Groupe Berkem
20 rue Jean Duvert
33290 Blanquefort, France
Main Contact: Anne-Sophie Clauzet, Product Communications Manager
Phone: +33 (0)5 64 31 0660; +33 (0)7 67 86 98 25
Email: [email protected]
With more than 60 years of experience, Groupe Berkem (Berkem) is a leader in plant extraction, operating advanced facilities in France and Spain. The company oversees the entire process from responsible sourcing to production, ensuring high quality and traceability of ingredients through advanced technology, strong R&D and deep botanical expertise.
As a specialist in plant-based ingredients for the nutraceutical industry, Berkem focuses on polyphenols, natural antioxidants with proven health benefits. Since the 1990s, the company has specialized in extracting polyphenols from sources like grapes and pine bark, meeting the growing demand for natural and sustainable ingredients.
Nathalie Levy joined Berkem in February 2024 as the marketing manager for health, beauty and nutrition. She plays a key role in developing positioning and pricing strategies, benchmarking and naming for the company’s offerings within these sectors.
Prior to joining Berkem, she worked as a consultant at Nutrikeo where she specialized in nutrition and life sciences, and supported ingredient suppliers, food industries and dietary supplement labs with marketing strategies and innovation.
NIE: Groupe Berkem recently launched a Global Plant Exploration Program. What was the company’s motivation behind the initiative?
Levy: Berkem launched the Global Plant Exploration Program as part of its commitment to premium sourcing, which is at the core of the company’s philosophy. The goal is to ensure the highest quality of botanicals by sourcing plants with the best phytochemical profiles to support specific health benefits. The most effective way to achieve this is by engaging directly with local farmers, building sustainable partnerships, and promoting sustainable practices through a “field-to-finish” approach. This initiative ensures full traceability and quality control from the field to the final extract.
We have found that while technical documents and certificates are important, there’s no substitute for firsthand experience. Visiting farmers on a regular basis, observing the plants as they grow, and understanding the challenges farmers face—such as weather conditions, diseases and economic factors—provides invaluable insights into the quality and sustainability of the plants. This hands-on approach, which is unique in the industry—not only guarantees top-quality raw materials but also fosters stronger, long-term relationships with the producers.
NIE: What is B-Romega and what differentiates it from other marine oil extracts?
Levy: B-Romega is our range of phospholipid-rich omega-3 derived from Norwegian herring caviar to support optimal health. Together with Arctic Bioscience, we have given value to a sustainable by-product of the fishing industry in a way that no one else has done before.
Additionally, the science is innovative and sets a new bar for omega-3s. Today’s health field of resolution physiology identifies PRMs (Pro-resolving Mediators) and SPMs (Specialized Pro-resolving Mediators) in omega-3 fatty acids as primary agents for achieving homeostatic balance in inflammatory function. B-Romega is the only marine extract range with measurable and quantifiable levels of SPMs and PRMs. This unique marine oil extract opens up new opportunities in a mature and crowded market.
B-Romega products are also rich in DHA-phospholipids, choline, PRMs and the specific SPMs. The amount of SPMs contained in B-Romega is higher than in other marine oils.
NIE: Research is an important aspect of Groupe Berkem. Please describe the recent studies conducted on Biombalance.
Levy: Berkem has a longstanding expertise in plant extraction, particularly in pine bark and grape seed extracts. Biombalance is one of our flagship ingredients with an innovative positioning on gut health as a prebiotic polyphenol. Biombalance highlights the importance of polyphenols for gut health. Berkem’s proprietary findings revealed some key impacts on the microbiota.
We recently published a scientific article in the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI), investigating the effects of Biombalance in a murine model of inflammatory bowel disease induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS). We found Biombalance extract possesses potent antioxidant activity and anti-inflammatory effects. The study demonstrated that our grape seed extract can have a prebiotic effect by influencing gut microbiota composition, counteracting DSS-induced microbial diversity loss by promoting beneficial bacterial genera, while reducing the abundance of potentially pathogenic taxa, including Proteobacteria and Enterococcus.
In our study, we used a bioinformatics tool to predict the functional potential of microbial communities based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing data, named PICRUST (Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States). These analyses show for the first time that grape seed extract can enhance the ubiquinol biosynthesis pathway, suggesting a microbial-driven increase in antioxidant activity.
NIE: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Levy: For over 60 years, our success has been built upon three historical pillars:
• Sourcing of the highest quality raw materials
• In-depth knowledge and know-how of plant and marine extraction
• A science-driven approach to bringing innovative ingredients to market
Together these pillars support the company’s mission to provide sustainable, effective and traceable ingredients to the health, beauty and nutrition industries.
