Bringing mind and body into balance prioritized through natural ingredients for sleep and relaxation

28 Sep 2023 --- Today’s consumers actively seek ways to ease tension and stress naturally, especially before bedtime. Deep, restful sleep has become a top health priority, but stressful lifestyles make it hard to unwind. Nutrition Insight speaks with experts from Gencor, Pharmactive, Lubrizol and Suanfarma to uncover the best products to provide relief.

“This is why many have turned to the natural products industry for ingredient solutions shown to support relaxation and sleep,” Maggie McNamara, marketing director at Gencor, tells us. “The ability to relax the mind and body is crucial when winding down for the night. When an ingredient can help quiet these aspects, consumers are more likely to get a more restful night’s sleep.”

Consumers prefer natural sleep supplements because they have fewer side effects than prescription sleep medications and appeal to those concerned with the addictive potential of prescriptions.

Advancing techniques and R&D
Suanfarma employs advanced silico techniques such as “docking” to predict molecule interactions for ingredient selection and formulation.

“We conduct in vitro and in vivo tests to evaluate the mechanism of action of our ingredients and test their safety and efficacy,” Mariana Ortega, product manager, nutra division, Suanfarma, tells us.

“In addition to these scientific methods, all our ingredients undergo thorough clinical validation through gold standard human studies, meaning double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trials.”Many sleep and relaxation supplements are best ingested in combination with tea.

Efficacy is measured in these studies using quantitative techniques, sensitive and validated instruments and qualitative perception questionnaires to gain insights into how consumers perceive the product’s effectiveness. “This combination of objective measurements and subjective feedback allows us to establish a comprehensive understanding of the impact of our products,” explains Gutiérrez Montero.

The company’s supplements provide benefits, such as improved sleep quality, reduced time to fall asleep, and less anxiety and stress. “We achieve this by incorporating proven ingredients like RelaxPLX, a proprietary botanical ingredient based on lemon verbena extracts,” explains Ortega.

“Rich in phenylpropanoids (verbascoside) and flavones, the lemon verbena extract has been scientifically proven to have beneficial effects on sleeplessness and occasional stress. RelaxPLX helps to cope calmly with stress, maintain a good mental condition and obtain emotional comfort. At 400 mg, it improves anxiety and sleep quality, with lower cortisol levels, fewer interruptions while sleeping, more time in deep sleep and a tendency to increase REM.

Suanfarma evaluates its ingredients through testing in clinical trials to verify purity and potency and through collaboration with nutrition and health professionals.

Catalysts for restorative sleep
Consumers seek naturally-derived supplements with multifunctional benefits and a quick onset of action. Pharmactive’s premium saffron extract, affron, aids restorative sleep, improves sleep quality and relieves stress. “affron is supported by nine clinical studies that substantiate the effects offered,” explains Carlos Rodriguez, communication manager at Pharmactive.

The supplement helps maintain a positive mood and reduces occasional stress at a low dosage, possibly contributing to relaxation. Clinical studies about the product showed improved sleep quality and reduced night-time awakenings. 

“The way we manufacture the extract is environmentally-friendly and maintains the qualities of the active ingredients for longer and with greater purity.”

Pharmactive prioritizes its R&D and quality control department and directs most of its resources there. The laboratory was expanded earlier this year and installed with high-precision equipment to help the scientific-technical team conduct in-depth investigations into the properties of its ingredients.Gummies are one of the most popular delivery formats within the relaxation space. 

“Affron’s manufacturing process is a patented, low-temperature process that creates a highly concentrated saffron extract with long-lasting active ingredient stability of at least 36 months. This technique allows us to obtain a superior quality saffron extract with less industrial processing, less energy use and zero chemicals,” says Rodriguez.

Mighty magnesium
Isabel Gómez, global marketing manager of nutraceutical ingredients, Lubrizol Life Science, Health observes that consumers are still fond of melatonin and magnesium-based supplements. 

Magnesium enhances muscle relaxation for restful sleep, it improves the hormone balance enzyme activity and a neurotransmitter function that regulates mood and supports stress relief.

“Another sought-after ingredient to support sleep is ashwagandha, which has sleep-inducing potential and is proven to improve sleep quality in people with insomnia. L-theanine is an emerging functional ingredient trending in healthcare and beverages,” Gómez explains.

Found in tea leaves supporting a calming effect, L-theanine impacts serotonin and promotes relaxation and focus. Schisandra is an emerging ingredient in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) with adaptogenic properties that can be used in functional beverages to support mental exhaustion.

Gencor also recommends affron based on its rapid absorption time of less than an hour, boosting restorative sleep and improving mental balance for adolescents and seniors. Affron uses patented Aff*On cool-tech extraction technology, which naturally concentrates and preserves the actives. 

“Affron is standardized to >3.5% Lepticrosalides, a complex of bioactive compounds responsible for the beneficial and organoleptic properties. They have been shown to improve mood in healthy consumers with occasional stress, low mood and sleeplessness,” explains McNamara. 

According to Suanfarma, sleep and relaxation supplements that demonstrate calming properties and the ability to promote quality sleep are most in demand. 

“People are getting bored of the traditional solutions with melatonin, valerian extract, passionflower, and others, so innovation goes beyond them. A bunch of innovative ingredients with proven science, like RelaxPLX from Monteloeder, is entering the market, in an ‘isolate’ way or as a boost to the conventional formulas,” says Ortega.

Sinking into REM sleep
Levagen+, a palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) ingredient, has been clinically shown to promote restful sleep, increase REM sleep, and improve mood. “PEA is naturally produced in the body in response to injury and stress but depletes over time,” McNamara notes. 

PEA is also a part of the extended endocannabinoid family and is considered a safe alternative to cannabidiol (CBD). Levagen+ has been shown to reduce nervousness and improve quality of life. PEA supports restful sleep by indirectly activating the calm-inducing CB1 receptors. It can also increase restful REM sleep by activating TRPV1 channels.Stress makes it difficult for many consumers to achieve REM sleep.

Currently, mainstream products use melatonin to improve sleep or valerian to relax. “Some new ones, such as CBD or saffron, are also appearing and gaining traction to improve both conditions. It is becoming ever more important to consumers that products are of natural origin with proven efficacy,” notes Rodriguez.

Bioavailable and pleasant tasting
Lubrizol’s microencapsulated magnesium, Magshape, delivers a concentrated, bioavailable, pleasant-tasting magnesium that relaxes nervous transmission and supports overall sleep quality.

 “Relaxation and sleep play crucial roles in physical repair and recovery. Without enough sleep, the body cannot complete these critical processes, leading to various health issues,” notes Gómez. 

“Despite magnesium’s critical role, maintaining its intake at an adequate level has been frequently overlooked, therefore, magnesium supplementation has been widely recommended. Consumers are challenged to find products that contain highly concentrated magnesium sources, which are also bioavailable and without undesirable side effects,” she says.

The competitive advantage of Magshape is it provides all the benefits of magnesium supplementation minus low magnesium absorption or a metallic off-taste. In addition, it is water dispersible, facilitating the formulation of smaller tablets and on-the-go formats, including chewable tablets or orosoluble powder stick packs.

With higher stress levels and sleep concerns, consumers need good products that promote improved sleep and help reduce stress. “One of the main reasons is that many consumers do not get sufficient time to rest and unwind before going to bed. This inability to relax is something that is significantly impacting the mental well-being of consumers,” Gómez notes. 

By Inga de Jong