Boosting brain health with botanicals: PLT Health Solutions unveils cognitive ingredient

28 Feb 2023 --- PLT Health Solutions is launching a new botanical ingredient set to improve mental performance. The product – Nutricog Cognitive Performance Complex – uses a patented combination of haritaki (Terminalia chebula an extract of the haritaki fruit) and boswellia (Boswellia serrata) – standardized to gallic acid, ellagic acid and amyrins.

“Today, we are seeing rapidly increasing interest in cognitive support for a broad range of lifestyle goals. Consumers are actively seeking everything from enhanced focus to reduced stress, improved mood, faster learning, effective memory, better adaptability and enhanced multitasking,” says Seth Flowerman, president & CEO of PLT Solutions.

“Nutricog also checks many boxes consumers want in an ingredient today. It’s completely novel and botanical. It’s effective at a relatively low dose, making compliance easier, and it is sustainably, traceably grown and manufactured,” he continues.

Brain and health claims are the second most common claims in supplements with botanical ingredients, showing in 28.3% of all product launches, according to Innova Market Insights Q2 2022 data. 

Major ingredients suppliers are expecting a wave of innovation in the supplements industry in the next five years, regarding mental health, spurred by new digital technologies, emerging market opportunities, environmental sustainability demands and ultra-convenient delivery formats. 

Hero ingredient
The product is set to deliver 1.4 times better immediate recall, double the brain-derived neurotrophic factor, increase by 2.3 delayed recall and 2.7 the learning rate of users and boost focus by 11.5 times – over a baseline of a 120-day study.

“With Nutricog, we see products for improved memory or faster learning as natural landing spots because of the impressive benefits it offers in these areas,” says Jennifer Murphy, MS, registered dietitian and director of innovation and clinical development for PLT Health Solutions,

In a clinical trial, users of Nutricog demonstrated significant improvements compared to placebo across multiple cognitive domains. (Image Credit: PLT Solutions).Murphy notes that the broad range of benefits seen in the trial suggests it can be formulated in a wide range of products.

“Improvements in overall cognitive performance combined with significant increases in peripheral BDNF suggest Nutricog may offer support for positive structural changes in the brain. Nutricog represents a new ingredient on the cognitive health landscape that can stand alone as a hero ingredient and attract consumers,” she explains.

“The power of these clinical results is not just that Nutricog showed significance in such a broad array of areas, but that the amount of change versus placebo that was demonstrated,” she continues.

Clinical trial
The company carried out a double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial, where 100 users of Nutricog demonstrated “significant improvements” compared to placebo ones. Achieving enhanced learning, memory, sustained attention and focus, working memory and executive function. 

“Increases in cognitive speed were seen concurrently with improvements in accuracy while multitasking,” flags the business.

The earliest clinically significant benefits were found 15 days after commencing its use.

Memory effects were assessed using Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), the Cambridge Neuropsychological Automated Battery (CANTAB), and Immediate Recall and Delayed Recall tests. 

Edited by Marc Cervera