Chewing gum and gummies: Anti-stress alternative from Tec students

Using the properties of plants, Daniela and Fernanda Cabral founded XIA’H, a startup that sells supplements in the form of chewing gum and gummies that aim to reduce stress and anxiety.

These sisters, who are also Tec de Monterrey students, based their research on the extraction of secondary metabolites that they turn into functional foods.

“We specifically focus on extracting secondary metabolites from Mexican medicinal plants, which sounds very complex.

“We manufacture functional candies: chewing gum and gummies with the same extract and composition that help with stress,” she said.

This venture was developed thanks to the Entrepreneurial Talent Scholarship from the Instituto de Emprendimiento Eugenio Garza Lagüera.

It was Daniela’s love for plants that sparked the startup she started four years ago, which made its initial sales in Querétaro and Monterrey.

“We chose stress because it’s something that we experience on a daily basis. We’ve always liked plants, and I’m specifically in charge of the product research part.

“I’ve always loved plants and the benefits of nature. They’ve been used traditionally for years and are deeply rooted in our history; the key lies in innovation and that’s what we’re doing with this methodology,” she added.

So far, XIA’H has developed two products and Tec students Diego Galicia and Fernando Vega have also joined the project.

“We use the analogy that plants have superpowers, to create different products within the range of functional foods for holistic health and wellbeing,” explained Daniela, who studies medicine.

“We chose stress because it’s something we experience on a daily basis.”

The products

• NeMi Project: chewing gum to reduce stress.
• Nicoch Project: functional gummies based on a main extract and microalgae.
• NEEUH Project: natural bioactive cosmetics.

How XIA’H products are made

Daniela explained the process of creating the chewing gum and gummies that aim to reduce stress.

“We developed our own method to extract, purify, and stabilize these compounds.

“We identify a problem and study the plants that may be related. We then extract two compounds that we use as the main extract and apply it to our products,” she said.

Daniela added that the vision for the future is to continue innovating on the use of plants and empowering the communities that produce them, as well as promoting entrepreneurship and science among young people.

Traveling to Switzerland and winning an award

XIA’H was selected as one of the eight Mexican startups to travel to Switzerland and participate in an acceleration program.

“There were eight Mexicans and eight Swiss in the group. We traveled to Switzerland for a week where we had an incubation period at the University of St. Gallen and developed a disruptive vision for our business model.”

“We presented our pitch at the Mexican embassy and won first place out of the Mexican participants.” Later, the program took place in Mexico, where we made contact with the industry,” she said.

Daniela said she attended a panel for strengthening entrepreneurship and also presented to a jury, where they won second place.

Finally, the XIA’H team said that they will officially launch their products in the coming weeks, which can be found on their social media @XIA’H.

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