Greg Cumberford
Vice President Science & Regulatory
Natures Crops International
P.O. Box 248
12682 Route 6, Kensington, PE, Canada, C0B 1M0
Phone: (902) 836-3332
Toll Free: (844) 404-4244

Greg Cumberford is vice president science & regulatory with Natures Crops International. He has a 30-plus year career in co-evolved botanical natural wellness products research, innovation and commercial development.

Question: What is ahiflower and how is it sourced and produced?

Answer: Ahiflower is a plant-based dietary oil with the richest, most complete and balanced omega fatty acid profile available from a farmed oilseed crop. Ahiflower oil is in the same category as flax, chia, hemp or evening primrose seed oils, but ahiflower oil’s overall omega-3-6-9 content is higher and more biologically advanced. It has the highest overall omega-3 stearidonic acid (SDA) and omega-6 gamma linolenic acid (GLA) content from a natural non-GMO (genetically modified organism) source.

Unlike many omega sources, ahiflower crops are farmed regeneratively and traceably. Ahiflower oil is not a marine-based omega source so its use takes pressure off wild marine forage species that dominate the omega-3 supply chain. It is grown exclusively by a network of independent U.K. farmers under contract with our company, which has spent decades developing elite cultivars and horticultural practices that make ahiflower oil’s quality so unique—while giving back more to soil fertility and pollinators than it takes and supporting rural farmland biodiversity. Ahiflower seeds are processed using expeller pressing and the crude oil is refined using gentle low-temperature distillation and filtration at our dedicated facility on Prince Edward Island (PEI) in Canada.

Question: What is driving the growing consumer demand for ahiflower?

Answer: Ultimately, consumer demand is growing because of the results consumers are seeing and how these are being shared on social media. In addition to real-life health outcomes, people are becoming more concerned about sustainability—connecting the dots between personal and planetary wellness. People are seeking more vegetarian supplement alternatives that retain their complete, balanced and holistic connection to raw natural sources, instead of highly standardized biochemical fractions. Ahiflower oil is the most complete and balanced “multi-omega” while also offering a clean taste and aroma that is hard to find in the omega category. Further, consumers and practitioners are realizing that it’s not all about taking only EPA/DHA—that providing the body with a naturally optimal balance of plant-based omega-3 and -6 precursors allows for the natural conversion of ahiflower’s omega fatty acids to the full range of cell-signaling, immuno-modulatory, and pro-resolving metabolites the body needs.

In this way, consumer experience, awareness and science are combining to strengthen support for plant-based omegas. Trending consumer dietary behaviors (vegan, Mediterranean, paleo, keto, etc.) will continue driving demand for clean-label, fresh, traceable, healthy ingredients like ahiflower oil. Combining essential baseline nutrients like ahiflower’s “multi-omega” payload within formulations targeting immune response, gut health, joint health, cognition, stress and exercise recovery; this is where we see the market going.

Question: What are the benefits of ahiflower oil vs. marine-sourced omegas?

Answer: Aside from the ecological benefits of consuming plant-based vs. wild-harvested marine-based omegas, ahiflower oil’s health supportive benefits are actually similar. They just come from a different set of omega-3 precursors that our bodies are co-evolved naturally to take in through the diet, convert primarily through our livers, and allocate as needed from circulating or tissue stores to support a variety of critical cellular membrane functions in the brain, heart, joints, gut and skin.

Ahiflower oil—while not a direct source of omega-3 EPA or DHA—converts readily through to circulating EPA, a finding from the first two published human clinical trials using ahiflower. Emerging clinical science is showing how dietary intakes of precursor plant-based omega-3 result in substantially similar tissue DHA maintenance in the brain as from supplemental DHA. This helps explain why vegans and vegetarians who do not consume fish oil nor supplement with DHA algal oil, also do not experience brain DHA deficiencies.

Because ahiflower oil also supplies rich levels of GLA, comparable to evening primrose oil at recommended daily intakes, which neither marine nor algal oil sources provide, we believe that emerging science shows ahiflower oil is the most efficient, biologically advanced overall omega oil from a plant source.

Question: What type of products is ahiflower best suited for and used in?

Answer: Ahiflower oil is an excellent stand-alone omega-3-6-9 dietary supplement. Ahiflower oil is also used to complement and support improved bioavailability in other wellness categories including gut health, brain/cognitive performance, immune support and personal care. In 2021 we will see ahiflower oil appearing in a range of foods and beverages, providing a plant-based, full-spectrum omega boost.

Question: Is there clinical evidence of the potency and efficacy of ahiflower?

Answer: Indeed. Ahiflower has two existing published human clinical trials. They basically establish that ahiflower is the richest, most efficiently metabolized plant-based omega-3 source while also supporting the body’s natural anti-inflammatory response.