Bunge Loders Croklaan enters active aging category with NuliGo

05 Oct 2021 --- Bunge Loders Croklaan is unveiling NuliGo, a structured medium -and long-chain triglyceride (sMLCT) that supports muscle building and maintenance. NuliGo combines the rapid energy of MCTs and the longer-lasting energy of LCTs in a single molecule for a more significant benefit. By bringing easily accessible energy to muscles, NuliGo sMLCT spares protein for muscle-building, maintenance and recovery.

NuliGo is formulated as an ingredient for active adults targeting athletic performance, endurance, strength, enhanced mobility and post-injury recovery. The product is available in oil and powdered formats. It is suitable for application in sports nutrition, active aging and medical food products.

The product builds on Bunge Loders Croklaan’s knowledge of plant-based nutritional lipids and the latest scientific understanding of lipid absorption and metabolism.

“NuliGo’s molecule combination allows a balanced source of energy to be delivered to muscles and other peripheral tissues,” Dr. Emiliano Rial Verde, vice president of Bunge Loders Croklaan Nutrition, tells NutritionInsight.

“In sarcopenia, malnutrition or maldigestion applications, energy delivery to peripheral tissues supports an anabolic state. Hence, NuliGo is recommended for supplementation or complete nutrition to manage those conditions,” he adds.

Furthermore, in clinical applications where complete nutrition, as opposed to supplementation, is required, sMLCT allows proper calorie intake with reduced liver load compared to conventional MCTs processed almost entirely by the liver, Verde clarifies.NuliGo delivers rapid energy sources to peripheral tissues, helps build muscle protein and supports muscle recovery and endurance.

Rapid energy source
NuliGo is suitable for large companies – co-manufacturers, contract manufacturers, OEMs – and small brands in sports and active aging nutrition, notes Verde.

“In sports nutrition, NuliGo delivers rapid sources of energy to tissues, helps build muscle protein, supports muscle recovery and endurance,” he adds.

As NuliGo is a sMLCT, some of its associated benefits are that it is a “rapid energy source that is delivered to the muscle to support activity without the need to break down proteins to use as an energy source,” explains Verde.

Furthermore, longer-lasting energy via long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs) is available for muscle recovery and repair. “Additionally, Unlike MCTs, MLCTs are absorbed in a way that medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) are taken to peripheral tissues, including muscles, where they become fast energy sources.”

“Clinical studies prove sMLCT effectiveness in sports nutrition, active aging, and also in medical foods aimed at individuals with malabsorption and malnutrition,” Verde stresses.

Energy for muscles and wellness
Further expanding on how NuliGo delivers rapid energy to muscles, Verde explains that “when MCFAs are combined in the same molecule with long-chain fatty acids LCFAs, they get transported like LCFAs and reach peripheral tissues.”

“Also, when MCFAs are part of an MCT (a triglyceride with only MCFAs), they go through the intestinal cell by diffusion into the bloodstream and get processed, by and large, in the liver,” he continues.NuliGo is suitable for companies and brands within the sports and active aging nutrition category.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, a large proportion of consumers believe wellness is essential, according to the company. Moreover, the majority consider sports nutrition foods and beverages crucial to support well-being, with energy being the key benefit they look for.

“Over the past years, we have seen a substantial increase in the prioritization of wellness and physical fitness, with people looking for functional ingredients that contribute to enjoying a longer active lifestyle,” Verde concludes.

Tapping into infant nutrition solutions
Bunge Loders Croklaan previously launched products in the infant nutrition category.

Last month, the company released Betapol Organic, Oleic-Palmitic-Oleic or SN-2 palmitate (OPO) for infant milk formula.

Bunge Loders Croklaan also recently unveiled Betapol Select, a lipid solution that mimics the composition of a mothers’ milk fat.

By Nicole Kerr