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Welcome to vivaNUTRITION®! Our story begins with Grace’s (our founder and CEO) epiphany 4 years ago. Coming back from one of her frequent trips to her home country China and witnessing yet another case of child food contamination, Grace decided to put all her energy and unparalleled nutrition expertise so that Moms and Dads could provide their kids with the most trustful and nutritious sources of food!!
Her passion and drive immediately convinced Riccardo (our CTO and Co-Founder) to jump on board and lead the product development. Riccardo grew up in the Italian countryside, naturally exposed to authentic and delicious ingredients, and he went on to become a recognized Taste scientist.
Together they assembled a multicultural and enthusiastic group of experts all sharing the same goal to create a happy community and bring the best out of you and your children with natural, nutritious and delicious food and supplements aimed at supporting brain development and digestive health.

The Founders

Grace Lin Xu, CEO and Founder

Grace has a strong background in Nutrition and Business (including an MBA at IMD, Lausanne). As a top management executive in leading ingredient (Chr Hansen, DSM) and food companies (Nestle, Pepsico), she contributed to their growth across three continents. Moved by the urgent cause of bringing the healthiest, safest products and nutrition concepts to China, Grace developed her own big vision for nutrition and founded vivaNUTRITION® in June 2014.

 

 

 

Scientific Advisory Board

 

Riccardo Accolla, CTO & Co-Founder

Neuroscientist by training with expertise in Flavor Perception, Riccardo spent over 10 years managing Innovation programs in the Food and Ingredient industry. Specific solutions for sugar and salt reduction he worked on are now integrating many well known Better-For-You Food & Beverage brands. Riccardo obtained a PhD in Neuroscience from the Swiss Polytechnic Federal Institute (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland, and a MEng in Biomedical Engineering from the Polytechnic School of Milan, Italy. Experience on identifying innovative solutions in the field of Taste and Nutrition and translating promising scientific advances into the development of healthier and successful market products.

 

• 2012-2014 Director Discovery Health & Nutrition

• 2010-2012 Science & Technology Manager

• 2008-2010 Technical & Brand Manager

• Ph.D. Neuroscience and developmental Biology

• MEng Biomedical Engineering

• Institute of Food Technologists Sackler

• Institute of Nutrition Sciences

• McGill Centre of Health & Economics

• 2001 – 2003 Product Specialist Transfusion Therapies

-VIVA Scientific Advisor Ph.D. Michael I McBurney

An internationally renowned scientist, communicator and consultant, Michael has leadership experience developing and implementing product innovation, nutrition research and nutrition communications at VitaScan, DSM Nutritional Products and Kelloggs.

 

 

 

 

• 2008-2018 VP Science, Communications & Advocacy

• Ph.D. degrees in Nutrition from Cornell University

• Industry representative (non-voting member) of the FDA Food Advisory Committee

• Founding Advisory Board member of the Institute of Nutrition

• Metabolism and Diabetes within the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

VIVA Scientist Ph.D. Frank J. Bunick

Frank has over 20 years of experience on food chemistry and nutrition research and holds over 25 patents in related industries. Ph.D. Food Chemistry & Nutrition (University of Massachusetts).

 

 

 

 

 

• over 20 years experience on food chemistry and nutrition research,

• holds over 25 patents in related industry

• 1995-2010 McNeil Consumer Healthcare (Johnson & Johnson)

• 1993-1995 R&D Manager Domino Ltd.

 

 

VIVA Scientist Wolfgang Roehr

Wolfgang was more than 38 years in the medical and function foods industries including as the founder of BIOGENERICS™ GmBH and ROEHR nature+science.

 

 

 

 

• BIOGENERICSTM GmbH Founder

• in 2002 found the ROEHR nature + science product line

• BioG MicroTabs patent holder

 

 

VIVA Scientist Ph.D. Shaohui Zhang

Shaohui is a professor of Shanghai Jian Tong University, director of food safety research center and leads the team to develop new products and production processes for dairy and beverage enterprises. He also focuses on the functional research and application development of bioactive peptides in fermented dairy products.

 

 

 

• Researcher, Showa Food Research Institute, Japan

• R&D Manager, Shanghai Guangming dairy

• Chief researcher, Mengniu Dairy

• Asia Pacific technical leader, Tak Lok Food Group

• Ph.D. in Kagoshima University, Japan

 

BB-12 cooperative partner–Chr.Hansen

Chr. Hansen Inc. is a global supplier of bioscience based ingredients to the food, health and animal feed industries, with leading positions in the markets in which they operate. They produce cultures and dairy enzymes, probiotics and natural colors.

BB-12® has received a Generally Recognized as safe (GRAS) status by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States. In Europe, Bifidobacterium animalis has been granted Qualified Presumption of Safety (QPS) status since 2007 by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) – a status granted on species level.

Chr. Hansen’s BB-12® is a main ingredient in vivaNUTRITION® Probiotics. It is considered the world’s best documented Bifidobacterium. The large number of clinical studies and scientific publications indicate that the BB-12® probiotic strain many have beneficial effects regarding the gastrointestinal and immune areas.

Alone, the BB-12® probiotic strain:

 

2 Chouraqui et al. 2004; Saavedra et al. 1994)
3 Holscher et al. 2012; Rizzardini et al. 2012; Schiffrin et al. 1997
4 Smith et al. 2013; Taipale et al. 2011
5 Matsumoto et al. 2001; Murakami et al. 2006; Nishida et al. 2004; Pitkälä et al. 2007; Uchida et al. 2005
6 Saavedra et al. 2004