The company Villimey slf produces organically certified products from Icelandic herbs that grow in the wild nature of the Westfjords. Villimey's products came on the market in August 2005 and production has been growing in recent years. The products have been well received in Iceland and where they have been introduced abroad.
Villimey bases its operations on the utilization of the resources of Vestur-Barðastrandasýsla, which are pure and unpolluted nature and plants that grow wild in nature. Aðalbjörg Þorsteinsdóttir, owner and managing director of Villimeyjar, uses this purity of nature to produce products from herbs and bases the production on centuries-old recipes that she has developed in line with modern requirements and needs. Villimeyjar's products have become well-known in Iceland and are becoming increasingly popular.
Results from bioactivity studies of Villimey products
In recent months, herbal products produced by Villimey in Tálknafjörður have been studied at Matís' laboratory in Sauðárkrókur and in Reykjavík. The production of the herbal ointments from Villimey is in accordance with the strictest requirements regarding hygiene and quality workmanship. No preservatives are added to the ointments and they meet the requirements generally made for such production. These are natural products that have their natural activity against bacteria. This activity of the ointments was demonstrated by a so-called "Preservative efficiency test (challenge test)", which was carried out in Matís' laboratory. These tests followed the guidelines of the European Pharmacopoeia (7th edition from 2011).
Villimeyjar skin care products have also been tested in a variety of skin cell tests where it is possible to measure the activity of various substances in skin cells and thus find out their effect on the structure of skin cells. The skin cell tests measure the amount of collagen that promotes the development of skin cells, the elastase that causes the skin to degenerate, the metal proteinase 1 that breaks down collagen and the metal proteinase 2 that is necessary for the regeneration of body tissues.
These tests showed a positive effect of Villimey's skin care products on these substances and they either prevent their formation such as elastase and thus counteract the degeneration of the skin or stimulate their production such as collagen and thus contribute to the regeneration of the skin. There was also a considerable positive response of the skin care products in tests that measure their inhibitory effect on inflammation in muscles and joints.
Furthermore, the skin products were found to be effective in healing cells in the epithelium by means of a so-called "Scratch wound healing" test, and their healing effect in this test was found to be significant beyond the untreated criteria.
Antioxidant effects were also measured in Villimeyjar's products, both skin care products and herbal apple cider vinegar, and the antioxidant activity was found to be significantly higher than untreated criteria, and this antioxidant activity can be traced to the herbs used in the products. There was also a significant anti-inflammatory effect of the herbal mixture in the apple cider vinegar.
Matís 'research on Villimey's products has been funded by the V-Barðastrandasýsla Research and Innovation Fund, and Villimey and Matís' fund would like to thank the fund for their important support.