Multifunctional supplements: Combining ingredients for synergistic health benefits

As consumers become more educated on nutrition ingredients and their associated health benefits, companies look into the potential of using synergistic ingredients to target multiple health areas with one holistic product to stand out on the market. We meet with experts from key industry players Clasado Biosciences, Balchem, TriNutra and Gencor to discuss how ingredient synergies can add value to a product and improve its efficacy.

“Synergising ingredients for nutrition presents several exciting opportunities,” Steven Riley, head of B2B and corporate marketing at Clasado Biosciences, tells Nutrition Insight. “One of the main opportunities is the ability to create a compelling value proposition for the consumer on how a single product can improve health and well-being through combining two distinct components. This can inspire innovation and enable companies to differentiate their products in a busy market.”

“There is also the potential to enhance the efficacy of a product by using ingredient combinations that carry on their own, have substantial scientific support in providing targeted health benefits or offer multi-benefit positioning.”  

Lindsay Cole, sales and business development manager, North America, at Kappa Bioscience, a Balchem company, observes a “significant focus on ingredient synergies” in nutrition. 

She details that this development is driven by consumers who take a “holistic approach to wellness and seek solutions that go beyond basic nutrition to target multiple health areas in one convenient dose.” 

“A key trend accompanying this holistic health quest is consumers adopting a more active lifestyle, turning to exercise to feel better,” Cole continues. “As a result, the active and sports nutrition space offers huge opportunities for brands to innovate with multifunctional products that combine different ingredients to support athletes of all levels from different angles. Some of the most popular solutions are magnesium, creatine, vitamin K2, collagen and sulfur.”  

Catering to educated consumers  

Dr. Liki von Oppen-Bezalel, business development director at TriNutra, illustrates that most consumers want to purchase products that support their daily health and wellness routines.

“They are becoming more educated on ingredient synergies and understand that combining ingredients should work better than alone. Because of this, consumers often look for items they are familiar with and offer a science-backed combination.” 

TriNutra underscores the importance of rigorously testing on the efficacy of combined ingredients. Von Oppen-Bezalel notes that popular ingredients include omega-3s, vitamins and minerals, herbs and botanicals, and specialized ingredients such as astaxanthin, lutein, beta-carotene, CoQ10 and black seed oil. “These pairings often target more than one health benefit and create wider and greater efficacy.”

“It’s crucial to emphasize that when ingredients are combined, it’s the responsibility of the brand or supplier to rigorously test the efficacy of the combination. This ensures that the synergy is not just a claim, but a proven fact.”

She advises against combining ingredients that accelerate degradation or cause severe modifications of one another. If combined to include multiple benefits in one product, they should be “separated” in a formula, for example, through encapsulation. 

There are no specific rules for synergistic effects, but Von Oppen-Bezalel advises testing combinations in vitro and later in vivo. For example, TriNutra published a study on the immune health-modulating effects of a combination of its proprietary black seed oil, ThymoQuin, and vitamin D.

“The in vitro portion of the study treated mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) with ThymoQuin and their respective combinations with vitamin D3. MSCs can modulate inflammatory responses and sense different inflammatory signals, so they are a practical option for exploring the effects of ThymoQuin and vitamin D3 for immune health support.” 

Von Oppen-Bezalel explains that the researchers examined the impact of each ingredient on MSC proliferation, levels of inflammatory biomarkers, changes in lipid droplet number and size, adipocyte differentiation, mitochondrial biogenesis and stem cell function. 

“In addition to the in vitro portion of the study, four groups of mice were fed a high-fat diet, with three groups receiving either ThymoQuin, vitamin D3 or both during the last eight weeks of the diet.” 

Adding health benefits 

Balchem’s Cole underscores that ingredient synergies can offer multiple health benefits that may not be achievable with a single ingredient alone, thus enhancing the nutritional value of the final product.Balchem spots that the active and sports nutrition space offers opportunities to innovate with multifunctional products. 

“Take collagen, for example, a staple in the industry showing no sign of slowing down. Many brands are now exploring the potential of combining it with other complementary ingredients to deliver more holistic benefits and develop solutions that stand out on the shelf. A winning formula includes collagen plus methylsulfonylmethane (MSM), such as our OptiMSM, ideal for effectively targeting skin health.”

She adds that Balchem is exploring the synergies of its portfolio to help people maximize their health span and power performance. For example, the company addressed stability issues of vitamin K2 by using its K2Vital Delta, a patented, double microencapsulated version of the vitamin. 

“Due to its highly sensitive nature, vitamin K2 can be influenced by various environmental factors, and when used in tandem with minerals such as magnesium, it breaks down if left unprotected.”

Balchem also created a “Vital Trio” by combining vitamin K2 with its Albion Minerals’ MetaMag chelated magnesium bisglycinate and vitamin D. “This vitamin K2 + minerals concept is a great example of what brands can do to support consumers seeking optimal well-being, addressing bone, heart and immune health,” says Cole. 

She explains the benefits of mixing vitamin K2 with calcium, magnesium and vitamin D3. “Vitamin D3 helps absorb calcium and induces the production of vitamin K-dependent proteins, while vitamin K2 activates these proteins to direct calcium into the bones. Magnesium plays an important pivotal role in enabling this interaction as it unlocks the full potential of vitamin D.” 

Improving efficacy 

Maggie McNamara, VP of marketing at Gencor, notes that when coupled with advanced delivery systems shown to increase absorption, ingredient combination will “dramatically increase” a formulation’s effectiveness. 

“Most often, the interesting ingredients are very poorly absorbed by the body, significantly affecting their performance. Advanced delivery systems, such as LipiSperse (a solid lipid dispersion technology), AquaCelle (a micelle technology), Compressible Powered Oils (liquid to solid conversion) and PlexoZome (a liposomal technology), address these issues very efficiently and are backed with multiple human studies.”

“These specialty products are designed to increase bioavailability and uptake by the body while dramatically improving the functionality of actives.” 

She illustrates several popular ingredients, such as collagen, curcumin, palmitoylethanolamide (PEA), resveratrol, quercetin and iron, combined in “previously unseen ways.” Ingredient combinations can help to improve a product’s efficacy or bioavailability. 

McNamara details popular combinations, including collagen and curcumin for joint health; curcumin, PEA, quercetin and resveratrol for anti-inflammation; curcumin and iron for increased iron absorption with reduced side effects and vitamins D3 and K2-7 for bone and cardiovascular health. 

Potential of synbiotics 

Riley from Clasado Biosciences illustrates the benefits of ingredient synergies in synbiotics, combining pre- and probiotics. 

He explains: “Synbiotics co-administer probiotic bacteria and prebiotics simultaneously, and depending on the levels of interaction between the two, can lead to either a complementary or synergistic relationship. This outcome depends on the specific strains and types used.”

“Complementary synbiotics are where the co-administered prebiotic and probiotic components are intended to work independently. Conversely, synergistic synbiotics are where the probiotic is chosen to utilize the prebiotic substrate selectively.” 

According to Riley, combining ingredients in a nutrition product or supplement enhances the available scientific support, with both components supporting consumer health. 

“Synbiotics typically have a strong foundation for supporting gut health, but depending on the beneficial bacteria being utilized, this could also include other areas of health and well-being — all within the same singular supplement.”