Beyond Gut: BioGrowing’s Akkermansia and Flora-Focus Probiotics to Drive Health Solutions

Functional probiotic pioneer, BioGrowing is spotlighting targeted biotic innovations like its Flora-Focus strains to aid in Helicobacter pylori infections and support the vaginal microbiome, immune health, and weight management.

Nutrition Insight sits down with Yuan Feng, Ph.D., an academic scientist at BioGrowing, to discuss the company’s current offerings, future R&D, and how its offerings speak to emerging global trends and consumer demand for natural health solutions.

The company will showcase its probiotic solutions at Vitafoods Asia 2025 (September 17–19) in Bangkok, Thailand, at Hall 7, stand# R36.

Can you tell us about some of BioGrowing’s flagship strains and solutions?
Feng: I would like to introduce BioGrowing’s registered Flora-Focus strains, which have already been on the market for more than 20 years. We are a pioneer of this industry in China. We offer ingredients and raw materials, like single-strain and mixed strains, for finished products.

These strains are available in more than 80 countries around the world, and we also have more than 50,000 strains collected in our own culture collection, which is also the core of our legacy core values.

Our Lactiplantibacillus plantarum Lp-G18 is a high glutamate synthesized enzyme-producing strain. As a cutting-edge probiotic, it has been honored with four major international awards, one of them is the top three spots for “Microbiome Modulation Ingredient of the Year” at the NutraIngredients Asia Awards. Its broad range of functions includes inhibition of immune regulation, blood lipid modulation, it has also been shown in clinical studies to improve helicobacter infections in the stomach.

Yuan Feng, Ph.D., an academic scientist at BioGrowing.I would also like to highlight our Lacticaseibacillus paracasei LPc-G110,whether in its live or inactivated form, this strain has shown significant effects in downregulating cellular inflammatory cytokines and suppressing inflammation in oral fibroblasts. A high-quality clinical study conducted at a famous Dental Academic Center in the Netherlands confirmed its oral benefits. Through in-depth development of this strain, we have a novel and tasty formula called “Oral Bubbles” — a sucrose-free probiotic microbubble lozenge. Not only is it tasty, but it also provides a one-stop solution for eight major oral health concerns, addressing dental caries, halitosis, dental plaque, and other oral health issues.

Our Lactobacillus crispatus Lc-G22 strain, isolated from the vaginal tract of a healthy female, is a well-recognized and widely studied probiotic. It helps maintain vaginal pH balance, supports the management of female-specific health conditions, and reduces the recurrence risk of vulvovaginal candidiasis.

BioGrowing’s Weizmannia coagulans BC-G44 strain is unique. It is highly sought because of its heat resistance, and, in our animal studies, it has been proven to enhance immunity. Finally, our Lactobacillus gasseri LG-G12 can significantly increase brown fat tissue, making it suitable for weight management solutions.

What are some of the consumer health trends driving interest in innovation at BioGrowing?
Feng: I think the first big topic is related to metabolic health and weight management. There is a big production of all types of foods, but all around the world, people also consume a lot of unhealthy food. This is true for South America and North America, and now we see this trend quite a lot in Asia and East Asia.

It’s not just about the abundance or diversity of the food that we eat; it’s more about how healthy the food is. Body weight and obesity are some of the biggest challenges for all human beings today due to globalization, urbanization, and work pressure. People increasingly do not really have a balanced diet.

Body weight management isn’t just about how you look; it’s actually about how it relates to severe problems, such as metabolic diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD). This is definitely one of the hot issues that we’re always paying attention to. Personally, I think this is one of the driving topics for us.BioGrowing’s Flora-Focus strains have shown to have benefits in several areas, including gut, cardiometabolic, and oral health.

Another big trend is female care, because it has been neglected for a long time. In this area, we need to develop different products based on the different stages of women’s lives. For instance, women have certain needs during pregnancy. Afterwards, there is a stable or long-term period before menopause. Menopause presents challenges for women’s health as well. So, it is not only female care that is important, but also the different stages of the female biological ages.

I would also like to highlight oral health because it is one of the most important health indicators. Dental Health actually influences life quality, especially as we grow older. It also influences our daily social quality. In this segment, we made some improvements to our formula and have some quality clinical studies.

In one study, the researchers tested two probiotic strains selected out of 60 because they showed higher improvements in preclinical models — one of the two was ours. These two strains were tested in parallel, using exactly the same parameters, and BioGrowing’s strain performed better than the other strain. This high-quality study revealed that our Lacticaseibacillus paracasei LPc-G110 strain is very effective for protecting your oral health.

What emerging trends and applications will you focus on in the near and far future?
Feng: For the near future, I think it definitely has to be Akkermansia, or AKK. It is a very hot topic and ingredient because, as you can see from the name, it is a novel probiotic.

AKK is closely related to the balance and environment of the gut microbiome. The first isolation of an AKK was from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, in the same lab where I conducted my Ph.D., so I’ve heard quite a lot about it. It’s highly related to our health because it protects the gut and can help stimulate GLP-1 secretion, which can help with body weight management.

BioGrowing currently have our own strains already, the live strain AKK WST01 and the inactivated AKKBG-001.

As a live strain isolated from the intestines of healthy individuals, AKK WST01 was developed with Shanghai Ruijin Hospital under the guidance of a Chinese academician. Its research findings were published in the top-tier journal Cell Metabolism, making it China’s first AKK live strain validated through a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in humans. The trial confirmed that AKK WST01 strain was well-tolerated in overweight or obese patients with type 2 diabetes.The company is also developing its live and inactive Akkermansia strains.

In patients with low baseline AKK abundance, WST01 demonstrated significant colonization, effectively reducing body weight, BMI, fat mass, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), LDL, and diastolic blood pressure, while enhancing fat oxidation. To date, AKK WST01 has obtained patents in 13 countries and has received US Self-GRAS (generally recognized as safe) certification, making it eligible for global market promotion.

AKKBG-001 is an inactivated strain sourced from the intestines of healthy individuals in Kashgar, Xinjiang. Produced via proprietary anaerobic fermentation and high-fidelity inactivation, it is a pure, safe bacterial powder free of antibiotic resistance or virulence genes, through whole-genome sequencing. It supports weight management, energy metabolism, and gut barrier repair, Studies have shown its outstanding ability to inhibit fat absorption and promote fat breakdown, while also boosting energy metabolism, specifically repairing damaged gastrointestinal mucosa, regulating gut microbiota balance, and reducing intestinal inflammation.

The postbiotic form of AKKBG-001 is suitable for various applications, including gummies, beverages, and functional foods. Leveraging advanced production processes, BioGrowing has achieved large-scale production of derivative capsules containing 30 billion TFU (total fluorescent unit) per capsule, enhanced with EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) green tea extract and vitamins for synergistic effects, offering a new option for scientific weight management.