It may sound like the drunken ramblings of someone propping up the bar at closing time but beer lovers who yearn to halt the march of time might soon be able to do just that.
This is the bold claim of an Israeli tech start-up, which is attempting to bring to market a beer that could help turn back the clock.
Founded by physicist and tech entrepreneur Menashe Haskin and biologist Dr Moran Gendelman, the biotechnology firm, named Rosalind Bioculture, is working to create a “functional beer” that could boost longevity.
The tech firm is fermenting the beer using a novel yeast strain that naturally produces a coenzyme called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), a derivative of Vitamin B3, which is known for its anti-ageing properties.
Speaking to Israeli publication Ynet, Gendelman said: “Using classical microbiology methods... we caused the beer yeast to produce very large amounts of vitamin B3.
“NAD+ is responsible for energy production processes at the cellular-mitochondrial level: it takes part in dozens of mechanisms in the life of the cell, from cell replication, to repair of mistakes in DNA, to recovery and waste removal after energy has been produced at the cellular level.”
Haskin said: “The amount of NAD+ in our body peaks around age 20 and declines from there. By age 40, we already have half the amount we had at 20.
“The effects linked to its deficiency begin with difficulty for cells to produce energy, reproduce and recover after they have suffered DNA damage. That causes impaired memory, impaired brain function, reduced ability to recover after injury and after exertion, wrinkles in the skin.”
Rather than produce its own beer brand, the tech firm plans to partner with breweries around Israel, and abroad.
“We don’t really believe in building a brand,” Haskin said, citing the costliness and time-consuming nature of such an endeavour. “The path we chose is to work with breweries by offering them our yeast.
“We can bring our unique strength of understanding yeast, and allow those breweries to be the ones that go to market and be a force multiplier for them, because there is really a lot of demand for innovation, especially innovation of this kind.”
The prototypes that Rosalind has produced have a lower alcohol-content than most beers, indicating plans to position a successful product within the market’s wellness segment.
“There is a very strong trend all over the world, especially in the Western world – in Europe and in the US – of functional drinks, and that fits with the fact that people are drinking less and less alcohol,” Haskin noted.
“The production of NAD+ puts some kind of stress on the yeast that causes it to produce less alcohol. We have already made beer with 2.5% per cent to 3.% [ABV], and we are currently working on a yeast that will be able to produce less than 2% alcohol.
“We killed two birds with one stone.”
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