PLT Health Solutions will begin selling its Rhodiolife Rhodiola rosea ingredient made from a cultivated source of root materials. The cultivation program was developed by Nektium Pharma, and is the result of more than a decade of effort focused on achieving a physical and phytochemical profile identical to previously-supplied wildcrafted material.
 
Rhodiolife will be sourced from the Altai Mountain region of central Asia, and the quality control program for Rhodiolife will continue to include modern ingredient identification and analytic techniques. The cultivation program will address concerns that come up with wildcrafted botanicals, such as harvest size, supply security, sustainability, and phytochemical composition.
 
The new cultivation program can serve as a model for the industry as it seeks to balance commercial growth with sustainability, according to Devin Stagg, chief operating officer for PLT Health Solutions.
 
“Conducted properly, wildcrafting is a highly sustainable method of obtaining botanical raw materials. But, when an ingredient like Rhodiola rosea becomes more popular, nature isn’t always in the position to respond to a global surge in demand. It’s important that we understand this and constantly take steps to ensure sustainability, or we won’t have access to the natural, botanical materials that form the foundation of our products,” he said. “The cultivation and quality control program that support Rhodiolife are built on thoughtful growing and harvesting methodologies and based on cutting-edge scientific techniques to ensure the production of an ingredient that is of high quality and consistent batch to batch.”
 
Industry Standards
 
Rhodiola rosea is a hardy plant suited to cold climate and high altitude where Rhodiolife is farmed. The Altai Mountains derive their name from the Mongolian word altan, which means golden, which may be why Rhodiola rosea is referred to as the “golden root.”
 
The new cultivated material is grown not by seeds, but by vegetative propagation with root rhizomes, a technique that is faster, more dependable, and ensures that the molecular composition of cultivated Rhodiola is identical to the wild-grown plant. Nektium has put into place a quality assurance system that monitors good agricultural and collection practices (GACPs) governing rules of production, harvesting, storage, and record keeping. These are accompanied by training programs and traceability and recall plans. The rhodiola roots are manually harvested and transported to Nektium’s facilities for further processing.
 
The authenticity of the raw material is tested by Nektium’s quality assurance team for macroscopic and sensorial analysis, chromatographic profiles, and independent DNA barcode analysis. A gentle process is used to extract the active ingredients while preserving the natural phytochemical profile of the root, and the material is then standardized to provide precise levels of bioactive compounds. The resulting high-performance liquid chromatography fingerprint of Rhodiolife is consistent from batch-to-batch and matches with that of the native root, according to PLT.
 
According to Stagg, this approach offers greater peace of mind around authenticity, which is especially important when adulteration is suspected. Recently, the American Botanical Council’s Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program (BAPP) suggested that high demand for Rhodiola rosea led to it being mixed or interchanged with other Rhodiola species before being exported from Asia.
 
Sustainability and Social Responsibility
 
Nektium has an established history of working alongside and supporting the local partners who undertake the harvesting of Rhodiola, PLT reports. To assure that a similar quality of work was being conducted Nektium and PLT worked with Botanical Liaison’s Trish Flaster on establishing criteria for continuing sustainability of the cultivated material.
 
“PLT Health Solutions is one of those companies that has taken sustainability seriously for the past 30 years by creating programs and lines of communication within their supply chain. Nektium’s approach with this cultivation project for Rhodiola rosea fits this goal because its habitat is a fragile ecosystem – alpine. Nektium’s first of its kind cultivation achievement relieves the pressures from the alpine terrain,” Flaster said. “Cultivation may be the first step in being sustainable, but it is more than simply planting a seed and having it grown. Multiple factors must be considered before claiming to have a sustainable cultivated raw ingredient. As part of our sustainability audit, we reviewed propagation and growing techniques, growing locations, water sources, harvest timing and technique, and post-harvest handling. PLT also takes cultural sustainability seriously, caring for those who handle the product at every stage of the process. In each of these areas, the Rhodiolife material is being produced in the most sustainable manner possible and may well be the most sustainable Rhodiola rosea on the market today.”