Digestive health IP trends reveal demand for plant-based ingredients

Digestive health continues to be an important market, as popularity of and access to processed food increases throughout the world. Proper digestion is a critical part of human health as it is the lynchpin of proper nutrition. In addition to malnutrition, digestive problems can create severe pain and discomfort, as well as negatively impact work and social life. Therefore, there is a continued need for new products and innovations to address digestive health on the individual level. Fortunately, innovative companies are investing in new products and brands in digestive health.

A previous article on intellectual property (IP) trends in digestive health identified a number of different product lines used for digestive health including modified food products, functional ingredients, plant-derived ingredients and other additives. The article reviews plant-based ingredients commonly found in digestive health products.

Patent applications that include plant ingredients are often classified according to the genus of plants, which are considered the critical ingredients of the invention. Some of the classifications are more specific than others, but in the absence of a more specific classification, an application will be classified in a higher level of taxonomy. Thus, the highest number of applications over the past 20 years are classified as Magnoliopsida, i.e., flowering plants. Notably, in the past five years, newer ingredients have become more popular, including Schizonepeta (Chinese Jing Jie), Basidiomycota (mushrooms), Chlorophycota (green algae), Liliopsida (monocotyledons) and Curcuma (turmeric).

This is an excerpt from the article, “Intellectual Property Trends in Digestive Health.” To read the complete article, download INSIDER’s Digestive Health Digital Magazine.

Attorney Andreas Baltatzis is a director at KramerAmado PC, a boutique law firm specializing in intellectual property (IP). He represents a number of innovative nutritional supplement and nutraceutical companies that improve people’s lives every day. Baltatzis also helps companies prepare and implement IP strategies by obtaining patents and trademarks that protect their innovations and cash flow, as well as advising clients on successfully launching new products and brands.

Gideon Eckhouse is a senior associate at KramerAmado, with more than 10 years of experience in patents and trademarks. He assists innovative nutritional supplement and nutraceutical companies in protecting their IP throughout the world. Eckhouse counsels and implements global trademark strategies for new brand launches. Additionally, he prepares and prosecutes patent portfolios protecting new products coming to market.