Company that evaluates dietary supplements joins research park

February 24, 2015  


Daniel Sliva

Daniel Sliva 
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INDIANAPOLIS - Manufacturers and consumers of dietary supplements could benefit from the work of a startup that verifies the healthy activity of those products.

DSTest Laboratories LLC, based in Purdue Research Park of Indianapolis, was founded in 2014 by Daniel Sliva, Ph.D., who has more than 20 years of experience in academic research in evaluating dietary supplements. The company can certify manufacturers' claims of their products' anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory and anti-obesity traits.

"Manufacturers are allowed by law to make health claims, structure and function claims, and nutrient claims about their products. Some claims may link a food substance with a disease or health-related condition, list the intended benefits of using it or list the amount of a nutrient or dietary substance in a product," he said. "There is a scarcity of functional testing to evaluate the real biological activity of these products. Not all natural compounds of the same origin have the same activity. More proper and rigorous scientific testing is necessary, which is the purpose of DSTest Laboratories."

The company uses several biological assays to evaluate anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, anti-microbial and anti-obesity properties of nutraceuticals and dietary supplements. It also uses liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, a technique that can separate, detect and identify multiple chemicals in complex mixtures, to develop its own technology that has been successfully used to identify molecules in biological samples.

"We provide our services to manufacturers and distributors of nutritional ingredients and producers of nutraceuticals and dietary supplements," Sliva said. "Our goal is to help produce high-quality products with evaluated, certified biological activity that leads to consumer satisfaction."

Sliva will attend the Ingredient Marketplace 2015 April 7-9 in Orlando, Florida.

About DSTest Laboratories LLC

DSTest Laboratories was founded in 2014 to help consumers and manufacturers of nutraceuticals and dietary supplements in their selection of the best high-quality and functional supplements. The market for human and pet nutraceuticals and dietary supplements is enormous; however, without proper regulation and required testing for the functional biological analyses and chemical composition, these supplements might not have any of their claimed health effects. As a result, proper and rigorous scientific testing is necessary.

About Purdue Research Park

The Purdue Research Park is the largest university-affiliated business incubation complex in the country. The Purdue Research Park manages the Purdue Technology Centers in four sites in Indiana located in West Lafayette, Indianapolis, Merrillville and New Albany. The more than 260 companies located in the park network employ about 4,500 people who earn an average annual wage of $63,000. The park is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2014 Incubator Network of the Year from the National Business Incubation Association for its work in entrepreneurship. For more information about funding and investment opportunities in startups based on a Purdue innovation, contact the Purdue Foundry at foundry@prf.org. 

Purdue Research Park contact: Steve Martin, 765-588-3342, sgmartin@prf.org

Source: Daniel Sliva, Ph.D., 317-379-3702, dsliva@dstest-lab.com 

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