Who is the ACNBC?
The Atlantic Canada Network on Bioactive Compounds (ACNBC) carries out the research and development necessary to commercialize health and nutrition products derived from wild blueberries and wild rosehips. Centred at the University of Prince Edward Island, ACNBC is a group of scientific researchers located at universities and government research centres, in Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia.
Our Goal
Our goal is to develop and commercialize health and nutrition products. These include nutraceuticals, functional food products, and ingredients. Research and development includes identifying the compounds in wild blueberries and wild rosehips with health-functional properties, and determining how these compounds work to deliver their associated health benefits. ACNBC is also developing technologies for extracting and concentrating the important compounds, conducting efficacy and safety evaluations, and investigations to understand their in vivo metabolic effects. Best management practices for propagation and field cultivation are also being developed to improve the quantity and quality of the bioactives-containing products.
Our Distinctiveness
Our focus is the development of crops that offer Atlantic Canada a competitive advantage within the expanding natural health products sector. Commercially managed wild blueberry stands are unique to eastern Canada and Maine, USA. The wild blueberry has a bioactive content which is among the highest of all the fruits and vegetables that have been studied. The healthful properties of blueberries range from improvements to cardiovascular and cognitive function to protection against certain cancers.
Wild roses are abundant throughout Atlantic Canada. Rosehips are renowned for their high levels of Vitamin C and other antioxidants, as well as essential fatty acids. Rosehip products are more commonly consumed in Europe and Asia than in North America, where their market potential is underexploited. ACNBC aims to establish wild roses as a new crop in Atlantic Canada. It constitutes the first comprehensive attempt to fully integrate a native species with high antioxidant capacity into a commercial production system. Wild roses should be grown in riparian zones, where their root systems will anchor the soil, to prevent erosion into the waterways.
