From research and clinical experience to patenting, this is how medicine becomes a business
“ Think, believe, dream and dare ” Walt Disney would have said. Valerio Sanguigni, cardiologist and professor at the University of Tor Vergata in Rome, has made those words the leitmotif of his life.
His dream was ambitious: to find a “recipe” that was good to the palate and capable of guarding the secret of longevity. Because in the common sense we often believe, even wrongly, that everything that is good to the palate, delicious, can then be harmful to our body and our health.
The experience of the Roman doctor Sanguigni – the path of his specialization, cardiology, was already marked in his surname – comes from traditional medicine (to which he is strongly linked). However, he soon arrives at the idea that there is a potential in the “natural” and in foods that can (and must) absolutely be taken into consideration. Playing a fundamental role are the studies that he is so passionate about on long-lived populations. And above all on surprising long-lived populations, that is, those populations that live a long time but also stay in good health. From there Valerio Sanguigni begins to study foods, researching in them the power they can have on our organism, with a view to preventing diseases, especially cardiovascular diseases, and aging. After studies and years of research, clinical experience and discussions with patients, the idea arrives. “Invent a superfood and patent it”. “It all starts in front of a cup of tea – says Sanguigni – strictly green”.
In a bar in Turin I met Giovanni Borello for the first time , a food studies enthusiast. Valerio and Giovanni, distant in age, character and professional background (Giovanni is a food expert) found synergy in their shared passion. “We were close,” he says, “in enthusiasm and that pinch of wise madness needed to tackle an undertaking.” The undertaking was ambitious: to translate the studies done into reality, that is, to scientifically validate an antioxidant mixture made of natural food components, similar to what is done with a drug. To see the results first-hand and finally patent it. In short, a “try it and believe it.” “I often heard people ask me when I was making dietary recommendations: “Doctor, why are most of the good foods bad for your health?”. I had developed the idea in my head of creating a mixture that could have an antioxidant effect on the body, that was able to have scientifically proven beneficial effects on health. A product with no side effects, completely natural, but also pleasant to taste. A “natural medicine” that was good to eat, that would encourage patients to use it, that would not make them feel like they were taking a drug”.
Telling it like this seems like an easy task. And instead, almost six years have passed since then, between tests, experiments, food tests, trials on volunteers, publications and scientific validations. Then the patent that became a product also available on the market. It is called Powellnux. It is produced by a start-up in Turin. The compound is a mix of hazelnuts, cocoa and green tea. Finally, honey, another food rich in polyphenols. The mixture is prepared and produced in the form of a cream, with a special cold system, unique in its kind, to keep the antioxidant power of the contained foods as unaltered as possible, in an artisan company, also from Piedmont. An ice cream in all respects, even if today the mixture has also become a bar and a spreadable cream.
In the name “Po” stands for power, “well” stands for wellness, and finally “nux” for hazelnut in Latin. A name that is only apparently international, since the true soul (the hazelnut) of the blend is totally made in Italy. Just as the company and the story of those who created and produced it are Italian. The Powellnux case is the first example of superfood in prevention. But it is also a business story, now also told in a book (“Superfood. The secret of longevity” by Valerio Sanguigni published by Aliberti) that teaches that, when you have clear goals and ideas, even a doctor can become an entrepreneur, making a dream come true for your own good and that of others. And demonstrating that the prodigious foods, the superfoods, if scientifically validated and adequately used, can be truly useful for prevention and, why not, adjuvants in the treatment of some diseases.
