SNIO describes how the Company’s portfolio companies are working together on a grant to complete a $1,286,897 study to develop and market a bone-health program for adolescents and adults. The grant, jointly funded by AlgaeCal International and IHT prior to its merger with SNIO, involves 400 subjects and is being conducted by investigators from two major universities. The study is in response to a 'call to action' issued in the U.S. Surgeon General's (SG) 2004 Bone Health report citing studies that 85% of adolescent girls and 65% of boys do not consume sufficient calcium and bone building nutrients for normal bone growth. The SG reported that the lack of adequate nutrition during these critical bone-building years has placed America's bone health in jeopardy. The Report encourages development of programs to increase bone health by improving diets, increasing physical activity, and improving 'health literacy' and to ' ... get started by taking action today in homes, health care settings, and communities across our nation ... you are never too old or too young to improve your bone health,' pointed out the SG. 

Using AlgaeCal's plant-derived calcium with natural occurring magnesium and 73 other trace minerals, IHT conducted an exhaustive review of the research on bone-building ingredients. This research supported the addition of higher than recommended levels of vitamins D-3 and K-2 to the blend and the incorporation of recently discovered bone-building mineral, strontium, into the adult program. The blend was incorporated into bone-health cookies along with Z-trim fat-replacer (AMEX: ZTM; health-enhancing Enova oil (www.enovaoil.com), a product of a joint venture between Japanese Kao Corporation and Archer Daniels Midland; and Fibersol-2 (www.matsutaniamerica.com) soluble dietary fiber. Prior to beginning the study, a series of pilot studies were conducted using adolescents and adults to evaluate the taste and texture of the cookies using increasingly finer grinds of the calcium. 

After completion of the pilot studies designed to refine the plan, formal clinical trials began in early 2006. The trials involved 400 subjects, including adults, adolescents and children. Subjects completed self-reports, bone density x-rays (DEXA), and a 43-item blood chemistry panel at baseline, and will complete the same tests after 90-days, 6-months, one-year and five-years. “In addition to the benefits derived from the research data,” said Samuel Keith, CEO of the Research Center, “the children, adolescents and adults are all being provided with comprehensive test reports of their bone density and blood chemistries, the cost of which would be prohibitive to most of these people.” 

“In return for their support of our clinical trials,”said Dean Neuls, President of AlgaeCal International, “we have a long-term strategic relationship with SNIO providing them with a royalty based on our gross national and international sales of AlgaeCal as well as the bone-health program we are presently studying. “In our view, developing and marketing the bone-health program that incorporates the use of bone-health supplements to improve diets, a practical pedometer-based program to increase physical activity and feedback of test and tracking data to improve health literacy is an example of the synergy of our portfolio companies,” said Gilbert Kaats, SNIO's CEO.