Is there a way to make eating your fruits and veggies easier?

Tufts University professor emerita Simin Meydani, a nutrition, health, and aging researcher, thinks the answer is yes.

Formerly the provost for research and director of the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Center on Aging at Tufts, Meydani has co-founded a startup with just that goal.

Meydani, who is also a professor emeritus at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, started FulLife Nutrition together with food scientists Charles and Collette Sizer and Professor Jack Derby at the Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, supported by Tufts research and funding from the Tufts Launchpad Accelerator.

They have created and patented a shelf-stable smoothie comprised of 24 carefully selected fruits and vegetables, which—as research in her lab has shown—could greatly decrease rates of aging and conditions ranging from obesity to cancer to heart disease.

“It’s exciting to now be able to connect a research idea into something that can be commercialized and put into people’s hands,” says Meydani, who together with her partners is now looking for a food company or other investors to bring the product to market in the near future.

Half a Day’s Fruits and Veggies in a 10-oz Bottle

While the federal government recommends that Americans consume 5-7 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, only 10% of Americans do so.

“As a result of our marketing research, we know that people fail to eat as many fruit and vegetables as they should because it isn’t easy to do, and they have very limited time,” Meydani says.

FulLife Nutrition’s smoothie, containing more than three servings of veggies in a single 150-calorie helping, may help solve this problem. Compared to other packaged smoothies, it has more fiber (6 grams) no added sugar, and is high in antioxidants and several micronutrients.

“This smoothie product is mostly comprised of whole fruits and vegetables, not juices,” Meydani says. “In one 10-ounce bottle you get more than half of the daily recommended amount of veggies and fruits.”

It’s also shelf-stable and doesn’t need refrigeration, which Meydani says makes it more convenient—and unique among packaged smoothies.

Answering an Epidemiological Conundrum

Over 10 years, together with her husband Mohsen Meydani’s lab at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Simin Meydani’s own lab worked to answer an epidemiological conundrum.

“Epidemiologic research over the years has demonstrated a correlation between eating more fruits and vegetables and living longer and having lower rates of heart disease, cancer, and other conditions,” Simin Meydani says. “But it can only point to correlation, not causation.”

In a series of rigorous, long-term laboratory studies, Meydani and her fellow researchers fed their powdered mix of 24 vegetables and fruits to mice, and found that it reduced weight gain by 30%, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (a risk factor for liver cancer) by 90%, and arterial clogging by 70%, The mix also lowered cancer rates by 23% and median life span by 50%. 

These results were observed despite the mice eating a high-fat diet; reductions were lesser but similar when they ate a normal-fat diet. 

“We believe these results were achieved  because of the anti-inflammatory and beneficial effects on gut microbiota, and normalization of blood lipids that the mixture produced,” Meydani says.

This research reinforced years of epidemiological data collected in humans suggesting that consuming more fruits and vegetables is linked with better health outcomes and longer life Meydani says.

“We also saw beneficial effects on immunity, cognition, and body composition, meaning better muscle mass,” she says.

Researchers, Food Scientists, Entrepreneurs, and Students Team Up

Six Tufts students in one of Derby’s classes were instrumental in developing FulLife’s early marketing plan, conducting surveys with 500 participants as research. FulLife smoothies were also test-marketed in some of Tufts’ cafeterias to get students’ reactions to the price, taste, and different flavors of the smoothies. The smoothies sold in a short period of time without much advertising, and most ratings were positive, with many people expressing appreciation for the science behind the product and its health benefits.

“We see millennials and Gen-Z's as our primary target markets for this product, as well as those who would benefit the most from it, although this is a product that will be useful for all age groups,” says Meydani. 

Meydani and the marketing students won second place for the project at Tufts $100,000 New Venture Competition. The also won a Tufts Launchpad Accelerator grant that provided  help to get the initial 1,000 bottles produced.  The accelerator grant aims to bridge the gap between the end of federal funding for basic research and the beginning of commercial interest, a difficult transition period that’s also known as the “valley of death,” Meydani says. “We as scientists think in one way. It doesn’t work quite the same way when trying to commercialize a product,” Meydani says. 

She adds, “Your chances of success to attract experienced management, individual investors and corporate partners are substantially increased if you can demonstrate that you have taken the first steps toward commercialization.” Patents based on the mixture were recently allowed in the U.S., Australia and Japan. Tufts Office of Technology Transfer and Industry Collaboration was essential in obtaining the patents. 

FulLife has also received a NASA-funded pilot grant to adapt their smoothie for space travelers, through a collaboration between the Kaplan Lab in the Tufts School of Engineering and U.C. Davis as part of NASA’s Future Food in Space Initiative.

Meydani says she would never have moved forward with this effort at this stage of her career if not for all the funding, support, and encouragement she has received. 

“Having access to an experienced entrepreneur like Jack at Tufts is like having your own private incubator,” Meydani said. “And to be working with food scientists like the Sizers and lawyers familiar with FDA regulations… it’s really an incredible experience.”