Technology to shape future of plant-based sports nutrition, Ingredient Optimized spotlights

20 Dec 2021 --- The wellness market is in the grip of a transformation, with customers seeking better quality products, environmental considerations shaping their decisions and demands for more transparency. 

“Knowledge truly is power for consumers,” Chris Flynn-Rozanski, co-founder and CEO at Ingredient Optimized, tells NutritionInsight. 

The US-based company uses biotechnology for its protein powders, which Flynn-Rozanski says are facing a shift from dairy and animal-based protein to more sustainable plant-based protein. Technology is poised to be pivotal for the future of the sports nutrition space. 

Environmental compromise?
The shift, however, comes with its own set of challenges, as consumers “are forced” to choose between a protein source that is better for them or a protein source better for the environment, he notes.

“We see an increase in consumers focusing on the environmental impact of what they eat and shifting to a more sustainable plant-based diet.” This mirrors the number one Top Trend for 2022 by Innova Market Insights, “Shared Planet,” where concern for planetary health outstrips personal health. 

As companies observe these trends, last month, FrieslandCampina Ingredients announced it was moving into the plant-based protein arena with two new powder solutions developed with AGT Foods. The development was described as “quite significant” for the industry.

Nonetheless, Rozanski believes being “plant-based” will not be enough for the future.

“The novelty of products simply being ‘plant-based’ will likely wear off and we’re already starting to see some signs of struggle in the alternative protein market. Consumers not only want more sustainable protein sources but a protein that works better for them,” he says. 

This is where technology can help bridge these gaps and not require consumers to compromise, he states.

Technology reconciling quality
The technology behind Ingredient Optimized enables it to optimize proteins, enabling greater absorption. It boasts the ioPea protein that matches the nutritional attributes of standard whey protein and is three times more bioavailable than standard pea protein. 

“We believe technology is important for the future of protein. Technology such as this allows customers to choose a more sustainable protein without sacrificing personal health and fitness goals,” Rozanski highlights. 

“While whey protein is currently our highest volume protein, pea protein is growing at a faster pace.” Though the company’s products are the ioPea and ioWhey, the company wants to develop the protein applications that consumers are using, not force them to use new protein sources. 

“For us, that means additional popular plant-based proteins such as soy protein as well as protein sources such as collagen that are more popular in the beauty and wellness categories.”

Demand for plant-based protein is increasing as consumers become more concerned about the planet's health. 

Increasing information
According to Rozanski, a key trend observed within industry is how easy it is for consumers to gather more information about products and ingredients through the digital space. 

“Customers no longer have to solely rely on the marketing that brands release to learn about their options.”

Importantly, consumers can easily share their experiences with certain products, thus increasing the knowledge pool of information available for users to engage in. “The market has been pushed toward creating higher quality, more transparent, more efficacious ingredients and products,” he notes. 

Already, companies have flagged the importance of transparency, expecting it to shape the nutraceutical industry in the years to come. In fact, industry experts have noted transparency to be the “future of supplements.”

By Andria Kades

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