Plant-based food sales are outpacing total retail food sales. According to the Plant-Based Food Association (PBFA), based on data from the 52 weeks ending April 2019 from market researcher SPINS (Chicago), plant-based food sales grew 11% to $4.5 billion while total retail food sales grew only 2%. The data also showed that plant-based alternatives outpaced sales of their animal-based counterparts. For example, plant-based meats grew 10% compared to animal meats, which grew 2%. Plant-based cheese grew 19% compared to dairy cheese, which saw no sales growth in that time frame. And plant-based milk grew 6%, while dairy milk declined in sales by 3%.

More recently, PBFA partnered with SPINS to look at plant-based food sales following the COVID-19 outbreak. Based on data from the 16 weeks ending April 19, 2020, panic buying at the beginning of March 2020 spiked sales of plant-based food by 90% at its peak, compared to the previous year. This spike was 25% higher than that for total food sales. After consumers settled down, plant-based food sales grew 27% in the four weeks post panic buying—but growth still remained 35% higher than growth of total food sales.

Clearly, plant-based foods are in high demand, and consumers are willing to spend their hard-earned money on them. However, as more and more plant-based products come to market, there is limited shelf space at brick-and-mortar retail to accommodate these products. This creates an immense opportunity to sell directly to consumers online or through other e-commerce channels. For example, Beyond Meat, one of the leading plant-based meat manufacturers, launched its own e-commerce site in August 2020 to sell directly to consumers. The advantage is that some people may not have access to these products at their local grocery store; therefore e-commerce gives them an alternative avenue for purchase. Also, loyal customers can buy larger-quantity bulk packs and combo packs not available at retail.

Seeing the potential for plant-based products at e-commerce and the value of having a centralized place to buy vegan products, Vejii was born. Vejii is an online marketplace that exclusively sells vegan products. While the site has only been operating for about three months, Vejii already has 3,000 products in its inventory. Launching and operating during the pandemic, Vejii demonstrates just how much retail has changed.

“I think that online shopping and online grocery ordering has increased a lot during the pandemic, and I know even for my family, we regularly get our groceries delivered to the door. So, I think there has been a trend toward e-commerce and online in shopping for groceries to begin with,” explains Kory Zelickson, CEO of Vejii. “And I think that was only further propelled by the pandemic.”

Vejii not only captures a growing base of consumers who are ordering groceries online but also the growing number of consumers experimenting with plant-based food. According to a survey conducted by Mattson back in 2017, 65% of plant-based consumers are omnivores, 29% are flexitarian and actively reducing their meat consumption, 4% are vegetarian, and 2% are vegan. With this in mind, Vejii is designed to be an inclusive place that accommodates all consumers and provides resources to remove some of the guesswork of transitioning to a plant-based diet, if that is the goal.

“I recognize that there are a lot more people out there who aren’t vegan but are interested in becoming vegan and interested in incorporating more plant-based products into their diets, and that’s not a segment of the population that we want to exclude in any way,” says Zelickson. “So, we encourage people who eat meat as much as people who are vegan to come and buy from the site. That being said, even our marketing and our strategy for customer acquisition doesn’t always focus just on the vegan community.”

“We have quite a few resources through our blog and social channels,” he continues. “We have unique recipes that we share, and to make things even easier, we are starting to bundle products with recipe designs that we have in partnership with different influencers.” So, if a Vejii customer sees a recipe on the site they want to make, they’ll be able to click a button and order the product necessary to make that recipe.

“We’re trying to do as much as possible to help provide better access to these products and help mainstream plant-based diets by providing the right resources for people,” says Zelickson.

The lesson? Consumers are already online looking for innovative products, so securing sales virtually is convenient for both you and the consumer.

Articles

Limited shelf space makes e-commerce and direct-to-consumer even more vital for plant-based firms.

Branching Out: Plant-based products rely on e-commerce as shelf space gets crowded

In recent years, online gaming has transcended from a popular pastime into a global market phenomenon full of live streaming events, sponsorship opportunities, and professional gaming leagues wherein earnings can rival those of major sport leagues. In 2020, an estimated 2.7 billion gamers were expected to have spent $159.3 billion on video games.

 But there is much more market share to go around.

Health product manufacturers are increasingly finding their own opportunities in esports. By developing dietary supplements intended for the unique needs of gamers, these companies aim to capitalize on an up-and-coming market. Some trends are already evident in the nascent esports category, and others will likely emerge in a short time.

For all of the esports dietary supplements on the market today, most are similar in that they’re designed for convenience. XP Sports, a prominent brand in the space that has partnered with the Canadian gaming group Lazarus, demonstrates this in its feature offerings: RTD beverages, gummies, and capsules.

“With XP, we think the sky is the limit with our products,” says Ashley Arndt, communication specialist for XP Sports’ parent company Iovate Health Sciences (Oakville, ON, Canada). “We’ve seen a strong affinity towards our Gamer Gummies, but this space is also inundated with RTD flavor varieties. We’d like to keep up with our competitors in that aspect in addition to new and exciting innovations like one we’re currently working on, which is unlike anything on the market to date.”

RTD beverages largely dominate the space right now, but gummies, premix powders, capsules, and bars are expected to penetrate more and more as they can all assimilate to gamer lifestyles. These products can be consumed during game play or immediately before or after with little effort.

The esports health category has its beginning in energy drinks. Longstanding brands geared toward gamers, and many new ones, have caffeine and creatine as their primary active ingredients. While a stimulant like caffeine will likely continue to prevail in esports products, it's increasingly being paired with L-theanine and other ingredients for what suppliers believe offer more well-rounded cognitive performance. And some alternative ingredients make a case of their own for energy and brain health benefits.

“I believe caffeine will always be a strong player in the field, since caffeine is the most used stimulant in the world,” says Braxton Wright, sales manager for ingredient supplier Chemi Nutra (Austin, TX). “But synergistic/complementary ingredients will be the real game changers, such as our AlphaSize alpha-GPC.”

Chemi Nutra’s ingredient, an alpha-glycerylphosphorylcholine, which is a precursor of choline in the brain, is supported by a clinical trial in which 13 young adults performed virtual reality game play after consuming AlphaSize or placebo in double-blind, crossover fashion. The active ingredient was associated with improved game performance and improvements in self-reported feelings such as focus, vigor, and jitteriness. A clinical trial focusing specifically on a gaming population is no normal undertaking in the category. Projects such as this, however, may be especially useful for finding success in a market full of sophisticated consumers.

Nutrition21 (Harrison, NY) is benefiting from having conducted its own research, too, which was published in the journal 

 The company’s nooLVL ingredient is an “optimized” dose of inositol with bonded arginine silicate.

“Found at high levels in the brain, inositol is important for brain health and function, and it has been shown to benefit mood and cognition,” says Elyse Lovett, Nutrition21’s vice president of marketing. “nooLVL is the first cognitive-performance ingredient that has been studied in a gaming population, an important aspect for formulation.” When compared to a placebo in a placebo-controlled study on gamers, the ingredient was associated with reduced errors in game play and self-reported improvements in energy and decreases in anger. Compared to caffeine, it’s stimulant-free.

nooLVL is now featured in products geared towards gamers for a dozen different brands, including the XP Sports portfolio of products: its Boost brand of carbonated RTD, a Boost ready-to-mix powder, and Zero Lag capsules.

Chief among the concerns of dedicated gamers should be eye health. Countless hours spent in front of computer monitors can put considerable stress on the eyes and, for this, ingredient suppliers offer their own solutions.

AffronEye saffron extract from Pharmactive Biotech SL (Madrid, Spain) is one such offering. It falls back on research linking consumption of saffron extract and antioxidants in general to improvements in macular and retinal health. The company takes its ingredient a step further by standardizing it for 3% crocins, the major carotenoids found in saffron.

“Pharmactive’s advanced organic formulation ensures that these compounds are rapidly absorbed and can reach the maximum concentration in blood after only 1.5 hours, which is considered high speed when comparing with other carotenoids,” says Julia Diaz, Pharmactive’s head of marketing. “We apply our proprietary, patented extraction process that allows AffronEye to be effectively used at 20 mg/day.”

AffronEye is offered in a number of different markets right now, especially Asia. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has only served to intensify concerns around prolonged gaming and the need for beneficial eye health solutions.

An alternative ingredient competing in this segment of the market is lutein, a carotenoid found in high concentration in marigold flowers.

As esports continue to grow in popularity, so too will the financial opportunities. Industry members expect exponential growth for esports dietary supplements, and brands will have increasingly new opportunities for product differentiation, whether by delivery format, clinically backed active ingredients, or other means of branding.

Highly scientific ingredients and simple herbal extractions will likely continue to penetrate the market, and quality should remain top of mind for brands involved in this growing international market space.

Newzoo. Global Games Market Report 2020. Published June 2020. 

Tartar J et al. “A prospective study evaluating the effects of a nutritional supplement intervention on cognition, mood states, and mental performance in video gamers.” 

, vol. 11, no. 10 (October 1, 2019): 2326

Convenience and science are paving the way for new health products for gamers.

Growing trends in esports dietary supplements

Dietary supplements have been changed by COVID-19. An increased demand for immune-health products since last year has brought new business to the category and to certain botanical ingredients in particular. While the unique state of global affairs might not be impacting all health product manufacturers, some are at risk of COVID-related ingredient supply shortages and other obstacles. Inventory must be properly planned and managed, as is always the case, and longstanding relationships with trusted industry partners are now all the more important as they can help brands avoid undue challenges and risks.

So, which ingredients are shining in current COVID times, and what factors may influence their availability?

The COVID-related barriers to smooth commerce are many, according to ingredient suppliers interviewed recently. Indena S.p.A. (Milan, Italy), a supplier of botanicals such as boswellia and echinacea, cites transportation congestion and price surges as challenges affecting all businesses in Asia. Draco Natural Products Inc. (San Jose, CA) reports longer-than-usual transit times for ingredients, as international shipments that were once direct may now have multiple stops due to shortages of cargo containers and longer wait times at customs because of social distancing and sanitation requirements.

With international trade moving slower than usual, some ingredient suppliers are turning to the local governments in their growing regions and finding that governments are willing to prioritize and permit certain business activities. “We proactively and collaboratively worked with the Indian government and authorities to prioritize and expedite customs clearance of essential products,” says Sabrina Di Blasio, director of corporate communication and branding for OmniActive Health Technologies (Morristown, NJ), a supplier of marigold-based and other botanical ingredients grown in India. “When air shipments resumed, the airfare cost was almost four times higher than before lockdown. [OmniActive] coordinated a weekly Air India flight for essential industries, and when sea shipments continued to be a challenge, we worked diligently with port officials to overcome manpower availability for loading and unloading as well as port congestion.”

The many operational delays are, of course, compounded by the year-to-year unpredictability of Mother Nature, which can significantly impact harvest yields.

“COVID-induced disruptions have exposed the fragility of global supply chains,” says Anand Swaroop, PhD, president of Cepham Inc. (Somerset, NJ), a supplier of many botanical ingredients grown overseas. “We have learned that there is an urgent need to revisit old assumptions grounded in supply chain reliability and stability.” He emphasizes that an important way of doing this is to build flexibility into one’s supply chain in order to adapt to sudden changes in demand for product and quantity.

Botanical ingredient suppliers are seeing strong sales growth for ingredients that are associated with immune-health use, regardless of any impediments that may be in the way of adequate supply. These ingredients are being sourced from different parts of the world, so every situation is unique.

“The most famous immunity herb in Traditional Chinese Medicine is astragalus, so it’s no surprise that it’s the winner as far as increase in demand,” says Wilson Lau, vice president of Nuherbs Co. (San Leandro, CA). He says Nuherbs is having no issues procuring organic astragalus because the company has its own growing area in China as well as a backup option. Lau adds that an unexpected increase in demand for honeysuckle was managed, despite heavy rains impacting yield, thanks to extensive grower relationships.

Draco is seeing strong sales of astragalus, too, as well as demand for mushrooms like reishi and lion’s mane, which have long been associated with immune-health use. The company’s R&D Director Brien Quirk expects andrographis, a bitter-tasting herb, to increase in demand as news spreads around the world that the government of Thailand this past winter approved of the ingredient’s use for treating COVID-19.

In the Americas, elderberry sales are rising because of this berry’s traditional history of use for managing viral infections such as influenza. Ramon Luna, marketing coordinator for Ecuadorian Rainforest LLC (Clifton, NJ), says demand for elderberry was already steady before demand skyrocketed in the first half of 2020, noting that “Elderberry is now one of the most difficult commodities to keep on shelves, as it’s out even before it comes in.”

A less-obvious market that has opened up in response to the COVID-19 pandemic is for ingredients associated with relaxation and calming effects, such as passionflower, valerian root, and chamomile. Has access to these smaller players suffered?

Lau of Nuherbs admits that while his firm hasn’t had difficulty sourcing less-popular ingredients, there can be a bottleneck in processing the material for shipping during this time. “There is only so much material that our facilities can process and package in a day,” he says. “It’s harder to justify space on the processing line for herbs that are less popular, because of the setup, cleanup, and time associated with switching over from one herb to another. That being said, we consider ourselves partners with our clients. We are here to solve their issues, which includes getting them the herbs that they need even when it may not be optimal to our operations. We understand that without a particular ingredient, no matter how small the quantities used are, they may not be able to make a product, and we want our partners in the supply chain to be successful.”

In times like these, working with suppliers who have longstanding history in the industry, trusted relationships with growers (if not vertical supply chains), and plans in place for the unexpected can help manufacturers avoid catastrophe.

In light of the latest increased demands for certain botanicals, some wonder if adulteration risks are now greater. Sabinsa Corp. (East Windsor, NJ), a supplier of turmeric and other botanical ingredients, says that buyers are being ever more vigilant because adulteration is always a danger when demand is high.

Bad actors may have greater incentive to adulterate products now, but there are Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) rules in place that, if followed, help mitigate these risks. “The cGMP rule makes it very difficult to get adulterated products into market,” says Michael McGuffin, president of the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA; Silver Spring, MD). “The regulation is so tough that if you try to sell me something not turmeric, you have a requirement to do more than read the label. You have to conduct at least one test or examination to verify that it’s turmeric. For every single lot of botanical you receive, you’re required to conduct one test to verify its identity.”

While the regulations are stringent, not every brand has the financial resources to invest in expensive laboratory testing equipment and staff. Fortunately, economical test methods are available as well as third-party lab services and a variety of publicly available guidance materials.

The American Botanical Council (ABC; Austin, TX) has made available a wealth of educational material through its Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program (BAPP), including bulletins that detail the methods bad actors might use to adulterate their products and laboratory guidance documents that offer available test methods that are sufficient for verifying product integrity.

“The fact of being a small brand does not exempt a manufacturer from testing requirements,” points out Stefan Gafner, PhD, ABC’s chief science officer and BAPP’s technical director. “For this reason, our laboratory guidance documents assess a number of tests for their appropriateness to determine the authenticity of a material, including macroscopic and microscopic identification, and simple chemical assays if such tests are available… Some of these tests can be performed at a reasonable cost and are definitely within the budget even for a small manufacturer.”

ABC made available a turmeric laboratory guidance document last year at just the time when turmeric suppliers cautioned that the COVID-19 pandemic was causing heightened demand. A paper on elderberry adulteration is currently in peer-review.

Any ingredient supplier and industry member will tell you that best practices during times like these are to work with companies you trust—but to always do your due diligence.

As demand for certain plant materials escalates, the reality remains: Supply is everything.

Botanical and herb suppliers are carefully monitoring supply and logistics in 2021

Marine health ingredients are changing. As time passes, enterprising companies and scientific institutions are finding new uses for familiar ingredients and in some cases reinventing the raw materials as we know them. Many years ago, marine health ingredients were limited to what could be caught in the wild seas or farmed on its coasts. Now, many of the ingredients in the marine health category are farmed above ground in closed systems under the bright sun or indoors and in darkness. Other materials are undergoing intense audits of how they are procured and transported.

At the end of the day, all new innovations in the marine health category will only be implemented and sold at scale if consumer demand is high. Let’s peruse some of the latest global offerings, distinct in how they’re manufactured and in the consumers and use cases they appeal to.

Astaxanthin is a potent antioxidant popularly sourced from algae. It gives aquatic animals like salmon and crabs their characteristic red color and has inspired many sports and general health products over the years. However, astaxanthin isn’t only sourced from algae. Astaxanthin can also be found in a particular species of yeast 

 and one pioneering company is turning this into a successful business.

Using a yeast fermentation technology, NextFerm (Yokneam, Israel) now produces high volumes of yeast-derived astaxanthin for dietary supplements. A key advantage of this astaxanthin is that, unlike astaxanthin sourced from algae, it’s said to be odorless and flavorless. The fishy odor and flavor of many algal astaxanthin ingredients have historically created a barrier to developing astaxanthin products beyond softgels and capsules without the help of masking agents like flavors and fragrances. But an odorless and flavorless astaxanthin provides new opportunities.

NextFerm’s Vice President of Global Marketing Elzaphan Hotam says Purity Products has been using NextFerm’s astaxanthin in an astaxanthin gummy since last fall. Hotam expects similar product launches from other brands very soon.

 spp.) is prized for its natural content of calcium, magnesium, and trace minerals, which the algae absorb in nature from surrounding seawater. When fronds break off of the living organism, they’re collected at the ocean floor by Marigot Ltd. (Cork, Ireland), and the company sells the material under its Aquamin umbrella of health products.

Now, research suggests that a combination product of the aforementioned algae, seawater-derived magnesium, and a pine bark extract (sold commercially as Aquamin-Plus) may perform better than popular glucosamine in osteoarthritic subjects. In a recent study on more than 300 people with mild symptoms of knee osteoarthritis, subjects reported improved physical function and reduced dependence on pain-relieving drugs when supplementing with Aquamin-Plus compared to glucosamine.

Glucosamine has long been a popular dietary supplement in the joint-health arena, but a plant-based alternative like Aquamin-Plus may appeal to consumers seeking plant-based ingredients—especially if research continues to support the formula’s use.

Aquamin ingredients are sold in the United States through distributing partner Stauber Performance Ingredients (Fullerton, CA). The ingredient used in the aforementioned trial is sold commercially in powder or granulated and ready to tablet.

Sustainability initiatives are fortunately now a standard part of doing business for many retailers of fish and fish byproducts. But the call for transparency extends beyond fish filets and fish oils into still other fish byproducts, such as collagen and gelatin. In its effort to increase transparency and source ingredients sustainably, Nitta Gelatin NA (Morrisville, NC) is making a push on its corporate social responsibility and sustainable procurement practices. It’s a move that surely other companies are making in the niche category.

Last year, Nitta partnered with the EcoVadis sustainability rating and management platform to better understand how it can make such changes. Nitta sources its fish collagen peptides only from farms that are certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council or Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certified, which helps to ensure animal welfare and environmental protection measures. In addition, the company is now answering customer demand for wild-caught marine collagen peptides from the North Pacific Ocean.

While collagen and gelatin products have probably been less heavily linked to their animal source compared to, say, a fish oil product, there are plenty of opportunities for manufacturers to promote these marine-sustainability efforts in their bars, bulk powders, and other health products made with collagen and gelatin. In keeping with customer demands, Nitta is actively working on increasing transparency and sustainability of its supply chains not just for fish collagen and gelatin, but for its bovine and porcine ingredients as well.

 a freshwater alga, is replete with vitamins and minerals but also with the green pigment chlorophyll. While green color is often a desired characteristic of health products containing chlorella, this is not always the case. And chlorella also has strong flavor and odor.

What if there were a chlorella devoid of strong color, flavor, and odor? Surely, it would open up new opportunities for chlorella-containing foods and health products.

Portuguese scientists, from academic institutions and the private company Allmicroalgae Natural Products SA (Pataias, Portugal), were able to create two such chlorella strains last year. Their findings are published, and the resulting strains are now scalable products available for purchase from the private company.

By exposing cells of wild type chlorella to UV light and chemical agents, the scientists were able to develop yellow and white strains of chlorella that were also softer in texture, milder in flavor and odor, and higher in protein than wild chlorella. As chlorophyll content dramatically decreased in each strain, the strains took on pigment of their active xanthophylls: lutein (yellow) and phytoene (colorless).

These breakthroughs in chlorella development were successfully scaled, and the scientists believe they could have ample use in animal feedstocks and human foods and dietary supplements. The random mutagenesis employed to make these strains “…is an interesting cell-modification tool for food applications, as it is not considered a method that generates genetic modified organisms (GMOs),” say the researchers.

The fish oils market is best known for two health-promoting fatty acids in particular: eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). However, fish oil ingredients developer Epax Norway AS (Alesund, Norway) wants the public to know that there are more than 30 different fatty acids that occur naturally in marine oils. Though the vast majority of existing health research has focused on EPA and DHA, Epax is seeking to change that.

With significant funding from the government of Norway, Epax has entered into a research project with the Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries, and Aquaculture (NOFIMA) to evaluate some of these other fatty acids. Using cell and animal models, scientists will explore the potential beneficial health effects of these lesser-known fatty acids on health factors such as skin health, eye health, and fertility. Epax and NOFIMA’s first findings are likely to be published later this year, while other projects will continue for this multiyear project.

If outcomes are positive, expect Epax to incorporate these new fatty acids into its upcoming NovusLipid range of fish oil products. Meanwhile, the company continues its work on improving production and analytical methods required to properly scale development of these new fatty acid products.

For all of the valuable health ingredients that are procured from ocean environments each year, an unfortunate waste is unavoidable. Repurposing that waste can provide additional revenue streams for ingredient suppliers while benefiting their image of corporate responsibility and protecting the very environments which they rely on for continual resource production. In this spirit, krill ingredients provider Aker BioMarine (Oslo, Norway) has made recycling plastic waste streams an integral part of its pursuit of zero waste.

This past December, Aker announced the creation of a new company called AION that would be dedicated to repurposing plastic waste and biological residues within Aker’s supply network. These waste materials will be recycled into new products and have already found the beginnings of a first value chain. The fast-food giant McDonald’s is now using serving trays made from these recycled ocean plastics. Will other ingredient providers that create substantial waste commit to similar reuse and recycle efforts?

For centuries, brown seaweeds have been used for culinary and medicinal purposes. In more modern history, two species in particular, wakame 

 have captivated ingredient processing companies.

Marinova Pty. Ltd. (Cambridge, Australia) and Vesta Nutra (Indianapolis, IN) have spent years examining the contents of these seaweeds, developing a business around their active contents of fucoidan. The compound is found in other sea life, such as sea cucumbers, but seaweeds are a preferred raw material for extracting fucoidan because they are able to renew rapidly and can be procured from clean, uncontaminated waters.

Research suggests a range of potential uses for fucoidan, including for skin health, sports performance, and immune health. Most recently, Marinova published a review of existing science supporting the use of fucoidan against lung damage and viral infections.

 Various research has shown that the ingredient may boost the human immune response, activate certain cells that are important to our immune system, and even dampen allergic responses. The increasing case for fucoidan as an immune-health ingredient comes at a time when immune-health ingredients, especially plant-based ones, are in high demand.

Heffernan SM et al. “Mineral rich algae with pine bark improved pain, physical function, and analgesic use in mild-knee osteoarthritis, compared to glucosamine: A randomized, controlled pilot trial.” 

Schüler L et al. “Isolation and characterization of novel 

 mutants with low chlorophyll and improved protein contents for food applications.” 

Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. 

Fitton JH et al. “Fucoidan and lung function: Value in viral infection.” 

Enterprising companies and scientific institutions are finding new uses for familiar marine ingredients and in some cases reinventing the raw materials as we know them.

Making marine health ingredients better for dietary supplements, food

Probiotic ingredients have long dominated the digestive health market. But now, research is demonstrating that probiotics can also improve athletic performance, shorten recovery time, and stimulate muscle growth and fat loss.

Despite the link between probiotics and sports performance, low consumer awareness remains an issue, says Zain Saiyed, PhD, FACN, head of R&D for the ingredients innovation division at Lonza (Morristown, NJ). “One of the main barriers to growth is education,” Saiyed says. “While 87% of Americans agree there is a link between digestive health and overall health

, fewer consumers are aware of how different strains of probiotics can support athletic endurance or recovery.”

Growing the sports probiotics market will require brands to educate consumers, counter online misinformation, and back up product claims with robust research. Here are some of the ways that companies are exploring the sports benefits of probiotics.

New research is demonstrating the efficacy of probiotics as recovery ingredients. One 2018 post-hoc analysis of a 2016 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial examined the effects of 

, supported by Lallemand Health Solutions (Montreal, QC, Canada), assessed the effects of Lallemand’s branded Lafti L10 

probiotic on IgM, IgG, and IgA bacterial antibodies in 24 male and 6 female professional athletes between the ages of 18 and 28. Subjects were randomly assigned to receive either two capsules of L10, totaling 2 x 10

 (n = 15), or a placebo (n = 15), every day for 14 weeks. The subjects reported their training loads weekly through the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, and from these training loads, the study authors calculated each participant’s metabolic equivalent. After 14 weeks, the placebo group experienced reductions in total salivary IgA concentration, total serum IgA antibody concentration, and serum anti-

IgG concentration, while the probiotic group did not. The study authors determined that Lafti L10 may reduce the risk of upper respiratory tract infections following strenuous exercise.

 was performed on a subset of 22 male subjects between the ages of 20 and 24, and determined that probiotic supplementation decreased advanced oxidation protein products and malondialdehyde. Lucie Lingrand, product manager for Lallemand Health Solutions, says this study suggests 

“Probiotics’ ability to improve antioxidant capacity and facilitate amino acid absorption offer a great potential in the booming sports nutrition market. Moreover, probiotics have proven their efficacy in alleviating symptoms of stress through the gut-brain axis, which is an interesting feature for athletes and active people.”

Lallemand started a new study in January 2021 in partnership with the University of Florida. The Rosell Institute for Microbiome and Probiotics, a Lallemand Health Solutions research center at the National Research Council in Montreal, Canada, is investigating the effects of Lafti L10 on exercise endurance, immune response, and intestinal symptoms in endurance runners.

New Probiotic Ingredient Improves Exercise Endurance

One recently launched probiotic in particular is showing strong results in clinical trials. TWK10, a branded 

strain produced by Synbio Technologies (Kaohsiung City, Taiwan) and licensed by Lonza, is demonstrating an effect on exercise endurance. This probiotic ingredient, which hit the market in September 2020, appears to promote physiological adaptation to exercise regimens.

One 2019 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial

 examined the effects of TWK10 on body composition, aerobic endurance, and biomarkers of exercise-induced fatigue in 54 healthy subjects (27 men and 27 women) between the ages of 20 and 30. The subjects were randomly assigned to receive either one dose of TWK10 containing 3x10

 per day for six weeks. Subjects were instructed to maintain their normal physical activities and lifestyle. At baseline and after six weeks, subjects were assessed for BMI, body weight and height, and maximal oxygen consumption 90 minutes after a 30-minute treadmill workout. Blood samples and time-to-exhaustion scores were collected at the baseline and six-week exercise tests.

Both TWK10 groups experienced a dose-dependent increase in time to exhaustion after six weeks, as well as a reduction in serum lactate concentration during and after exercise. While there were no changes in body weight or BMI relative to placebo, bioelectrical impedance analysis found that both TWK10 groups lost body fat in a dose-dependent manner, and the high-dose group gained muscle mass.

Saiyed says Lonza’s partnership with Synbio Tech is enabling new research into the sports benefits of probiotics. Lonza has prioritized sports nutrition and active living as areas of increasing research focus, and Saiyed says further research may offer the potential to uncover a wider range of applications for probiotics.

Lingrand says that as the sports nutrition sector grows, companies will take a more scientific approach to marketing. Active consumers face torrents of misinformation, and most who scroll through social media don’t think to vet claims or read clinical trials. Both ingredient suppliers and consumer brands, Lingrand says, must be prepared to provide their audiences with clear, credible, transparent information about sports probiotics.

Sports Probiotics Leap Off the Starting Blocks

Saiyed believes sports probiotics will be the next major trend. Manufacturers and brands now have an opportunity to target a sports nutrition audience with educational, fact-driven messaging that inspires confidence in probiotics as a sports supplement. Probiotics are strengthening their footprint in the field of sports nutrition, and what happens next will depend on the industry’s ability to not only grow the body of research but also communicate the benefits of sports probiotics to consumers.

“Probiotics: What matters to consumers fueling this category.” Linkage Research & Consulting. Published online July 10, 2019. 

Lafti L10 supplementation modulates mucosal and humoral immunity in elite athletes: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.” 

Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 

Michalickova D et al. “Effects of probiotic supplementationon selected parameters of blood prooxidant-antioxidant balance in elite athletes: A double-blind randomized placebo-controlled study.” 

TWK10 on exercise physiological adaptation, performance, and body composition in healthy humans.” 

vol. 11, no. 11 (November 19, 2019): 2836

Clinical studies are revealing that probiotics could be sports nutrition’s next big thing.

Sports probiotics are gaining ground

It’s amazing what a little hindsight can do. Roughly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, you can almost make out—if you squint hard enough—the glimmers of silver lining that this horribly disruptive episode in global health may have left behind.

Perhaps most relevant to the dietary supplement industry is the sales boost the sector enjoyed when consumers—either newly awakened to, or simply reminded of, the importance of baseline wellness—turned to nutritional products as a backstop against illness. And, as Saumil Maheshvari, CMO, Orgenetics (Brea, CA), points out, they turned in particular to a class of products that was due for a boost.

“While scientists and doctors rushed to learn more about the new virus and how the body responds, a few things became clear,” he recalls. “First, a strong immune system and healthy lifestyle provided the best fighting chance against the disease, should one contract it. And vitamins—plain and simple—are known, and proven, to help bolster the immune response.”

As a result, back-to-basics As, Bs, and Cs (and Ds, and Ks, and Es) are basking in a kind of cool that they haven’t had in…forever, maybe. And if the research keeps mounting, they may hold onto that cachet long after the reason for their rediscovery is over.

Consumer concern about COVID-19 clearly “drove many to single-vitamin options early on,” Maheshvari says. And while surprising at first, this panicked purchasing of vitamin products has become a familiar pandemic-era theme.

“It’s similar to the story we’ve seen with Clorox wipes and Purell hand sanitizer since spring of last year: demand racing as consumers rushed to stock up while new consumers entering the market sought to boost their own health according to available guidance,” he notes.

But while the stockpiling of sanitizer eventually abated, demand for supplements in general and vitamins in particular continues.

“Since the pandemic’s start, nutritional supplement sales have exploded,” observes Dominik Mattern, vice president, marketing, Kappa Bioscience (Oslo, Norway). More specifically, domestic sales of multivitamins grew by 105% in 2020, according to 

he says, with vitamin D in particular projected to rank among the “top growth” ingredients for 2021.

Similarly, the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN; Washington, DC) found in its COVID-19 survey on dietary supplements last year that multivitamin, vitamin C, and vitamin D formulations received the biggest pandemic-driven boosts among supplement ingredients considered, with intake by current supplement users rising 59%, 44%, and 37%, respectively. This put the three formulations ahead of not only zinc, calcium, and iron, but protein, as well.

Tara Thompson, senior vice president, business development and sales, Morre-Tec Industries (Union, NJ), notes that Morre-Tec’s Vitacyclix division saw an increase last year in inquiries for basic letter vitamins generally, and for immune-associated vitamins like D3 and K2 in particular. In fact, Thompson points out that while Vitacyclix’s business “grew significantly” in the past 12 months overall, “vitamin D sales grew by 60% during the same period.”

The subtext: Immunity is where it’s at.

“Preventive healthcare products addressing concerns like immunity are trending higher than symptomatic products,” Mattern declares. “In this context, products with vitamins C and D come to mind and benefit from decades of research and hundreds, if not thousands, of scientific publications backing their associated health claims.”

Maheshvari agrees. “Vitamin C has been scientifically proven as vital for immunity,” he notes. “Strong published research also suggests that vitamin E is pivotal as an antioxidant in the immune response. It would appear from later research, too, that vitamin D and K levels are also important factors in how some respond to COVID, and how severely.”

Jia Zhang Lee, executive director, Davos Life Science (Singapore), notes that his company has seen a steady increase in demand for vitamin E tocotrienols in particular. “Research studies have shown that tocotrienols have positive health benefits in the management of hypertension, heart disease, and diabetes,” Lee notes. “These chronic conditions predispose individuals to the more severe form of COVID-19, and therefore there’s been growing interest in tocotrienol supplementation to help promote the prevention of these chronic diseases.”

But plenty of botanicals, antioxidants, probiotics, and other more “exotic” nutritional ingredients have immune associations, too, so why have humble vitamins gotten so much glow?

For one, those “exotic” upstarts, Mattern argues, are “less understood by the wider population.” What’s more, he continues, “Insufficient standards and adulteration create confusion and frustration for the industry and consumers. There can be a lot of heterogeneity in product quality, for botanicals especially. In comparison, vitamins are better known and understood, and their health applications are clearer.”

These health applications are growing clearer still for vitamin D, which has been a fixture of pandemic-related discussion among both nutrition professionals and civilians.

Thompson points to results of a recent poll on Facebook finding that if consumers had to choose between supplementing with vitamin C or D, 52% would choose the latter. And with good reason: “Continuing studies are focusing on vitamin D’s benefits for immune support—especially its role in preventing the risk and severity of respiratory infections,” Thompson says.

Trygve Bergeland, PhD, vice president of science at Kappa Bioscience, points out that several meta-analyses already demonstrate vitamin D’s benefits against respiratory-tract infections, with low levels of the vitamin associated with a higher risk both for infection and symptom severity. “Similar findings have been published regarding an association between low vitamin D levels and a higher risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection,” he adds.

Knowing that consumers will continue vitamin D supplementation only as long as it fits their lives, Thompson notes that Morre-Tec developed Good Rāz, a brand of liquid-soluble vitamin D set to launch on Amazon this spring. Colorless, odorless, and tasteless, the product “especially appeals to anyone with an aversion to swallowing tablets or capsules,” Thompson says. “It doesn’t contain the sugar often found in gummies,” Thompson adds, and it slips right into coffee, tea, water—“any food or beverage desired.”

Yet, while Thompson predicts that continued research into vitamin D’s heart, bone, and immune benefits “will certainly fuel continued growth in its consumption,” vitamin K2 may also benefit from that research.

As Mattern says, “An increasing number of studies show that some benefits attributed to vitamin D—on bone and vascular health, for example—actually require vitamin K2 for activation. Because of their common connection to calcium, vitamins D and K2 actually work in synergy.”

Namely, vitamin K2 acts on an amino acid in the calcium-regulating matrix Gla protein; absent sufficient levels of the menaquinone-7 

isomer of the vitamin, the protein doesn’t undergo carboxylation and thus can’t direct calcium to where we want it—think bone—and instead moves it into the bloodstream for deposition into soft tissues in arteries and the lung’s elastic fibers where we 

Alas, vitamin K tends to fly under the radar for all but the most informed of consumers, who even so tend to think of it in terms of its effect on blood clotting. But while that’s a valid association for vitamin K1, vitamin K2’s claim to fame are its “broader benefits to bone, cardiovascular, and immune health,” Bergeland says.

This is especially important during the pandemic. Bergeland points to two recent publications

 showing that low levels of vitamin K correlated with worse cases of COVID-19—and death—in hospitalized patients. “This indicates that vitamin K might be playing a protective role,” he says. “In fact,” he continues, “a review

 suggested that vitamin K deficiency is the ‘missing link’ between lung damage and thrombosis in COVID-19.”

Bergeland notes that Kappa Bioscience is establishing a research program in conjunction with hospitals in the United States, the Netherlands, and Denmark “to help the scientific community better understand the many roles that vitamin K plays in our bodies and whether supplementation with vitamin K2—the circulating form—may help COVID-19 patients.”

Meanwhile, savvy supplement shoppers are already cluing in. Sales of Vesta Nutra’s (Indianapolis, IN) proprietary NattoMK-7 vitamin K2 supplement rose about 10% year over year, says company president Sam Kwon, who attributes the vitamin’s rising profile to the difficulty of consuming it via conventional Western diets and to consumer awareness. “Educated consumers understand the need to supplement their diets with this important vitamin,” he says.

Moreover, he believes, they’ll continue doing so even after COVID-related concerns abate. And their newfound fondness for letter vitamins more generally may persist, too.

“We definitely believe that consumer demand for high-quality natural vitamins will continue,” Kwon says. “As standards in the supplement industry rise, and with more education about vitamins’ benefits, we see this sector growing steadily.”

Mattern is of like mind, pointing to a survey from 

and New Hope Network projecting strong supplement use “even in a scenario where vaccination is available and widely distributed,” he says. “This supports the assumption that interest in immunity and vitamins is about broader prevention.”

All of which bodes well for the category’s future. Because this won’t be the last time that a virus puts immune support—or vitamins—center-stage.

“The pandemic has created both temporary and permanent shifts in consumer behavior and thinking,” Maheshvari concludes. Even new adherents to the category, he says, “are looking at our industry long-term as part of a more permanent commitment to a healthier lifestyle. One step in that direction is the permanent inclusion of organic and plant-based vitamins to their routines.”

Dofferhoff AS et al. “Reduced vitamin K status as a potentially modifiable risk factor of severe COVID-19.” 

Published online ahead of print August 27, 2020.

Linneberg A et al. “Low vitamin K status predicts mortality in a cohort of 138 hospitalized patients with COVID-19.” 

Published online ahead of print December 23, 2020.

Janssen R et al. “Vitamin K metabolism as the potential missing link between lung damage and thromboembolism in coronavirus disease 2019.” 

 Published online ahead of print October 7, 2020.

Back-to-basics As, Bs, and Cs (and Ds, and Ks, and Es) are basking in vitamins’ newfound glow.

How COVID-19 revitalized interest in familiar letter vitamins

The cognitive health space has gone from products largely focused on age-related decline, such as memory decline, to now encompassing multiple facets of cognitive health, including mood, stress reduction, focus, and energy—all of which influence our overall daily functioning and performance. The fact is, the brain is always developing and changing, from prior to birth to old age, influenced by both internal and external factors. While some things are out of our control, such as genetics, the products we consume, the activities we pursue, and the environments we inhabit contribute significantly to our cognitive health.

Supplements can offer an elegant solution to enhancing our well-being because of their convenience and versatility. The wide range of benefits the cognitive health category now covers shows how much the market has grown and matured, targeting new consumers and niche product categories such as esports.

The connection between nutrition and the health of the brain is well-recognized, particularly when it comes to developing brains. Pregnant mothers are encouraged to eat foods rich in specific nutrients such as folate/folic acid and choline so that fetal brains develop properly. Via the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommends all women planning on becoming pregnant take a daily supplement containing between 400-800 mcg of folic acid. This is because adequate folic acid intake prior to conception and during the first trimester helps prevent neural tube defects. For other important nutrients, the guidelines stop short of recommending dietary supplements but provide guidance on ideal food sources.

Well-known minerals such as magnesium, calcium, zinc, iron, and selenium play a variety of roles in cognitive health, says John Gilligan, marketing manager for Innophos Inc. (Cranbury, NJ), which manufactures a line of chelated minerals called Chelamax. “Magnesium plays a role in neuromuscular conduction, nerve-impulse transmission, and brain cell protection. Calcium enables learning, cognition, and the retention of memories,” explains Gilligan. “Zinc is present at high levels in the brain and is essential for the formation of new neurons. Iron is a required cofactor for several enzymes that synthesize neurotransmitters, which are essential for brain function, and selenium deficiency may be linked to a reduced antioxidant capacity in the brain.”

Choline is necessary during pregnancy and lactation to both replenish maternal stores and support the growth and development of the child’s brain and spinal cord. “Choline is needed before birth to increase the number of stem cells that add to the pool of nerve cells that are available throughout life,” explains Tom Druke, marketing director of Balchem Corp. (New Hampton, NY), which manufactures the ingredient VitaCholine. “Insufficient choline in the fetal brain adversely affects the areas of the brain that regulate higher thinking and memory. Choline is especially critical to visual memory—the kind children use for mental math and which many adults employ to remember, for example, a new route after driving it only once. Choline remains important throughout all life stages as it helps maintain the integrity of communication systems for cells within the brain and the rest of the body.”

Unfortunately, choline is among the nutrients for which adequate intake goals are not met, according to the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s final scientific report. The report states that choline amounts range from 69%-89% of adequate intake for all age-sex groups. Because only a very small amount of choline is made in the liver, a majority of our choline content has to come from the diet.

“Over the last few years, awareness that most people do not get enough of this essential nutrient, coupled with research into its significant benefits, has set the stage for the quickly growing buzz about choline,” explains Druke. “This essential nutrient is being discovered by consumers, which creates an extraordinary opportunity for supplement brands. Formulators of sports nutrition products have already figured this out, with multiple new protein beverage mixes featuring choline introduced in this year alone. We expect to see this market grow significantly in coming months.”

Choline is important because it is necessary for the synthesis of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, as well as phospholipids. “It is an integral building block of all biological membranes, including in nervous tissue,” says Patricia Williamson, PhD, principal scientist, scientific and regulatory affairs, for Cargill (Minneapolis, MN). “This allows for nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids, which also have beneficial effects on brain health, to be transported across the blood-brain barrier from plasma to the brain.”

Choline can come in two forms, says Williamson: water-soluble choline salts or fat-soluble phosphatidylcholine. “Fat-soluble phosphatidylcholine is the main form of choline found in foods. Lecithin is a dietary source of this important nutrient and can be added to foods to help meet choline needs,” she explains. “Cargill offers fat-soluble, phosphatidylcholine (PC)-rich lecithin, which is an excellent source of this essential, but under-consumed, nutrient. Research suggests lecithin, especially PC-enriched lecithin, can be a highly bioavailable source of the essential nutrient choline.”

Interestingly enough, the majority (95%) of choline in the body is found in the phospholipid form, as phosphatidylcholine, says Andreas Berg Storsve, PhD, director of research and development, Aker BioMarine Antarctic AS (Oslo, Sweden). Krill, a good source of EPA and DHA, is also rich in phosphatidylcholine, which research has shown to be a comparable source of choline, while also supplying essential fatty acids.

 While choline and omega-3 fatty acids play an important role in our early development, their importance does not decline as we age.

“We know from neuroscience research that 60 years of age is a ‘breaking age’ where you can see accelerated brain changes, specifically an increased rate of cortical thinning in brain areas important for episodic memory, such as the hippocampus and the temporal lobe,” explains Storsve. “However, there are great individual differences in the rate of neurostructural and cognitive changes as we age, and we need to improve our understanding of why some but not others maintain brain structure and function well into old age.”

What we have learned, however, says Storsve, is that these individual differences do correlate with DHA levels in the blood. “More specifically, higher DHA levels have been shown to be related to a reduction in the rate of cortical thinning in the temporal cortex. Furthermore, higher levels of EPA and DHA are associated with greater hippocampal volume,” Storsve explains. “Although this type of research indicates that mature individuals may benefit from krill oil supplements, it is important to realize that development and aging is a continual process throughout life and that omega-3 status has been shown to be important for cognitive functioning across the entire human lifespan.”

Our brains are constantly changing and adapting to new environmental demands, says Storsve, and omega-3 fatty acids such as EPA and DHA play an important role in this process through their involvement in synaptogenesis, neurogenesis, and neuroinflammation. The fact is the human population is aging. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of people over the age of 60 will rise to two billion by 2050, making up 22% of the total global population. In the United States, the number of residents over the age of 65 years is 54 million, as of July 1, 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This means that the relevance of supplements that support age-related cognitive declines such as memory decline will continue to sustain long-term.

Of course, older individuals shouldn’t be the only ones looking after their brain health. Memory, after all, is important to everyone. “The growth of the memory-supplements market has historically been driven by an aging population, but cognitive health concerns are now shared by consumers of all ages,” says Gilligan. For example, products like Cera-Q from Innophos have been shown to improve memory scores in four clinical trials in subjects ranging in age between 7 and 65.

Derived from silkworm cocoon, Cera-Q is a silk fibroin protein that has been enzymatically processed to create hydrolysate bioactives possessing a unique amino acid profile rich in glycine and alanine peptide sequences. According to Gilligan, it is believed that the ingredient works by increasing blood flow to and within the brain, disrupting amyloid plaque and enhancing brain receptor–binding activity. Effective at a relatively low dose of 200 mg/day, the ingredient is appropriate for daily use, and because it is water-soluble, it is easy to incorporate in a number of applications beyond tablets and capsules, such as gummies, sports powders, and ready-to-drink beverages.

Everything we do goes through the brain. Therefore, while people think of brain health in terms of memory and concentration, the way we function physically can also be an element of brain health. Choline is a great example of this in terms of how the macronutrient also plays an important role in muscle function.

“Choline also plays a critical role in both synthesis and optimization of nitric oxide (NO), a vasodilator that helps maximize the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the muscles,” says Druke. “As research has identified NO’s beneficial and desirable role in the body during strenuous activity, it has become a prominent ingredient in sports nutrition formulations over the last few years.”

NO vanishes from the body quickly, needing replenishment. Choline helps to eliminate homocysteine, which inhibits NO production. “Choline is metabolized to betaine, which then converts homocysteine (pro-oxidant) to methionine (beneficial amino acid),” explains Druke. “Since homocysteine is detrimental to NO production, that helps optimize NO levels, thus improving the flow of blood and nutrients to the muscles. Replenishing choline before and after workouts helps to maintain the body’s stores, which ensures good muscle communication.”

In the brain, the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which Druke calls the brain’s “instant messenger,” helps transmit messages in the brain and the neuromuscular junction, sending messages to the muscles more quickly. “It also optimizes fine-motor coordination to help enhance muscle memory,” he explains. “Maintaining choline levels in the brain helps both with performance and in accurate responses and coordination.”

These NO and muscle health benefits create an excellent opportunity for the use of choline in sports nutrition products, offering dual benefits. More athletes are recognizing the importance of supporting their mind as well as their body, which can translate into benefits for things like focus and hand-eye coordination. One growing category to consider is esports, in which competitive gamers seek to maintain an edge through sharp focus, quick thinking, and fine-motor skills.

 found that choline supplementation supported focus and accuracy in subjects performing “click and aim” tasks on a computer.

 In the double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 28 subjects in their twenties were given 400 ml of orange juice with either 2 g of dissolved choline bitartrate or placebo. When performing a visuomotor aiming task, subjects taking choline demonstrated greater accuracy compared to placebo; however, the tradeoff was slower reaction times.

“Mind over matter” is a long-held cliché when it comes to physical fitness, but it looks like researchers are taking it seriously, and the future of the cognitive health space will be in performance, where brand owners can more easily target younger consumers and create innovative product formulas. “This includes from the United States military, which has ongoing projects to extend human mental performance ability for hours to days before seeing a decline (or need for a break), to, of course, e-gamers, normal sports nutrition, competitive chess, and even playing the stock market,” says Douglas Kalman, RD, PhD, representing Nutrasouce (Guelph, OH, Canada), a contract research organization. “Performance can be measured in many ways, and this is a growing and interesting category.”

These benefits also translate to the everyday consumer, particularly now as more people work remotely in long, sedentary workdays devoid of human interaction. For this, more working professionals are turning to nootropics, a class of supplements focused on optimizing and ensuring the longevity of mental processes and memory, says Lorena Carboni, product manager, SAMe, for Gnosis by Lesaffre (Lille, France).

SAMe (S-adenosyl-L-methionine), sold by Gnosis by Lesaffre as Adonat, is a compound naturally produced by the body. “SAMe is involved in more than one hundred biochemical pathways, and it has been shown to have benefits for the mood, liver, joints, and more,” says Carboni. “The body requires quantities of SAMe that the diet cannot provide alone, and decreased or low SAMe levels in some biological fluids and tissues are connected with altered body states. SAMe is a fantastic ingredient for brands building cognitive health products like nootropics.”

Stress is another important component that influences our everyday performance. That is to say, it is normal, until it becomes chronic. “Stress has always been an integral part of life as it helps stimulate motivations, muscle growth, immunity, and more,” explains Mariko Hill, product development executive for Gencor (Irvine, CA). “However, this is in context of the ‘hormesis stress theory’—that is, the adaptive response of cells and organisms to moderate stress. In other words, the degree to which we perceive and/or receive stress response will influence our physiological and psychological outcomes (i.e., acute vs. chronic).”

Unfortunately, the current global pandemic and ongoing political turmoil that has inflamed tensions throughout the world are exacerbating the stress we feel on a regular basis. For this purpose, Gencor recently launched a new ingredient called Calmaluma, which consists of an extract of the cactus-like 

“The beneficial outcome of its consumption is often an overwhelming feeling of calmness,” says Hill. “The mechanisms of action for enhancing mood can be attributed to the pregnane glycosides present in Calmaluma, whereby they inhibit the production of cortisol and increase serotonin levels.”

Available in a 90%-water-soluble, free-flowing powder, Calmaluma also offers heat, acidic, and alkaline stability, making it suitable for a number of delivery formats, including beverages, smoothies, capsules, tables, tea, and chocolate.

The cognitive health space is now for everyone, offering multiple benefits that encompass the needs of different demographics.

Nutritional Outlook Vol. 24 No. 2

Branching Out: Plant-based products rely on e-commerce as shelf space gets crowded

Growing trends in esports dietary supplements

Botanical and herb suppliers are carefully monitoring supply and logistics in 2021

Making marine health ingredients better for dietary supplements, food

Sports probiotics are gaining ground

How COVID-19 revitalized interest in familiar letter vitamins

One brain, multiple concerns: The diversity of the cognitive health category

Dietary supplements: The Great Packaging Shortage

How COVID-19 shook the sports nutrition market. Is recovery in sight?

Protecting consumer access to supplements is critical amid ongoing legislation to restrict access, says NPA

Are medicinal mushrooms on the cusp of mainstream fame?

2021 Flavor trends for food and beverage