Rihoo Healthcare, 'Hwangchil' Extract Functional Ingredient for Women's Menopause Improvement Pursues Individual Recognition Registration

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Lihu Healthcare, which successfully completed a national project on a Hwangchil extract-based female menopause improvement agent, is pushing for the registration of this extract as an individually recognized functional ingredient.

On the 9th, Lihu Healthcare, a company specializing in natural healthcare development and pharmaceutical sales, announced that it is pursuing the registration of Hwangchil tree extract, a substance that improves female menopausal symptoms, as an individually recognized functional ingredient with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS).

The company was selected in 2016 as a research company for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' "High Value-added Food Technology Development Project for Health Functional Foods" and received an "Excellent" evaluation last year after completing the national project on Hwangchil tree extract. Lihu Healthcare is dedicating significant effort to the ingredient registration, including conducting human application trials on the Hwangchil tree extract.

A company official said, "We have been steadily conducting human application trials to obtain MFDS certification," adding, "Last year, through human application trials of Hwangchil tree extract targeting menopausal women in collaboration with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, we obtained positive results in improving menopausal syndrome, raising high expectations for MFDS certification."

The company has focused its research and development on the fact that Hwangchil tree extract exhibits estrogenic biological activity. A company representative explained, "After more than three years of research and development, which was successfully completed, we have applied for the registration of the individually recognized functional ingredient," and added, "In 2018, we also obtained a patent jointly with Ajou University for a female menopause improvement substance containing Hwangchil tree extract." Lihu Healthcare is paying attention to the menopausal health functional food market, which is growing again recently. According to industry sources, the female menopause health functional food market, which had grown to around 300 billion KRW, declined to about 50 billion KRW due to the Baeksuo incident in 2014 but has been recovering to a scale of 120 billion KRW in 2018. The company expects that the next-generation menopausal syndrome improvement agent containing the new female menopause functional ingredient, Hwangchil tree extract, will lead the market.

Oh Seong-moon, CEO of Lihu Healthcare, said, "Following the 'Excellent' evaluation in the national project, we are thoroughly preparing to achieve a new milestone by registering the individually recognized functional ingredient," and added, "We will strive to establish our menopausal syndrome improvement agent as a representative product in the growing market."

Meanwhile, the Hwangchil tree is known as one of the world's three major medicinal plants along with Acacthopanax and Panax ginseng. It is famous for its excellent medicinal effects, to the extent that China's Emperor Qin Shi Huang called it an elixir of immortality, and it is known to be a valuable native plant in Korea.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.