in the case of Nutraceutical manufacturing as well. There are several reasons behind sustainable nutraceutical manufacturing being the need of the hour. Some of them are the cause-and-effect relationship between resource depletion and increasing consumer demand, and the environmental responsibility to reduce the Nutraceutical industry’s ecological footprint that is caused by processes such as unregulated resource consumption, waste generation, hazardous emission, and so on. Also keeping in view governmental regulatory compliance and long-term vitality, a sustainable approach is largely necessary to promote ecological and economic growth in the field of nutraceuticals.

 Health Focus Internationals' 2021 Global Sustainability Report states that since the COVID-19 pandemic began, 46% of consumers have expressed a greater concern for the environment and the sustainability of their surroundings. 64% of consumers worldwide think that doing good for the environment also benefits them personally. On a global scale, the Nutraceutical manufacturing industry has taken the sustainable path and adopted key considerations to promote sustainable production of nutraceuticals. These considerations include responsible sourcing, improving equipment efficiency to reduce harmful environmental impact, adopting consistent and stringent quality control measures, establishing transparent and traceable supply chains, employing research and development for sustainable packaging and waste reduction, and venturing global collaboration to promote sustainability in the nutraceutical manufacturing industry globally. 

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Sustainability: The Indian Way

The Nutraceutical Manufacturers in India have already begun their journey to make nutraceutical manufacturing a sustainable process for the health and well-being of the consumers as well as the planet. Their focus on “How to produce, package, and distribute nutraceutical products to the Indian market sustainably?”, has led them to gradual but effective methods to give rise to the practice of sustainable manufacturing of nutraceuticals in India. 

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The sustainability initiatives in nutraceutical manufacturing in India are as follows:

1. Sourcing Sustainably -

• Prioritizing responsible sourcing of raw materials and ingredients as well as adopting sustainable farming and harvesting practices, protecting biodiversity, and supporting local communities.
• Certification systems like Fair Trade, USDA Organic, and Rainforest Alliance indicate adherence to strictly ethical and sustainable sourcing.

2. Research and Development

• Focusing largely on the efficiency and safety of all the sustainable variants being produced to be able to provide evidence-based clinical and pharmacological data of the products with sustainability reports for traceability and transparency, while also spending constant efforts to come up with new variants through scientific innovation.

3. Sustainability in Packaging

• Bringing the innovation of biotechnology by using biodegradable and recyclable packaging materials is becoming increasingly popular.
• The younger target population of Nutraceuticals in India believes in reducing the carbon footprint to meet the sustainable environment demands.
• Thus, adopting natural-based packaging materials and processes will also appeal to environmentally-conscious consumers. 

4. Waste Reduction

• Implementing optimization in production processes, efficient utilization of sourced materials and other involved elements and mechanisms, and recycling and/or reusing waste materials is taking place wherever possible.
• Employing methods of reducing waste not only helps the environment but also improves the general quality of nutraceutical products, guaranteeing that consumers get healthy solutions that are high-quality, sustainable, and ethical.

5. Awareness and Education

• Bridging the gap of awareness and knowledge transmission at the industry level as well as consumer level by focusing on the development of standard guidelines and planning awareness initiatives to promote the necessity of the sustainable approach in Nutraceutical Manufacturing in India.

About ZIM Laboratories: A Sustainable Nutraceuticals Manufacturer in India

ZIM Labs is an innovative drug delivery solution provider focusing on improving patient convenience and adherence to drug intake. With our innovative novel drug delivery solutions, well-researched science-backed activities, and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, we aim to provide a holistic healthcare approach. In line with this aim of ours, we’ve grown ZimUNat - our nutraceutical supplements brand that caters to this market segment with well-researched and effective healthcare solutions. The supplements are produced with patented innovative and disruptive pharmaceutical technologies. Our differentiation and value proposition is in our ability to develop and supply combination generic products using various drug delivery techniques and release patterns in the oral solid dosage form.