SPAVA Coffee Debuts First-Ever Folic Acid-Fortified Coffee

Houston, TX - Beginning in the first quarter of 2008, food technology company Voyava Republic will add 80 micrograms – a third of the US Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) – of folic acid to its fortified gourmet coffee line SPAVA. In doing so, SPAVA will become the first coffee line to fortify its beans with the nutrient and will help meet the health needs of millions of Americans – especially women. Voyava Republic founder and CEO Michael Sweeney will unveil the new product today in New York before the National Coffee Association's Fall Educational Conference.

SPAVA's ground-breaking fortified coffee announcement marks the latest significant step in the food fortification movement, which has benefited the health of U.S. consumers for decades – from the addition of iodine to salt in 1924 to prevent goiter, to the addition of vitamin D to milk for calcium and phosphorus absorption. Long recognized as an essential nutrient for women, folic acid intake was recently linked with lower breast cancer rates among post-menopausal women in a study published this summer by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Since its launch in the fall of 2006, SPAVA has proven itself a pioneer in the growing fortified coffee movement by using a patent-pending technology to imbue fair-trade Arabica coffee beans with natural healthy supplements such as gingko biloba and echinacea. The innovative coffee line aims to improve physical and mental health, and its five varieties use the highest quality coffee beans to deliver benefits for joint health, memory, immunity, metabolism and stress relief.

"The debut of folic acid in our coffee represents a significant step for SPAVA as a product and for the fortification industry as a whole. Not only are we offering a more targeted science for consumers' daily health, we're delivering on our founding mission to target and help eliminate nutritional deficiencies by providing coffee for healthy living to today's consumers," said Sweeney.

SPAVA appears in health food stores around the country – including Whole Foods' flagship store in California. The folic acid will be added to all five organically grown wellness varieties:

• "Clarity" - Fortified with Gingko Biloba, White Tea and other natural ingredients to increase alertness and short-term memory.
• "Flexibility" - Fortified with Chondroitin Sulfate and other natural ingredients to improve overall joint health.
• "Immunity" - Fortified with Rosehips, Echinacea and other natural ingredients to strengthen the immune system and promote better overall wellness.
• "Metabolism" - Fortified with Green Tea Extract and other natural ingredients to promote natural weight loss.
• "Calm" - Fortified with Passionflower and B Vitamins to reduce stress and promote overall total body wellness (Swiss Water decaffeinated).

SOURCE: Voyava Republic