Vitamin World (New York) announced a new joint antioxidant research initiative with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), a teaching hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School. The project will focus on further exploring the nutritional and health benefits of the acai berry, a grape-like fruit native to the rainforests of South America, which is known for its high antioxidant levels, vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Held at BIDMC in Boston, MA, the signing ceremony was attended by senior leaders from both sides, including Frank Conley, CEO and Vincent Mariani, CMO (chief merchandising/marketing officer) of Vitamin World and Jin-rong Zhou, PhD, associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and director of BIDMC’s Nutrition and Metabolism Laboratory.

Vitamin World stated it discovered that, among all fruits, the acai berry ranks highest in terms of its oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) values, a method of measuring antioxidant capacities in biological samples which is recognized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and Harvard University. Vitamin World said it recognized early on the importance of the acai berry and its natural antioxidant properties, with benefits ranging from anti-aging to improved skin appearance to weight loss, and used the fruit’s raw materials to build its flagship Platinum series product, the Vitamin World Acai Berry.

Vitamin World CEO Frank Conley said, “We are delighted to collaborate with BIDMC to take antioxidant research to the next level. Leveraging our respective strengths, the new project will create major synergies between Vitamin World’s leading R&D and innovation capabilities and BIDMC’s renowned academic research program. We have every confidence that our collaboration will help us to develop even better products that we can bring to customers.”