Gut health product widens territory

Dr Anna Campbell and Darcy Schack of Zestt Wellness are taking their newly launched product...
Dr Anna Campbell and Darcy Schack of Zestt Wellness are taking their newly launched product Thrive to the US. PHOTO: GERARD O’BRIEN
Dunedin's bioactive company Zestt Wellness has launched a new gut health product.

Thrive would help counter the damage caused to the digestive system from processed foods and additives, company co-founder Dr Anna Campbell said.

Zestt was founded in 2019 by Dr Campbell and Darcy Schack and had launched four products previously in the wellness segment.

The new gut health product was developed using yacon, a plant which had prebiotic properties.

"In the modern diet, basically, we are not eating enough fibre. We are eating too much processed foods and additives," Dr Campbell said.

Yacon provided a form of sugar that helped the growth of good bacteria and inhibited the growth of bad bacteria in the gut, she said.

The team had partnered with Kerikeri organic yacon producer, Marcus van Boxel.

Thrive was initially launched in New Zealand and would soon be launched in the United States.

Zestt Wellness was also planning to expand its general presence in the US market.

In the US, the company sold its products online and was planning to expand the sales networks.

The growing demand for plant bioactive products in that market would fuel the growth.

The US was a huge and growing market for the kind of products the company developed, Dr Campbell said.

Americans spent more money on their health and many people suffered diet-related diseases, she said.

The company was planning to attend the Natural Products Expo West 2023 trade show in California in March.

The expo was considered to be the leading trade show in the natural, organic and healthy products industry.

Zestt also had plans to expand into the Asian market but that was not an immediate goal.

"Asian market also offers huge opportunity for us," Mr Schack said.

They were exploring options for growth including contract manufacturing and were in discussions with a Chinese company for white labelling the product and launching it in China.

Revenue was being reinvested into the company for R&D to develop new products, Mr Schack said.