ONDAM BIO's SANBIDAM Premium: Five Criteria for Choosing an Ingredient Developed by an Ajou University Subsidiary

ONDAM BIO, a health functional food company, has explained how it chose the key ingredient for "SANBIDAM Premium." While planning a product that takes blood glucose, blood triglycerides and body fat into account together, ONDAM BIO reviewed several individually approved ingredients to cover the body fat function, and chose the "Cornus extract complex" developed by NINEB, a subsidiary of Ajou University's technology holding company, as the final ingredient.

Five criteria for choosing the ingredient

ONDAM BIO named five criteria: an individually approved ingredient recognized by the MFDS; a trustworthy ingredient manufacturer; human trial results; patents and papers in SCI-level international journals; and a clear origin and safety record for the raw materials. The company said almost no ingredient met all five.

The Cornus extract complex was recognized as an MFDS individually approved functional ingredient (No. 2022-26). It went through a 12-week human trial in overweight women at Inje University Seoul Paik Hospital, with the results published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, and cell and animal studies were published in international journals including Molecules and Animals. NINEB holds Korean Patent No. 10-2030495 and U.S. Patent US 11,464,817, and it also has a history with U.S. FDA New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) notification No. 1187.

Domestic raw materials and Ribes fasciculatum leaf

The raw materials blend domestically grown Cornus fruit and Ribes fasciculatum (chilhaemok) leaf at a 7 to 3 ratio. The chilhaemok sold on the market is mostly stem and root, but this ingredient uses the leaf, which is secured through contract farming in the Danyang area of North Chungcheong Province. The 7 to 3 ratio is the one that suppressed fat-generating genes the most when four blends from 9:1 to 6:4 were compared in cell experiments. Quality is controlled to the same specification in every production batch, using loganin from Cornus and 4-HBA from Ribes fasciculatum leaf as marker compounds.

An ONDAM BIO official said, "The most important thing in choosing an ingredient is whether it is one you can trust," adding that the company values ingredients backed by evidence that consumers can check for themselves, such as approval numbers, trial results and papers. SANBIDAM Premium is planned and distributed by ONDAM BIO and manufactured by Naturetech Co., Ltd.