Australian firm receives patent for extracts from sugar with low GI

The invention relates to a process for refining sugarcane derived extracts and other phytochemical extracts

Australia-based The Products Makers (Australia) Pty Ltd has bagged a patent in India for extracts from sugarcane and process for manufacturing it with low Glycemic Index (GI), which has various health benefits and could be incorporated directly and without further modification into a food, nutraceutical, cosmaceutical or beverage.

GI is a ranking of carbohydrate in a a particular food and its impact on a person's blood glucose level, which is important in analysing high blood sugar level, according to experts.

The company has various brands consisting of low GI sugar extracts in its kitty. It has a joint venture with D D Shah Group in India to sell the products in the country.

 

The patent application was filed by Australia-based Horizon Science Pty Ltd, which was focusing primarily on developing products derived specifically from sugarcane waste streams, in March 2009. The assets and patents of Horizon Science was later acquired by The Product Makers and the newly acquired trade marked brands such as LoGiCane and Benecarb, which are low GI products, has been included into its Bioactive division. The company also have a range of new bioactives under development, said the company recently.

The company, in its patent specification said that the benefits are arrived at using various processes and by retaining several contents which are naturally present in the sugar cane. The extracts derived from sugar cane comprise a mixture of one or more of polyphenols, carbohydrates, minerals and organic acids. In addition, the invention relates to a process for refining sugar cane derived extracts as well as other phytochemical extracts.

"The extracts of the present invention represent new products which are economically useful and can be used in a wide variety of applications," it claims. The extracts described may be used in a therapeutic capacity in order to treat and/or prevent the many conditions which are considered to be responsive to antioxidants, including but not limited to, cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis, hypertension, thrombosis.

Type II diabetes, obesity, dementia, cancer, HIV aids, degenerative conditions associated with aging, diseases caused by oxidative damage, and changing body composition as described in international patent application, it added.

The authority has raised some objections, and following some amendments and submissions related to this, the application was found to be in order for grant of patent and the patents is granted to the application, said the Assistant Controller of Patents & Designs in an order issued on Monday.

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