Layn Natural Ingredients Adopts Sophora japonica through ABC’s Adopt-an-Herb Program

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The American Botanical Council (ABC) welcomes Layn Natural Ingredients’ adoption of Sophora japonica (syn. Styphnolobium japonicum) through ABC’s Adopt-an-Herb botanical research and education program.

Layn Natural Ingredients’ adoption supports ABC’s extensive HerbMedPro database, ensuring that this unique research and educational resource remains up to date for researchers, health professionals, industry members, students, consumers, and other members of the herbal and dietary supplement and natural medicine communities.

HerbMedPro is a comprehensive, interactive online database that provides access to important scientific and clinical research data on the uses and health effects of more than 265 herbs, spices, medicinal plants, and fungi.

“[Our] adoption of Sophora japonica is important because at the core of Layn Natural Ingredients’ vision is innovating natural botanical ingredients that benefit people, pets, and the planet,” said Layn’s Vice President of Global Marketing Collette Kakuk. “Sophora japonica has a rich history in Chinese medicine, and our Sophora japonica extracts deliver a range of constituents, especially flavonoids, such as quercetin and rutin, which serve as important metabolic antioxidants for health functions. With decades of experience in vertically integrated botanical ingredient innovation and manufacturing at a global scale, Layn Natural Ingredients controls a significant portion of the global market share of Sophora japonica, and we are committed to ensuring a sustainable, secure, and quality supply of this ingredient so its benefits can be realized.”

According to Layn’s Chief Scientific Officer Jim Roza, the company is committed to driving research and exploring the potential of polyphenols from natural, renewable sources such as Sophora japonica and sharing the results with the scientific community. “Part of Layn’s mission statement is to be at the vanguard of bringing innovation and science to the nutraceutical industry,” Roza said. “We are pleased to have strong science and support for SophorOx™, our premium Sophora japonica extract. We recently worked with researchers to conduct in vivo and in vitro studies on this extract. [These studies] concluded it was highly effective in lowering levels of compounds that contribute to oxidative stress.”

ABC Chief Science Officer Stefan Gafner, PhD, said: “ABC is grateful to Layn Natural Ingredients for adopting Sophora japonica, and thus enabling access to the latest data on this important medicinal plant through the HerbMedPro database, making it even more informative for the dietary supplement and herbal medicine community. The flower is one of the richest sources of rutin, which is known to help strengthen and increase the flexibility of blood vessels, thus lending support to some of the benefits of Sophora japonica in the traditional Chinese medicine system.”

About Sophora japonica
Also known as Japanese pagoda tree, Japanese sophora, or Chinese scholar tree, Sophora japonica (also non-italicized since it is sometimes used as a common name in the herb industry) is a deciduous tree native to eastern Asia and a member of the Fabaceae family. It can grow 50-75 feet tall and produces white, fragrant flowers. The tree also produces seed pods that can each contain up to six seeds and resemble beads on a string. The pinnate leaves stay green year-round.

Sophora japonica features prominently in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and while the flowers are the most widely used part, other parts are used as well. In TCM, the flower buds, roots, and branches are considered vein remedies and are used to control bleeding and to cool blood. The roots and flowers also are used to treat intestinal hemorrhages, likely due to their high-flavonoid contents. Sophora japonica flowers contain beneficial phytochemicals including rutin, quercetin, fatty acids, and polysaccharides and often appear in TCM formulas to regulate blood flow, tone the liver and kidney, and clear heat.

Modern research on Sophora japonica focuses on its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties due to the high amount of rutin and quercetin in the flowers. These compounds inhibit pro-inflammatory molecules that cause oxidative stress in the body, which over time can cause stress-induced damage to the cardiovascular system and other tissues and potentially weaken immune response.

About Layn Natural Ingredients
Layn Natural Ingredients is an innovator of natural botanical extract ingredients and solutions and has served the food, beverage, flavor, nutraceutical, sports nutrition, personal care, animal, and pet industries for more than 25 years. From seeds and agronomy to extraction and formulation, Layn is committed to vertically integrated quality, innovation, and sustainability of botanical extracts.

Layn’s SophorOx proprietary Sophora japonica extract is derived from the plant’s buds and standardized to contain more than 90% flavonoids. Recent studies showed that the extract successfully lowered levels of pro-inflammatory compounds in vivo and in vitro.

“Consumers are increasingly seeking natural, preventive strategies to live longer, healthier lives,” said Kakuk. “Health is a concern like never before, and consumers are aware of the importance of dietary supplements to support well-being. SophorOx offers scientifically supported benefits for users across a range of consumer age groups and demographics.”

About Adopt-an-Herb and HerbMedPro
Layn Natural Ingredients is one of 65 US and international companies and organizations that have supported ABC’s educational efforts to collect, organize, and disseminate reliable traditional and science-based information, including clinical studies, on herbs, medicinal plants, and other botanical- and fungal-based ingredients through the Adopt-an-Herb program. This program encourages companies, organizations, and individuals to “adopt” one or more specific herbs for inclusion and ongoing maintenance in the HerbMedPro database. To date, 72 herbs have been adopted.

Each adopted herb is researched continuously for new scientific articles in the areas of botanical, chemical, pharmacological, toxicological, and clinical studies, ensuring that its HerbMedPro record stays current and robust. Access to the studies is organized conveniently by publication type, with each study condensed to a one-sentence summary with a link to the study’s official abstract on PubMed (the US National Library of Medicine’s free-access database) or other publicly accessible databases.

HerbMedPro is available to ABC members at the Academic level and higher. Its “sister” site, HerbMed, is available to the general public at no cost, with access to 25-30 herb records from the larger HerbMedPro database. In keeping with ABC’s position as an independent research and education organization, herb adopters do not influence the scientific information that is compiled for their respective adopted herbs.

About the American Botanical Council