During the care process, in order for the pomelo garden to be highly effective, farmers often have to remove about 30% of the young pomelos so that the trees can concentrate nutrients on the remaining fruits to develop well. The amount of young pomelos that are rejected are often discarded and if handled improperly, they will decompose, contaminating the environment, and increasing pathogens for the whole pomelo garden.

The idea of taking advantage of the raw materials of young pomelo, developing a product that has the effect of treating diseases, such as lipid disorders, obesity, etc., was implemented by the authors of the Saigon Pharmaceutical Technology Center through the project. "Research to produce flavonoid-rich capsules, which support the treatment of dyslipidemia and reduce obesity from the source of young pomelo residues."

Extracts and capsules are from young grapefruit. Photo: NNC

The raw material is a young pomelo fruit, with an undeveloped intestine, accounting for 1/5 to 1/4 of the whole fruit area, selected and purchased in gardens that meet the standards of GACP farming and harvesting practices in Ben Tre. According to the authors, it is possible to use freshly fallen fruit with green skin, but it is best to use freshly pruned fruit.

According to the research team, in the market today, weight loss products from grapefruit only focus on exploiting grapefruit juice, dried grapefruit peel. Therefore, the group's capsule product has both solved the problem of young pomelo products, increased income for gardeners, and created a product to support weight loss, dyslipidemia, and liver fat.

Currently, the Department of Food Safety (Ministry of Health) has issued a certificate of product registration announcement No. 4859/2023/DKSP for grapefruit capsules of the group. The team is actively working with the manufacturer, Boston Pharmaceutical Company, to bring the product to commercialization.