Freeze-drying, also known as lyophilization, is invaluable for stabilizing sensitive compounds like probiotics that need to survive the journey to the gut. Pebley explained that this ancient preservation method removes moisture without damaging cellular structure or nutrients.
“And that’s what the Inca Indians did,” Pebley said. “They harvested their vegetables, took them up to Machu Picchu or 22,000 feet. The air is less, it’s somewhat of a vacuum. And over a long period of time, those vegetables freeze-dried and they were shelf-stable then at that temperature and atmosphere, as long as there wasn’t moisture absorbing into them.”
He added that OFD Life Sciences has a very similar process, accelerated by a higher elevation or vacuum, which lowers the temperature at which the water goes from ice to vapor without going through the liquid phase.
Freeze drying has become particularly valuable in dietary supplements and pharmaceuticals. Pebley said it’s largely driven by market demands for shelf stability, longer expiration dates and concentrated actives that work in various formats like beverages and capsules.
As a contract manufacturer, OFD Life Sciences gets a lot of projects that cover a wide spectrum of ingredients to stabilize materials.
“We might get somebody who’s extracted a compound from fruit that is effective for residual oxidative stress, but it needs to be stabilized,” he said. “It’s not stable in a liquid phase and it’s not stable very long in a frozen phase. Freeze drying is approached and we’ve done a lot of materials to concentrate it, because now that you remove the water, you now have the potency in a dry, smaller volume format. And so the ability to put more into a capsule or more infused into a product, then that’s what would drive the move towards lyophilization. You could then offer it in a stable format if you had a capsule or a tablet.
Pebley said while many things can be freeze-dried, there are limits. For instance, it’s very difficult to freeze dry materials that are high in fat or high in oils that are not able to be isolated.
“The largest organism we’ve ever freeze-dried and brought back to life is a nematode, but that’s not a dietary supplement.”
To hear more on modern applications, efficiency gains and Pebley’s forecast on the future of lyophilization, listen to the NutraCast above or on your preferred podcast platform.
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