The present invention relates to therapeutic formulations based on pumpkin products, in particular to encapsulated formulations for oral administration. A product of the invention comprises a hard gelatin capsule which encloses a unit dose of a formulation which comprises at least 50% by weight of one or more pumpkin product.
1. A process for the production of a hard gelatin capsule encapsulating a formulation comprising at least 50% by weight of a pumpkin product comprising pumpkin seed oil and particulate pumpkin seed matter wherein the process comprises the steps of:
providing a liquid formulation comprising pumpkin seed oil and particulate pumpkin seed matter in a vessel;
agitating the liquid formulation so as to maintain the particulate pumpkin seed matter therein in suspension;
feeding the formulation into a capsule filling station via a filling flow line;
introducing a unit dose volume of the liquid formulation into a hard gelatin part capsule via the filling station whereby prior to introducing the formulation into the hard gelatin part capsule, wherein the particle size of the pumpkin seed matter is reduced to a particle size of less than 300 microns; and
closing the hard gelatin part capsule to form a closed capsule after introduction of the formulation into the hard gelatin part capsule.
2. The process according to claim 1 wherein the particle size is reduced to a particle size of less than 200 microns.
3. The process according to claim 1 wherein the particle size is reduced at a temperature of 80-100° C.
4. The process according to claim 3 wherein the particle size is reduced at a temperature of 90-95° C.
5. The process according to claim 1 wherein one or more additional ingredients selected from the group consisting of herbal extracts, soya oil, vitamins and surfactants are added to the formulation after the particle size reduction.
6. The process according to claim 5 wherein the addition of the one or more additional ingredients is performed with the formulation at a temperature of 40-75° C.
7. The process according to claim 1 wherein the formulation is filled into the hard gelatin part capsule at a temperature of 40+/−5°πC.
8. The process according to claim 1 wherein the closed hard gelatin part capsule is maintained at, or cooled to ambient temperature as required, and sealed at around ambient temperature.
9. A hard gelatin capsule encapsulating a formulation comprising at least 50% of the pumpkin product produced by the method according to claim 1 .
10. The hard gelatin capsule according to claim 9 , wherein the formulation comprises at least 80% by weight of said pumpkin product.
11. The hard gelatin capsule according to claim 10 , wherein the formulation comprises 100% by weight of said pumpkin product.
12. The hard gelatin capsule according to claim 9 wherein the formulation additionally comprises one or more ingredients selected from the group consisting of herbal extracts, soya oil, vitamins and surfactants.
13. The hard gelatin capsule according to claim 9 wherein the formulation comprises a weight ratio of the particulate pumpkin seed matter:pumpkin seed oil in a range of 60:40-40:60, respectively.
14. The hard gelatin capsule according to claim 13 wherein the formulation comprises a weight ratio of the pumpkin seed oil:particulate pumpkin seed matter in a range of 40-50:60-50, respectively, so as to provide 100% of the formulation.
15. The hard gelatin capsule according to claim 9 wherein the formulation further comprises 15-25 weight % of a vegetable extract or an herbal extract, totaling 100 weight %.
16. A hard gelatin capsule encapsulating a formulation, wherein the formulation comprises a mixture of 50-60 weight % of pumpkin seed oil, 15-20 weight % sweet sumac bark extract, 4-5 weight % extract of hops, 5-15 weight % of soya oil, 3-10 weight % of an emulsifying wax, and 3-7 weight % of one or more vitamins, totaling 100 weight %.
17. The hard gelatin capsule according to claim 9 , wherein the particle size of the particulate pumpkin seed matter is less than 200 microns.