Blueshift Nutrition, which offers a full line of nutritional supplements delivered in drink form, is extending its outreach, agreeing to a deal to place its products across Xponential Fitness’ family of nine boutique fitness brands. This includes Club Pilates, CycleBar, YogaSix, Row House, Pure Barre, Rumble Boxing, BFT, StretchLab and AKT locations.

Blueshift’s Superblend drinks will headline these offerings. Superblends combine superfoods with science-backed nutrients in liquid form via dissolvable pods, which Blueshift says overcomes the limitations of nutritional pills or gummies.

According to Blueshift, Superblend flavors vary and are less sweet than typical sports nutrition and wellness products, giving them a “craft mocktail” taste. The drinks also have no added sugar or artificial sweeteners. They break down into 12 different categories, focusing on elements such as immunity, digestion and gut health, bone and joint health, alcohol detox and liver support, women’s health and beauty from within, just to name a few. 

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Xponential to bring our Superblends to their diverse community of fitness enthusiasts in the United States,” said Paal Gisholt, CEO of Blueshift Nutrition. “This collaboration aligns perfectly with our mission to promote peak performance and healthy aging while making supplements easy and enjoyable to take.”

Delicious Living magazine recently awarded the Blueshift supplement line seven consumer and retailer favorite awards — the most of any supplement or functional beverage brand. Winners included Blueshift Electrolyte as Favorite Sports Nutrition Product, Blueshift Turmeric as Best New Supplement and Blueshift Sleep as Favorite Functional Beverage.

Xponential’s partnership with Blueshift comes as other boutique fitness brands have done similar nutrition-focused collaborations.

Ascent Protein recently agreed to a deal with Orangetheory Fitness to put its protein powders in OTF studio locations. Barry’s also has a partnership with Factor to place the brand’s ready-made meals in its studios nationwide.

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Halo Hydration, an advanced hydration and performance drink company behind the world’s first hydrating latte, has entered the new year with a reformulated line of its premium hydration powders, supported by notable ambassadors such as renowned tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou and celebrity fitness trainer Don Saladino.

Having expanded from its e-commerce presence into U.S.-based retail locations, Halo is currently found in Ingles, Cub Foods, United Supermarkets, Market Street, DeCA and AAFES, and is planning additional product launches.

“Halo Hydration is on a mission to inspire how the world hydrates,” said Anshuman Vohra, Hydration founder and CEO. “Our products are meticulously crafted to elevate how individuals feel, perform and recover. We’re excited to introduce these new offerings that provide advanced hydration in caffeinated and non-caffeinated variants.”

Saladino, a fitness expert and trainer who has worked with Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Blake Lively, John Krasinski, Emily Blunt and others, spoke with Athletech News about the importance of hydration to overall wellness and Halo’s next-gen, electrolyte-packed hydration products. 

The Importance of Sodium for Sleep & Energy

“There’s a large population of Americans that are dehydrated,” Saladino, who is training Reynolds for “Deadpool 3,” said. “Hydration is one of the most important components of wellness that I focus on. When sitting and speaking with anyone before an exercise regimen, one of the first questions I ask is ‘What is your water consumption? How is your hydration?’ and then we take the conversation from there.”

Certified organic and low in sugar, Halo Hydration comes in convenient powder sticks for on-the-go hydration. Packed with as many electrolytes and minerals as eight 500 ml bottles of mineral water, it exceeds the electrolyte, vitamin and mineral content of other sports drinks. In addition to its caffeinated Hydrating Latte line, Halo offers non-caffeinated products with hydration powders in Pink Lemonade, Peach, and Mixed Berry flavors.

“Halo Hydration really is a magical product,” Saladino said. “I know the hydration drink (market) has been very saturated over the last decade, but this is something different. The quality is exceptional, but also, I think the benefits it brings into the human body are next level.”

Saladino touched on the importance of sodium in a healthy diet, underscoring its significance to well-being and fitness. 

“I think people were always under the assumption that salt was bad and actually, salt can be one of the most important nutrients for your body,” he explained. “Sodium is what allows our brain to function, our heart to pump and our muscles to contract. Halo Hydration has packaged a very high-quality sodium content, which is so important for our overall health and performance.”

Although health-conscious consumers may follow a low-salt diet, focusing on lean proteins, vegetables and slow-burning carbohydrates while drinking half their body weight in ounces of water, Saladino warns that they may inadvertently flush out essential nutrients, decreasing valuable sodium levels.

Saladino also reports a positive shift in clients who opt for Halo Hydration as a solution with its quality built-in salt.

“I’m finding that people who are starting to trust the process are getting a lot more benefit out of their energy levels,” he said. “Their performance is going through the roof, and their sleep quality is improving because now they’re not waking up three or four times to pee at night.” 

Mindful Caffeine Consumption

Coffee drinkers may be aware that their daily dose of caffeine is dehydrating, but still look forward to reaching for their morning cup of coffee. As Saladino advises, hydrating with salt first thing in the morning is essential, and with Halo’s Hydrating Lattes, consumers can now hydrate and caffeinate all at once.

“Most of the time when we travel, we get access to really poor forms of coffee for caffeine,” he said. “The coffee bean is one of the most heavily polluted crops out there. Now I can pack a few (Hydrating Lattes packets) in my bag and travel with it.”

As Saladino points out, the Hydrating Lattes packets aren’t too high in caffeine, so they shouldn’t cause unpleasant effects, such as jitters or an eventual crash.

“Two of these packets are going to be the equivalent of, say, one Starbucks coffee so you can go back for that second and not feel guilty for it,” he said. “It’s really a smarter way to consume caffeine; it’s a more thoughtful and controlled way to consume caffeine.”

Halo’s Hydrating Lattes comes in flavors such as Iced Caramel Latte, Iced Vanilla Latte and Iced Mocha Latte, with caffeine sourced from real coffee and a proprietary blend of electrolytes and non-dairy creamer. 

“They’re absolutely delicious,”  Saladino said of Halo Hydrating Lattes packets. “To have just that right amount of caffeine to where you’re alert and you’re able to utilize caffeine to its potential — we want to make sure it’s a supplement that we’re consuming to our advantage, and there is so much incredible research out there on caffeine and coffee consumption in relation to preventing heart disease or cardiovascular health.”

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Actors Ian Somerhalder and Nikki Reed have launched The Absorption Company, a powdered supplement brand that aims to elevate the bioavailability of nutrients by up to 500%. Launched with Zeke Bronfman and Nate Medow along with Somerhalder and Reed, the company has already enjoyed a successful pre-launch at Erewhon, the famous grocer in Los Angeles, and is now available nationwide. 

“Since I was a kid, health, wellness, and natural solutions have been a huge part of my life,” Somerhalder told Athletech News. “My mother always said that to have great output, you must have great input, and that especially applies to what we put in our bodies. As I got older and my professional life got busier – from taking over 100 flights a year to working 18-hour days on set – I was always looking for natural solutions, not only to keep me feeling my best but functioning at my best.”

Once Somerhalder and Reed became parents, they completed bloodwork and were shocked by the results. Somerhalder discovered high levels of arsenic, lead and toxic folic acid in his system.

“It was then we realized that not only were the supplements we had been taking ineffective, but they were actually doing more harm than good. So many of us are simply not able to detox what we are putting into our bodies fast enough,” Somerhalder shared. “That was the ‘a-ha’ moment. People are spending billions of dollars per year of their hard-earned money on supplements that aren’t safe or effective and the industry is completely unregulated.”

“We wanted to create a brand that addressed these challenges and lead by example in the hopes that others would follow suit,” he added.

The couple spent years working with scientists, nutritionists and pharmacists to develop The Absorption Company. The products work through a proprietary delivery system designed for liposomal absorption. They address four critical areas: Restore, Calm, Energy and Sleep.

The supplements use Capsoil technology, which was created by scientists from Hebrew University to reduce oil-based active ingredients into nanoparticles that increase surface area and improve powdered product format efficiency. Each Absorption Company batch is third-party tested.

“There are two main issues that no one is really talking about. First, traditional supplements have very low absorption rates due to their large particle size and harsh gut environment,” Somerhalder explained. “Second, since the FDA deregulated supplement oversight in 1994 there has been little visibility into what is actually going into products, so there is truly no way to know what you are taking and the quality of the ingredients.”

By using the proprietary Capsoil technology, Somerhalder said The Absorption Company supplements are the first-ever water-soluble delivery system for liposomal nutrients proven to increase bioavailability by up to 500%. By only using certified ingredients and testing and retesting every single batch, there are no contaminants in the products.

The supplement market was worth nearly $177 billion in 2023; The Absorption Company is hoping to disrupt the current ways of doing business with its new approach. The brand’s products are now available for purchase online and at Erewhon in Los Angeles.  

The Absorption Company also has its eye on retail expansion after its launch in Erewhon last month.  

“Our goal is to make products that consumers need and deserve,” Somerhalder said. “Our company is rooted in efficacy, transparency and authenticity, and I hope that this empowers people to do their own research and be objective.”

The post Celeb-Backed Absorption Company Aims To Change the Supplement Game appeared first on Athletech News.

Mateina is officially coming to the United States in what could be a major category expansion.

The yerba mate drink product, cultivated in partnership with a fourth-generation farming family in Misiones, Argentina, has been available in Canada since its founding in 2017. However, neuroscientist and wellness influencer Dr. Andrew Huberman and Tiny, a Canadian holding company, announced their intentions to expand south, obtaining a majority ownership stake in Mateina.

Tiny’s support for Mateina comes from its private partnership Tiny Fund I, LP.

“We envision a world where Yerba Mate is a highly accessible and health-forward beverage that is consumed by hundreds of millions of people in the U.S. and around the world, in the same way coffee and tea are today,” said Elodie Simard, co-founder of Mateina.”Partnering with Tiny and Dr. Huberman enables us to introduce Mateina U.S. and globally while also underscoring our commitment to sustainable, organic farming practices in Argentina.”

Dr. Huberman, a neuroscientist and professor at the Stanford School of Medicine, has built a massive following on social media, with over 5 million Instagram followers and 1 million followers on X, formerly Twitter. He received the Cogan Award in 2017 as well, given to scientists making the most significant discoveries in the study of vision.

Mateina’s U.S. launch includes a new sugar-free option, which Dr. Huberman co-developed.

“Yerba mate has been my preferred source of caffeine for more than three decades,” Dr. Huberman said. “Collaborating with Mateina to develop a non-smoked, sugar-free version of cold pressed yerba mate was a thrill and I’m so excited to be able to share this drink with the world. I see it as a truly peerless beverage in terms of its positive effects on mind and body.”

Mateina products are non-carbonated, lightly sweetened cold beverages and come in flavors such as original lemon, peach passion, and grapefruit guava. Along with the new sugar-free option, low-sugar beverages are available as well, culminating in a broad, yet precise and scientific approach to serving the energy drink community. 

This move comes as another chapter in what’s been a big year for the energy drink industry. PepsiCo’s Rockstar Energy just launched a functional mushroom-infused drink called “‘Rockstar Focus.” At-home revenue in the sports and energy drink market is at $102.9 Billion in 2024. The market is expected to grow annually by 5.46% through 2028.

The post Can Dr. Andrew Huberman, Mateina Make Yerba Mate Popular in the US? appeared first on Athletech News.

MyFitnessPal has named Mike Fisher as its new CEO, a move that comes after the global nutrition and food tracking app recently announced a new partnership with Kate Hudson.

Fisher, who has previously served at Etsy, Quigo, AKF Partners and PayPal, succeeds Dinesh Lathi, who will remain involved with MyFitnessPal and serve on the company’s board of directors.

“I’m thrilled to join the MyFitnessPal team,” Fisher said. “As CEO, I’m excited to pair my passion for consumer-facing technologies with MyFitnessPal’s commitment to improving human wellness. MyFitnessPal’s mission to empower its users to achieve their weight management and broader health goals resonates with my own aspirations to live a healthier life and my desire to help others do the same.”

In addition to his corporate leadership experience, Fisher is a U.S. Army veteran. He’s also served on the board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and currently serves on the board of the West Point Association of Graduates.

Private equity firm Francisco Partners acquired MyFitnessPal in 2020 from Under Armour. The leading nutrition and food tracking app has garnered over 200 million users in 120-plus countries since launching in 2005.

Christine Wang, partner at Francisco Partners, noted the “tremendous growth” in the health and wellness technology sector and that Fisher’s experience will enhance the user experience and assist “millions more” in achieving their goals.

Earlier this month, MyFitnessPal teamed up with celebrity and Fabletics co-founder Kate Hudson (and her personal trainer) for its “Small Steps, Big Wins” initiative, where users can join a free one-week plan to build healthy habits. 

“I’m excited to partner with MyFitnessPal because we share a vision to help inspire people to get healthy and just take those small steps to get them started,” Hudson said. “This is something I’ve been passionate about for years so developing the Small Steps, Big Wins Plan with them was a natural next step after using the app for years to track my nutrition.”

The seven-day program includes Hudson’s tricks for staying inspired and her favorite affirmations for hitting health goals. It also encourages users to lower sugar intake and boost their hydration levels.

Corporate wellness platform Gympass added the popular nutrition app as one of its offerings due to a high number of requests from users and clients last year. The MyFitnessPal app also introduced sleeping tracking insights in recent months, integrating sleep data from Apple Health and Health Connect by Android to show how certain food choices can impact the length and quality of sleep. 

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Ascent Protein has reached new heights, inking a nationwide partnership with Orangetheory Fitness that makes the sports nutrition brand the fitness franchise’s first official protein powder partner. 

Ascent, a Colorado-based nutrition brand, offers protein-packed whey and planet-based blends, each with 25g of protein and zero artificial flavors and sweeteners. As a result of the new deal, Ascent’s 100% Whey Protein Powder and Plant Protein Powder will be found at select Orangetheory Fitness locations nationwide in vanilla, chocolate and chocolate peanut butter flavors. As a nod to its new partner, Ascent created a custom 1lb bag exclusively for Orangetheory studios, featuring the fitness franchise’s logo. 

“Orangetheory Fitness is a great partner for Ascent and our mission to help athletes naturally improve their athletic performance,” said Dallas Doiron, associate director of sales for Ascent Protein. “All Ascent products are created using minimal ingredients, no artificial flavors or sweeteners and are designed to support muscle health and performance. This partnership allows consumers to conveniently grab their favorite protein products right before or after their workout at Orangetheory.”

Launched in 2016, Ascent’s products have found fans in athletes such as Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Pollard, CrossFit Games athletes Brent Fikowski and Christine Kolenbrander, and Team USA Weightlifting’s CJ Cummings and Jourdan Delacruz. In addition to post-workout recovery protein powders, Ascent offers a pre-workout blend and an iced coffee with protein powder.

“We’re excited to bring Ascent Protein on as our official Protein Powder Partner,” says Scott Brown, vice president of fitness for Orangetheory. “This collaboration offers our domestic network of over 1,300 studios a great opportunity to provide their members with an essential tool for muscle growth, tissue repair and overall recovery. It perfectly aligns with our mission to support their journeys in living a longer, healthier life.”

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Health and wellness are a significant priority for Americans, and consumers are seeking an expanding number of vitamin and supplement options that range from prevention to recovery. According to NIQ, a data intelligence service provider, vitamins and supplements is a growing “super category” in terms of revenue, with sales of $13.5 billion in the latest 52-week period ending October 7, 2023, up 1.6% from the year-ago period.

The biggest year-over-year sales growth in the vitamin and supplements category was seen in areas like performance/recovery, mood and digestion.

Vitamins and supplements are a heavily shopped category, with over 90% household penetration, according to Jacqueline Flam, senior vice president of beauty & OTC at NIQ. Flam said that NIQ is seeing strong growth in the category overall, with consumers zeroing in on on gut health, focus and energy, hair and skin health, and healthy aging.

Vitamins & Supplements Shine on Amazon Prime Day

Vitamins and supplements were the second most popular consumer packaged goods (CPG) category purchased on Amazon’s October Prime Day in both 2023 and 2022 according to NIQ survey data. On the 2023 October Prime Day, 26% of consumers surveyed who purchased CPG goods, purchased vitamins and supplements just behind skincare, with 27% of consumers purchasing this top CPG category. Vitamins and supplements were also the second most purchased everyday essential category in the 2022 October Prime Day, with 29% of consumers surveyed reported purchasing vitamins and supplements compared with 34% of purchasing haircare, according to NIQ survey data.  

Top Categories Include Performance/Recovery, Mood & Digestion

Consumer interest in the vitamin and supplement survey data on Amazon Prime day aligns with NIQ’s data on the “super category” which includes minerals, supplements and vitamins. NIQ tracks weekly consumer spending across the super category to include total revenue, unit sales and price changes. While revenue increased over the latest 52-week period ending October 7, 2023, unit sales decreased by 3.1% to 1.1 billion YoY. The average unit price of vitamins and supplements increased by 4.7% over the past year with the average unit price totaling $12.24. Nearly every vitamin and supplement category increased prices compared to last year. 

According to NIQ data, in the latest 52-week period ending October 7, 2023, the vitamins and supplement categories that experienced strong unit sales growth compared to the previous 52-week period include those that support sports performance and recovery, including hydration, electrolytes, potassium and magnesium – all which help the body to recover and replenish particularly after working out. Additionally, mood supplements and digestive supplements are also seeing solid growth compared to the year-ago weekly period. 

Figure 1. Vitamin and Supplement Unit Sales Growth for Week Ending October 7, 2023 (% YoY to Previous Week-End Period)

Consumers Focus Less on Immunity, Men/Women’s Health & Weight Loss

Notable unit sales declines were seen in supplements that support men’s and women’s health, including prostate and menopause and preventive supplements like immunity supplements and zinc. These vitamins and supplements may have experienced a comparative decline due to peak consumption during pandemic-related news and outbreaks. Weight management supplements declined by 14.2% which may have been impacted due to the recent introduction of new weight loss drugs; this will be a category to watch. 

Figure 2. Vitamin and Supplement Unit Sales Decrease for Week Ending October 7, 2023 (% YoY to Previous Week-End Period)

The post Americans Are Spending More on Supplements, Especially Performance & Recovery appeared first on Athletech News.

Dean Kelly knows a thing or two about building successful consumer brands in the digital era.

After creating a pair of app businesses and holding senior roles in Walmart’s e-commerce division and at online wedding registry Zola, Kelly took over as CEO of Gainful in February 2020, tasked with taking the personalized performance nutrition company to the next level.

Kelly quickly built on the impressive work done by founders Eric Ji Sun Wu and Jahaan Ansari, who created Gainful as a personalized protein company that allows users to take a quiz and receive a protein powder blend that’s customized to their needs, goals and preferences.

Under Kelly’s watch, Gainful raised $7.5 million in a Series A round in January 2021 and has expanded beyond protein into categories including pre-workout, creatine, fiber, collagen and hydration, all while staying true to the brand’s ethos of personalized nutrition. Gainful reached profitability in early 2023 and has seen over one million orders and counting placed on its website.

Kelly spoke with Athletech News about the power of personalized nutrition, Gainful’s groundbreaking retail partnership with Target, and what’s next for the brand in terms of new features, products and funding.

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Athletech News: You came into this role with high-level experience as a founder and executive at top consumer brands. Why did you decide to join Gainful?

Dean Kelly: I’d been at a lot of big consumer companies, with big brands in really emotional categories, whether it be pets, weddings, furniture and homewares, or travel, and personalization has been a theme across my entire career. When Gainful approached me, I saw a really great opportunity to join a very young company with two incredible founders as the CEO in a category, health and wellness, where more and more people are spending more time and money. Personalization was being used as a vehicle in so many other categories, but it hadn’t really been done in this category, performance nutrition. I’ve stood in front of a wall of supplements in a GNC and been so confused, not knowing what the ingredients meant. So I had the same experience that our founders had.

ATN: Besides offering quizzes, how does Gainful make nutrition “personalized”?

DK: I view personalization as the feeling that a customer gets at the end of their experience with Gainful that makes them feel as if “Gainful is for me.” And it’s not only because of the products we’re recommending; the way that we talk to you is unique to you. We also bring in expert guidance from real RDs (registered dietitians) to help our customers with nutrition. It’s completely personalized, so it’s a real person responding to real people with real questions. Customers who use our RDSs retain 20 percentage points higher than customers who don’t. At the moment it’s email-based, but we’re moving into making it chat-based and text-based.

We’ve also started to work with content providers who are experts in their field, whether it be personal personal trainers, registered dieticians, etc. So the education and the content that we send you post-quiz is tailored to you. If you’re looking to build muscle versus lose weight, the education and content you get will be very different.

ATN: How does Gainful decide which supplements to sell?

DK: Gainful as a brand is about the individual, and removing barriers to that individual feeling their best, whatever those barriers are. There are brands out there that are quite niche. A vegan company can’t necessarily launch a Keto product, for example. The incredible thing about the Gainful brand is that we can go into any product in any multi-billion dollar category.

We started with protein because it’s an incredible base, most people don’t know how much they need and most people aren’t getting enough of it. But as you can see, we’ve started to add products and categories very selectively. Pre-workout, for example, there’s a huge crossover between a protein and a pre-workout customer. We then launched Boosts – collagen, fiber, creatine – that can be added to any of our products. And then we launched hydration as well.

If you can imagine where we’ll go next, Gainful is all about customization. You have a base protein, and then you can start to add Boosts, which might be gut health, menopause, prenatal, postnatal, cognitive, sleep, heart health or joint health. These are all categories we can go into under the umbrella of customization. We’ll be launching a brand new category in Q1 of next year.

ATN: Why did Gainful decide to partner with Target and enter the retail space?

DK: Target has over 1,800 stores nationwide, and 85% of the U.S. population shops in Target, so we saw it as a huge opportunity to attract a new customer and give that new customer a better experience, a more seamless and personalized experience, in an aisle that’s been pretty intimidating in the past.

ATN: How does Gainful bring a personalized experience to brick-and-mortar retail?

DK: Online, we taught customers how to shop a system for themselves. And we brought that behavior into the four walls of Target. When we launched at Target, we didn’t launch with just two products. We launched with 11 products and a very simple three-step process where customers can choose their base protein, they can choose a flavor, and then they can add a Goal Boost – build muscle, lose weight or recover. And you can combine those Goal Boosts and your flavor into the base protein, which is your customized protein. Also, on the lid of each of the protein packs (bought in Target) is a QR code that drives you to our registered dietitians. So we really are bringing personalized nutrition to everyone across the U.S.

ATN: Gainful is the official U.S. supplement and performance nutrition partner of Hyrox for the ‘23-24 race season. Why is this partnership important?

DK: One thing I love about Hyrox is that the races span ages, genders and athletic abilities. This is what Gainful recognizes, everyone is different, and therefore, everyone needs a personal approach not only to their training but to their nutrition. Also, Hyrox is incredibly big in Europe, and it’s coming to the U.S., so we thought it was incredible timing with an incredible partner who is trying to do something innovative. The third reason is because it’s becoming harder to acquire customers online and through Facebook and Instagram. For us, it’s less about putting a click-bait ad in front of a person. It’s about, Where are our customers when they’re not on Facebook and Instagram? They’re competing in Hyrox.

ATN: You’ve gone on record saying that Gainful is planning to raise another $20 to $30 million. Why is that investment important and what are your expansion plans?

DK: We’ve always been very capital efficient and very prioritized in what we do. We’ve never been one of those companies that’s over-raised, over-hired and then fired a lot of people. But now we’re at this point where we can expand our product range into new categories. We want to double down on retail – we’re further expanding in Target, and we have other retailers who approach us all the time. I get approached weekly by various people internationally about wanting to sell Gainful. We see a brand that could and should be global.

We want to build out our platform. We currently get a lot of our data from a quiz and we want to move that to make it more real-time. That involves building out an app, getting real-time data and connecting with different connected fitness partners. We also want to build brand awareness. We’re in the multiple tens of millions in revenue, and it’s now time to start telling the stories of Gainful, and that involves larger marketing budgets and top-of-funnel brand advertising, stuff that we’ve never done before.

These are all the things we want to do, and we want to find the right strategic partner who has seen numerous companies throughout this stage of growth and future stages.

The post CEO Corner: Gainful’s Dean Kelly on Personalized Nutrition appeared first on Athletech News.

Supplement companies often get a bad rap, commonly accused of peddling needless and potentially unsafe products backed by questionable science, all at high mark-ups. 

Momentous, an NSF-certified nutrition and supplement brand based in Park City, Utah, is out to change that perception by giving consumers access to high-quality products formulated by experts and designed with specific lifestyle and performance goals in mind.

Led by CEO Jeff Byers, a former NFL offensive lineman turned wellness executive who co-founded Amp Human, Momentous has become one of the industry’s smashing success stories, with revenue growth exceeding 1,000% since the company merged with Amp in 2021. Byers’ vision for Momentous is clear: to democratize high performance by bringing the same health and wellness tools he had access to as a pro athlete to everyday consumers. 

The company’s product line includes staples like Omega-3s, whey protein and creatine monohydrate, but also more targeted supplements like sleep aids, cognitive and athletic performance boosters, and hormone optimizers. Specific collections are also available, including supplement packages curated by experts like Dr. Andrew Huberman.

Along with a booming direct-to-consumer business, Momentous has nearly 200 partnerships with pro and college sports teams in the U.S. and has secured $4.5 million worth of innovation contracts with the Department of Defense to focus on human performance for service members.

Byers spoke with Athletech News about his transition from NFL lineman to wellness CEO, what makes Momentous stand out from other supplement companies, and where he sees the health and wellness market heading over the coming years and decades.

Athletech News: Can you tell us about your background and what led you to create Amp Human?

Jeff Byers: As a former professional athlete, I was really passionate about optimization and performance. When I retired from the NFL, I noticed there was a huge black hole in this space. You go from having access to great practitioners, experts and thought leaders in the space, and being given really curated products geared towards your goals, to this big black hole as an average consumer. So I saw a gap (in the market) to bring together high-quality products with the right practitioners and experts. 

After I decided I wasn’t going to stay in sports, I initially jumped into finance and realized it wasn’t for me, not by a long shot. I joined an early-stage biotech company because they had this technology we thought could be used in sports. That was kind of the genesis of what would become Amp Human and our product, PR Lotion. I thought, “What if we could roll that out to the consumer and build a leading high-performance company to fill this gap? ” So around five years ago, my co-founder Erica Good and I started Amp Human. 

Around two years ago, we bought the Momentous brand and merged into the company. The idea was that nutrition and supplements are such a cornerstone to optimization and health, but there’s still this very big black hole. Our vision is to democratize high performance. We do that through products, knowledge and access.

ATN: What separates Momentous from run-of-the-mill supplement companies?

JB: Supplements to me have a weird connotation, so our goal is to build the “anti-supplement supplement company.” It’s not, “Here are 500 products, go figure out what’s right for you.” Or, “Here’s some cool Fruity Pebbles-flavored protein,” because that’s really where the (supplement) market sits today. We want to be your trusted partner in life optimization.

I believe experts in optimization and wellness don’t live inside businesses, I believe they’re out there doing incredible things at the university level, in pro and college sports, or at the Department of Defense. So if we really want to create a different company, let’s not do it how it’s always been done. Let’s use the external resources – experts and practitioners – and build products around them.

ATN: How do you put that brand philosophy into action?

JB: We have three core pillars that we think are really important. Number one is experts. We align with experts, people like Dr. Andrew Huberman and Dr. Andy Galpin, and we also have this incredible performance engineer board that’s made up of top practitioners in pro and college sports. So it’s this expert-driven approach where we work with the best and ideate with the best.

Number two is our endless commitment to product. It’s everything from how we think about sourcing to what products we have – and what products we don’t have –  in our portfolio, to how we certify. There are very few (other) brands out there that certify their entire product line.

Our third pillar is customer experience. To me, this is getting people the right products at the right time. We recently released a new version of our website that allows people to navigate our products based on what we call need spaces – or pillars of optimization – which are Cognitive Function, Sleep, Athletic Performance and Foundational Health (Hormone Support has since been added). 

ATN: Who is Momentous’ target customer?

JB: We’re an aspirational brand, which means we’re built for those who are seeking to make changes in their lives. Our customer is much more of a mindset customer. It’s that continuously curious consumer who is an optimizer. They could be on day one of their optimization journey, but they’re looking to make changes in their life long term. They care about quality, they’re curious about content and are knowledgeable. Those people range from 18-year-olds to 70-year-olds, from male to female, overweight to underweight, from CrossFiters to football players. It’s a pretty deep pool, so we tend to target people not based on demographics but based on psychographics and sociographics. 

ATN: What kinds of work does Momentous do with sports teams and the U.S. government?

JB: We made a custom recovery product for one of the top NFL teams, although I’m not at liberty to say who. We worked with them to source, create and get the right ratios, and now we have a custom product that they use exclusively in their locker room as a competitive advantage. That’s been a really exciting product for us to build to flex some of our bespoke muscles. We’re working on seeing if we can launch it to the public sometime in the next year.

We’re also under contract with the Department of Defense. We’re developing what will hopefully become three novel products over the next two or three years that will be funded by the Department of Defense and clinically validated in top university settings, and then we’ll be able to sell those as well. One of them is a cognitive stimulant, another is around connective tissue health and then the last one will be around hydration.

ATN: Looking ahead, what areas of health and wellness are you most excited about? 

JB: There are two main areas. I’m incredibly passionate about cognitive longevity because it touches me so closely as a former professional athlete and it touches the people I care about. As we age, the likelihood is that our mind is going to go before any else. I think the real goal of longevity will become, Can we make the brain survive long enough or be sharp enough as we all age? One of my most passionate stories is about creatine monohydrate. Most people think creatine is just for bodybuilders and meatheads. But taking creatine monohydrate is one of the most impactful things we can do for long-term brain health. That’s the education aspect we need to bring and the difference we want to make for consumers. 

Number two is, there’s a lot of misinformation about female health. There’s not a ton of great clinical research around female health, so it just needs to be invested in and better understood across the board. Males and females are completely different, so I think there’s a great opportunity for us to help champion female performance and female longevity.

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Lifesum, a healthy eating app that has attracted major employers such as Amazon, GE and PayPal, has introduced a new digital health benefit, the Healthy Fasting Program, available through its Lifesum for Work corporate wellness platform.

The Lifesum Healthy Fasting Program allows users to design a fasting plan that works for them based on their lifestyle and needs or opt for a pre-set fasting interval. Employees receive nutritional guidance on what to eat based on their fast selection, providing recipes with reminders of when to start and end their fast. 

The fasting lifestyle can be an ideal and healthy approach for employees, as proponents say it can optimize productivity and overall wellness.

“Fasting is a popular way of eating, but helping employees to find a fasting routine that fits their personal needs is key,” said Signe Svanfeldt, Lifesum’s lead nutritionist. “When practiced safely, individuals report higher levels of concentration, and feel more focused and energized.”

A Food-First Approach To Corporate Wellness

Since launching its healthy eating app in 2013, Lifesum has inspired over 60 million people with its unique approach to better-for-you food choices that incorporates personalized nutrition insights, guidance, recipes, meal plans, diets and food and exercise trackers.

As consumers continue to pivot towards wellness apps, platforms and therapies, employers have also taken note of the benefits of investing in employees’ health, such as increased engagement, retention and reduced absenteeism — all of which work in tandem to increase a company’s bottom line.

Lifesum recently added group insurance company YuLife as a corporate wellness partner, bringing its corporate wellness experience to member companies such as Tesco, Santander and Capital One.

The healthy eating app has also taken an innovative approach with the recent launch of its Hormonal Meal Plan, which encourages employees to balance hormones naturally and addresses what Lifesum calls a “workplace blindspot.”

While available to both male and female employees, Lifesum’s Hormonal Meal Plan gives special consideration and attention to the nutritional needs of women experiencing menopausal symptoms, which, according to Lifesum, costs American women roughly $1.8 billion in lost working time each year.

In addition to nutritional support, Lifesum also promotes sleep hygiene and its impact on workplace wellness, as seen by a partnership with Oura. As part of collaborating with the wearable tech company, employees can access Lifesum’s sleep tracking feature to understand the link between sleep, nutrition and workplace performance. 

Svanfeldt offers the following tips for employees looking to fast healthily at work:

1. Avoid excessive caffeine: drinking black coffee is fine while fasting, but be careful not to exceed the individual tolerance level, as this can lead to headaches, dizziness, increased heart rate, and nausea. If you still feel like having a warm drink after consuming your daily coffee amount, enjoy an unsweetened, caffeine-free herbal tea instead.

2. Hydrate: stay properly hydrated throughout the day. Always keep a water bottle or glass close by, as it can help to curb hunger. If you want to make your water more exciting, infuse it with some herbs and/or sliced vegetables. Mint and cucumber are a perfect combination.

3. Plan meals ahead: make sure to plan your daily intake of food, and bring a nutritious meal to work. If you fast during the morning, it is likely that you will be very hungry during lunch. The natural temptation is to reach for a quick-fix sugary snack instead of a proper meal, so ensure that you prepare a home-cooked, nutritious meal instead.

4. Breaking the fast: when breaking the fast, aim to eat a balanced meal rich in fiber, protein, and healthy fats to achieve a stable blood sugar raise, as well as filling you up with nutritious fuel. These three components help you stay fuller for longer and provide essential nutrients.

5. Stay flexible: always prioritize your health and well-being. Even if you had planned to fast for a certain amount of hours, it is important to listen to your body. Stay flexible and allow yourself to break if required. Fasting is not for everyone. We all have individual needs that can vary depending on the day, sleep duration and daily activities.

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“Artificial Intelligence” may be one of the biggest buzzwords of 2023, and for good reason: fitness and health companies are among the leading players harnessing the simulation of human superpowers. Among those major players are food industry titans, who are clamoring in test kitchens, using algorithms to create recipes designed to make palatable yet healthy food. 

As consumers continue to adopt healthy habits and as weight loss medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy are clobbering shares of snack and beer companies, it’s likely prudent for the food industry to lean into creating healthier (but still tasty) products.

January AI, a metabolic health platform, looks at the current landscape as a crisis, heightened by rising healthcare costs and an alarming statistic from the CDC that 37.5 million Americans (roughly one in ten) have diabetes, with one in five unaware that they have the condition. It’s a grim picture, but one that January AI has set out to change by promoting well-informed eating with generative AI.

Launched in 2017 by Noosheen Hashemi and Stanford University’s Dr. Michael Snyder, January AI says its approach can help end lifestyle-related diseases.

January AI’s Digital Twin 

The metabolic health platform uses wearables to help users decide what to eat by combining continuous glucose monitoring, generative AI and a database of 32 million food items, but it takes it a step further. Users can now access a digital twin, to see how certain food selections will impact their digital twin’s blood sugar.

It’s the equivalent of offering consumers a science-backed crystal ball in which they can see the potential impact of certain foods on the body, therefore encouraging them to make healthier meal choices.

Nestlé Embraces AI

The platform is helpful to consumers, but it’s also proving valuable to major food companies, such as Nestlé. The multinational food and drink leader is using January AI’s digital twin technology as it considers AI for product innovation, such as personalized nutrition for those with special considerations, like diabetes.

According to January AI, the food industry has the potential to enhance the taste and texture of food, as well as its glycemic impact on the body, by using its digital twin capabilities.

“Our digital twin technology gives food companies an additional level of intelligence beyond what they already employ in their product development process,” explained Hashemi, CEO of January AI. “We’re able to help them see how people with diabetes or pre-diabetes would do on their various foods and decide how to reformulate their foods to be healthier for the population. This allows for virtual product development and optimization before any costly lab work is undertaken.”

AI-Powered Cheese

Along with food industry leaders, biotech companies are also exploring the power of AI to make nutrition more personalized and even positively impact the environment.

Climax Foods, a biotech startup, made news this summer for using “precision formulation” AI to discover a plant-based protein ingredient that mimics the melting magic and texture of casein, a dairy protein in cheese. A win for those with allergies, dairy sensitivities or a vegan lifestyle, Climax Foods credits its proprietary AI and data science process for discovering a new approach in creating AI-powered cheese.

Instead of attempting to genetically engineer plants to make proteins, Climax Foods says it uses data science and machine learning to model different formulations while also uncovering what makes certain foods “craveable” to human taste buds. 

While it may sound reminiscent of a high school chemistry class, Oliver Zahn, CEO and founder of Climax, explains that the company isn’t changing any ingredients genetically, but is using what already exists.

“Plants can impart all of the same texture, taste, and performance of animal-based ingredients – our AI-enabled Deep Plant Intelligence platform takes away the guesswork,” Zahn said. “For our casein replacement, our AI platform and precision formulation process helped us uncover a mechanism in specific plant proteins that imparts indistinguishable melt and stretch and mouthfeel from casein while also dramatically improving nutrition.”

Although it’s focused on dairy products at the moment, Climax Foods has its sights set on food products far past cheese. Zahn confirmed that the biotech company’s AI process can one day be applied to replace other animal-based foods. 

“This is one of the most important scientific breakthroughs in food in the last six thousand years—since humans invented animal agriculture – but we are only getting started,” Zahn said.

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Lifesum, a highly popular app that inspires healthy eating, has attracted a new corporate wellness partner in group insurance company YuLife. The deal will bring Lifesum’s corporate wellness experience to member companies such as Tesco, Santander and Capital One.

Since launching in 2013, Lifesum has grown to encourage over 60 million people with its approach to smart food choices. The platform features customized nutrition insights, guidance, recipes, meal plans and diets, and offers users food and exercise trackers.

The Lifsum app can now be found in YuLife’s YuStore, a marketplace where companies can purchase health and wellness apps. 

“Healthy eating impacts every aspect of life, including workplace well-being, which is why organizations are turning to Lifesum, as they know the benefits of investing in the health of their employees to achieve their full potential,” said Chris Seth, chief strategy officer at Lifesum.

Lifesum’s approach to wellness supports a recent report that demonstrated the economic results of investing in employee well-being, which is worth up to a staggering $370 billion per year to U.K. organizations, or the equivalent of £4,000 to £12,000 per U.K. employee.

In addition to YuLife, the health eating solution app has attracted other major employers including Amazon, GE and PayPal.

Sammy Rubin, YuLife founder and CEO, explained that the company is pioneering a new form of group insurance for businesses by incentivizing health lifestyle modifications, reducing risk and improving overall health.

“Lifesum’s focus on holistic health enables YuLife to help businesses seeking to improve the well-being of their employees, and make a tangible difference to their lives,” Rubin sad. “Unequivocal evidence shows how healthy eating impacts all aspects of life, both in and out of the workplace, and leads to lower absenteeism, higher productivity and active, fulfilled lives.”

The healthy eating platform recently became the first to launch a Hormonal Meal Plan, designed to aid employees in balancing hormones naturally. Lifesum also introduced a sleep tracking feature with Oura, supporting the link between sleep and nutrition, which significantly impacts overall workplace health and wellness.

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Plant-based meats are hitting the markets in greater numbers than before. You may have heard of Impossible Burger, Beyond Meat and Boca, just to name a few. Consumers of these meat alternatives often have health, the environment, or animal rights in mind. Beyond Meat has a different nutritional composition than animal meat. We’ll take a look at the major nutritional differences between plant-based options like Beyond Meat and animal meat to help you make your decisions when shopping for your protein.

What Is Beyond Meat?

Beyond Meat was founded in 2009. Their focus is to create meat alternatives made from plants with a mission to reduce the environmental impacts associated with traditional meat production. They aim to do so with as few ingredients as possible while maintaining a high-quality taste.

You can find the ingredients of one of the Beyond Meat products, Beyond Beef, here.

How healthy Is It?

Eating a plant-based diet is known to reduce the risk of many chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes mellitus and cancer. The term plant-based is used to describe a vegan diet, vegetarian diet or a diet that is omnivorous but with an emphasis on eating plenty of plants. A popular omnivorous diet that is also plant-based is the Mediterranean diet, which you can read more about here. Whether you are vegetarian, vegan or omnivorous, knowing the nutritional differences between plant-based meat and animal meat is important for your health.

Vitamins & Minerals

Animal meat, specifically beef, is naturally rich in B vitamins, especially B12. Vitamin B12 is essential for making protein, red blood cells and DNA. Not having enough vitamin B12 can contribute to anemia, gastrointestinal issues and neurologic issues. This vitamin is found in its most bioavailable form in animal products. Many plant-based meats, including Beyond Meat, add this vitamin to their products.

Zinc is naturally present in animal meat. 100 grams of ground beef will meet 57% of your daily needs for zinc. Zinc is an essential mineral that regulates gene expression. It supports your antioxidants and plays a role in immunity, growth and development, and reproductive capacity. Beyond Meat adds zinc to its products to mimic the nutrients one would obtain from animal meat.

Overall, many plant-based meat companies add vitamins and minerals to their products. It is important to check the ingredients list on the label to make sure they have added B vitamins and zinc.

Protein

Getting plenty of protein is essential for overall health. Adequate protein helps protect your muscle mass which helps increase your independence and longevity. Four ounces of ground beef has 22 grams of protein which is comparable to Beyond Beef’s 20 grams of protein.

Plant proteins have a lower amount of leucine, methionine and lysine as compared to animal proteins. These amino acids are essential for the making of proteins that involve DNA, enzymes and hormones.

Beyond Meat primarily uses pea protein in the ingredients. Pea protein is higher in leucine than other plant proteins but is still low in methionine. Your body depends on methionine for making DNA. The human body cannot make methionine on its own. Therefore, it’s essential to get it from food sources. It is most prevalent in animal meat and dairy. There are vegetarian sources of methionine such as soybean, but it’s not as high as in animal products.

L-Carnitine is a molecule that your body needs to use fat for energy. Animal meat, especially beef, naturally has L-Carnitine in its composition. However, your body can make L-Carnitine if it has methionine and lysine to work with. This is an important point for those seeking to lose weight as L-Carnitine directly brings fat molecules into your mitochondria to be used as energy. Some researchers are looking into how carnitine supplementation can affect fat utilization during exercise, but that is still being researched.

Is It a Processed Food?

The term processed foods can be scary. Anytime a food is changed from its original form, it is technically processed. However, there are different levels to how processed or changed a food becomes. Typically, when people think of processed foods, they’re thinking of ultra-processed food such as Twinkies, cookies, chips, candy, etc. These are examples of eating food that is the most changed from its original form. Yet, even bagged salads, canned vegetables and nut butter can be considered processed foods, just not as much as the ultra-processed items.

Plant-based meats are considered a processed food because they are largely changed from the original form of the ingredients. Additional ingredients, such as seed oils, are added to make the product seem more like animal meat. Seed oils include canola, corn, sunflower, safflower, soy, grapeseed, rice bran and cottonseed. In its purest form, extracting oils from these foods includes squeezing the seed in a way in which the oil comes out, which would be considered a cold-pressed oil. Most of these oils are processed further to make them shelf-stable, tasteless or able to tolerate high cooking temperatures.

Seed oils are considered an inflammatory food because they are higher in omega-6 fatty acids. These fats, if in excess, can increase free radicals and inflammation. Consuming adequate omega-3 fatty acids can mitigate the effects of omega-6 fats. The standard American diet tends to be high in omega-6 fats and low in omega-3s. Eating fatty fish a few times a week or taking an omega-3 supplement can help lower underlying inflammation.

Conclusion

There are several ways to eat a plant-based diet. It’s important to be informed on what plant-based meats offer and how to look for brands that provide the proper vitamins and minerals. Always check the ingredients label to ensure they’ve added B12 and zinc to keep you healthy. Plant proteins are lower in certain amino acids that we need to stay healthy. Having a wide variety of protein sources is one strategy that can help you get all the amino acids you need. Remember that plant-based meats are a processed food and may contain inflammatory additives if your diet is low in omega-3 fats.

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be used without the advice of your doctor. It does not claim to treat or cure health conditions.

The post Is Beyond Meat Healthy? A Dietitian’s Take on Plant-Based Protein appeared first on Athletech News.

Blender Bites, a female-founded at-home frozen food brand that allows consumers to add a liquid of their choice to quickly create a fresh smoothie, has just entered the U.S. market, debuting in 1,600 Walmart locations across the country. The brand has also caught the eye of actress, singer and dancer Julianne Hough, a brand partner and investor, who has also invested in Therabody.

Earlier this summer, Blender Bites announced it achieved record-breaking revenues of $918,509 and had its largest month in sales to date.

The one-step, cube-shaped products are made with functional ingredients like organic fruits, greens, probiotics, vitamins and adaptogenic mushrooms and are organic, gluten-free, dairy-free and soy-free. Packaged as little pucks, the Blender Bites are convenient for at home or on the go. 

For those seeking a “better for you” treat, Blender Bites also offers one-step Frappes with 50% less sugar, calories and carbs than a traditional frappe drink while incorporating probiotics and collagen.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled about Blender Bites’ arrival in the US,” Hough said of the Canadian company. “The dedication to health-conscious innovation, combined with the commitment to bringing accessible wellness options, resonates with me deeply.”

Walmart stores and Walmart.com will stock three of Blender Bites’ one-step Smoothie selections, such as Liquid Sunshine with vitamin D, Daily Defen-C with immune-boosting probiotics and Power Berry, a blend of seven organic greens and B vitamins. The mega retailer will also sell Blender Bites’ Mindful Mocha and Caramel Collagen, both from the one-step Frappes line.

“We are thrilled to bring Blender Bites to Walmart’s vast network of stores across the U.S.,” said Chelsie Hodge, the company’s CEO and founder. “Walmart has shown incredible support of our brand and has shown true collaboration over the past 18 months. This opportunity is by far the most significant in our company’s history, and it represents a transformative step towards our goal of becoming a household name in the frozen food and beverage category.”

Hodge started the company in 2017 to provide an easy and affordable smoothie solution in the form of a pre-portioned puck using nutritious ingredients. 

In an interview with Food in Canada, Hodge shared that COVID-19 increased demand for Blender Bites’ products, as consumers were seeking items with vitamins that supported health and immunity.

Looking ahead, Hodge confirmed to Athletech News that Blender Bites plans to expand to other products in 2024 and is interested in developing new items that are aligned with its mission to create healthy, functional and convenient frozen food products.

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Lifesum, a global healthy eating platform with over 65 million users, has introduced a Hormonal Meal Plan for employees, offering an innovative approach to corporate wellness.

The meal program is available via Lifesum for Work, Lifesum’s corporate healthy eating service used by high-profile employers such as Amazon and Nike.

“The Hormonal Meal Plan is another exciting step towards Lifesum’s holistic approach to workplace health, which empowers everyone to live a longer, healthier life,” said Jenny Ragnas, chief product officer at Lifesum.

The platform is shining a spotlight on the importance of hormone regulation, which, as Lifesum points out, controls every process in the body, impacting stress, mental health and productivity. Employees using Lifesum’s Hormonal Meal Plan will now receive personalized health insights, guidance, recipes and feedback on micro and macronutrients.

Improving the health and well-being of employees is shown to increase a company’s bottom line with reduced absenteeism, improved engagement and retention, and increased productivity.

“Typically, our bodies maintain hormones within a normal level, but modern food processing and sedentary lifestyles make this process more difficult,” Ragnas said. “Lifesum is innovating the next phase of workplace hormonal health by offering a solution for all employees that naturally supports the body in balancing hormones, and leads to a healthier, more productive workforce.”

Lifesum’s Hormonal Meal Plan also addresses and supports the nutritional needs of women experiencing menopausal symptoms. According to Lifesum, this frequently overlooked and taboo topic costs American women roughly $1.8 billion in lost working time each year, while a million women in the U.K. have left their jobs due to the aggravating symptoms of menopause. 

“While Lifesum’s Hormonal Meal Plan is available for all employees, it also provides a practical workplace intervention to support the hormone health of female employees and promote open conversations,” Ragnas said. “Without the right culture, taboos will remain.”

Founded in 2013 by a group of tech entrepreneurs with experience in online entertainment, Lifesum helps users lose weight or generally improve their overall health through a host of features, including calorie and macronutrient tracking. The platform also offers recipes, meal plan templates and diet plans, as well as sleep and activity tracking by synching with Apple Health and Google Fit data.

The platform recently introduced a sleep-tracking feature with Oura so users can better understand the link between sleep and nutrition and how it impacts weight management and overall workplace health. Consumers are expected to become increasingly focused on the benefits of proper sleep hygiene, according to a 2024 wellness trends report from Mindbody.

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If you’ve ever tried to gain muscle mass, you know that it’s critical to eat plenty of protein. However, getting enough protein throughout the day can be surprisingly difficult. The ever-growing popularity of strength training has spurred health companies to get creative and release a slew of protein bars. These products commonly range between 15-25 grams of protein per bar. That’s the equivalent of eating a 5 oz Greek yogurt or a 3 oz chicken breast. 

To many, protein bars seem like an ultra-processed food, but because of their convenience, the market is now flooded with a myriad of options. This article explores the benefits of protein, the upsides of protein bars and whether they’re causing you unwanted side effects.

Do I Really Need That Much Protein?

Protein is vital for every process in our bodies, including metabolism. Maintaining and/or building muscle mass protects you against illness, poor quality of life and keeps you independent into your elderly years. Having plenty of muscle also means you use more energy (burn more calories) throughout the day even when doing nothing. Studies have shown that you’ll lose an average of 30-50% of muscle mass between 40-80 years old. 

Protein makes humans feel satiated and full because of the way it interacts with our hormones. This can curb cravings later in the day, ultimately decreasing how much we eat. It can prevent diabetes because it slows down blood sugar from spiking after eating. With better blood sugar control, you may see improvements in mood as your energy levels become more stable throughout the day.

Your protein needs depend on your activity level. If you resistance train 2-3 times per week and go on walks or have a job that keeps you on your feet, then you’ll need anywhere from 1.4-2.0 grams of protein per kilogram a day. For a 130-pound individual, this amounts to at least 84 grams of protein daily. If you exercise almost daily, then that number shoots up to 1.6-2.4 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. If you don’t eat a protein-rich breakfast, you’ll likely have a hard time catching up to your protein goals throughout the day.

Benefits of Protein Bars

Many protein bars are tasty and convenient. Often, companies will add vitamins and minerals, which can almost act like a multivitamin. Since there are so many options on the market, it’s fairly easy to find ones with alternative sugars, such as stevia, instead of added sugar. Many protein bars add supplemental fiber such as chicory root. Fiber is necessary for your gut microbiome health and lowers your risk of colon cancer. It also helps to prevent heart disease and diabetes. Most people eat about 50% of their fiber needs every day, so getting a little extra from your protein bar can be a step in the right direction. 

For people who don’t eat a protein-rich breakfast, a protein bar can be a great option in the morning as you’re getting out the door. Ultimately, this will keep you more satiated. Having enough protein is critical for maintaining or adding muscle mass, which causes a downstream effect of many health benefits.

Downsides of Protein Bars

It’s hard to make food convenient without processing it heavily. With this processing, there can be many additives in a protein bar, such as sugar alcohols and supplemental fiber. If you suffer from irritable bowel syndrome or bloating, pay special attention to your symptoms after eating a protein bar. Sugar alcohol and supplemental fiber can exacerbate bowel issues in some individuals.

The nutritional content of protein bars usually comes with a higher caloric price tag. Many protein bars range well into the 300-calorie range which can put you at a surplus depending on your current weight and goals. Because companies need to make these bars taste good, they’re often high in fat and high in saturated fat. If you have high cholesterol, it’s important to watch your saturated fat intake. 

Final Thoughts

If time and convenience keep you from meeting your protein needs, then a protein bar can be an easy addition to your diet and offer several benefits. Finding one that suits your personal health needs is becoming more possible as more companies get innovative. Reaching your daily protein goal to maintain or build muscle can be difficult, so using a protein bar to do so may help you improve your longevity by increasing your muscle mass.

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be used without the advice of your doctor. It does not claim to treat or cure health conditions. 

The post Are Protein Bars Actually Healthy? A Dietitian’s Take appeared first on Athletech News.

Many pregnant women focus their energy on how to provide nutrition and sustenance for their growing babies, often forgetting to take care of themselves. To combat such behavior and promote a more holistic approach to pregnancy, MyFitnessPal has launched a weeklong program in partnership with fitness expert Deja Riley called “Eating for Pregnancy.” The program offers daily tips, food ideas and recipe recommendations from the company’s registered dietitians and mothers. 

Deja Riley, a former professional dancer and a current inclusion, diversity, equity and action (IDEA) representative for Lululemon, is committed to reframing the focus on mothers.

“Throughout pregnancy, it’s important to track and follow the baby’s progress but it’s also important to put some of the focus back on mom – making sure we’re taking care of ourselves properly, from nutrition to simply carving out time for self-care,” Riley said. “MyFitnessPal makes it easy to track food choices, water intake and movement and doing so has helped me identify choices that directly impact my mood and energy.”

Eating for Pregnancy helps users navigate common issues during pregnancy, like morning sickness, heartburn, constipation, exercise, fatigue and cravings. Changing hormones can influence energy, mood, and symptoms, while iron-packed prenatal vitamins can slow down digestion.

Riley also shares many of her favorite modified fitness movements as part of the program so women can stay active and healthy during pregnancy. 

“This isn’t an eating program. It’s a plan that offers real-life strategies to help navigate a time that can feel both overwhelming and exciting, not only for those who are pregnant for the first time, but even experienced moms, because every pregnancy is unique,” said Stephanie Nelson, a MyFitnessPal in-house registered dietitian.

The Eating for Pregnancy plan is now available on MyFitnessPal and can be downloaded for free via the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

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Heart disease, also known as cardiovascular disease, is the number one cause of death worldwide. It can cause heart attacks and strokes. The good news is that heart disease can usually be prevented by eating nutrient-dense foods and living a healthy lifestyle. Researchers conclude that you can reduce your risk of heart attack by 81-94% through making healthy lifestyle and nutrition choices. 

What Is Heart Disease?

Heart disease, or cardiovascular disease, describes a pathology of the heart and blood vessels, which is the system in which blood travels throughout your body. The most common form of heart disease is coronary artery disease. This is when plaque builds up on the walls of your arterial blood vessels. This can cause an obstruction, preventing blood and oxygen from flowing through that area and then to the heart. Ultimately, this can cause a heart attack.

There are methods to stave off the build-up of plaque in your arteries. Keeping your arteries flexible is crucial. This ensures the vessels don’t harden, therefore transferring blood appropriately. High cholesterol, specifically LDL cholesterol, contributes to the build-up of plaque. This is why medical professionals routinely check LDL numbers to assess your risk of heart disease.  The process of plaque buildup is an inherently inflammatory process that involves many immune agents. Even fibrosis and calcification can occur, which creates lesions in the blood vessel walls. 

Blood pressure is another factor used to predict the risk of heart disease. Higher blood pressure can be due to a narrowing of the arteries, either from an inflexibility of your blood vessels or plaque buildup. Not all cholesterol is created equal. The “good” cholesterol, HDL, is needed to lower LDL cholesterol. Keep reading to find out which food can protect you from this debilitating disease.

5 Foods That Protect Your Heart

Specific nutrients and bioactive compounds can expand your blood vessels to create more space for blood to flow. Food offers components to help lower LDL cholesterol and increase HDL cholesterol. Many nutrients lower the inflammatory response, therefore guarding against plaque formation.

Fish

Fish such as salmon, bluefin tuna, anchovies, bass, and sardines are abundant in omega-3 fatty acids. Eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) are the components that make up omega-3 fatty acids. This type of fat drastically reduces inflammatory markers that promote the process of plaque formation in blood vessels. These fats also raise HDL cholesterol. HDL specifically lowers LDL cholesterol. Having adequate HDL on your annual lab draws is a positive sign in lowering your risk. Eating fish 2-3 times per week can offer these benefits. Additionally, many supplement brands offer concentrated forms of omega-3 fatty acids.

Nuts

Nuts, such as almonds and walnuts, are rich in vitamin E. Vitamin E is crucial for canceling out free radicals and therefore halting the inflammatory response that occurs at the blood vessel. It does so by stopping the oxidation of LDL cholesterol. Many large-scale studies have shown that vitamin E reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke. Walnuts specifically have more polyphenols than any other nut. Polyphenols are a type of bioactive compound; these are compounds in food that are not a micronutrient or macronutrient. Specifically, the polyphenol ellagitannin may result in a 10-fold decrease in heart disease risk by improving blood pressure and increasing HDL.

Beans

Beans are extremely high in fiber. Just half a cup of beans provides 7 grams of fiber, which is about 25% of the minimum recommended intake. A diet high in fiber helps your body get rid of extra cholesterol. As one of the most nutrient-dense foods, beans are high in vitamins, minerals and bioactive compounds. Several studies have found that beans can lower the risk factors associated with heart disease. Eating 2 servings of beans a day lowered LDL cholesterol by 8% in 2 months in one study. 

Garlic

Widely used in cooking, and now growing in popularity as a supplement, garlic can drastically reduce blood pressure. A review of 20 studies concluded that garlic supplementation decreased blood pressure by an average of 6.1-8.6 mm, which is significant. Garlic increases nitric oxide which is necessary to dilate our blood vessels, allowing for adequate circulation of blood. Improvements in arterial stiffness have also been shown with garlic supplementation. The more flexible we can keep our blood vessels, the better.

Beets

Beets are incredibly high in nitrate, which is required to make nitric oxide. As stated, nitric oxide helps our blood vessels dilate. Beets are one of the top 10 plants with the highest antioxidant capability. This serves to stop damage to your blood vessel walls. One study showed that drinking beet juice for 4 weeks improved arterial stiffness by 20%. 

Final Thoughts

Heart disease can be prevented by eating a variety of nutrient-dense foods. It does so by directly counteracting the underlying causes that can cause blocks in blood vessels. Additionally, food can improve blood pressure, lower LDL (bad cholesterol) and increase HDL (good cholesterol). These are all important factors when assessing your risk of cardiovascular disease.

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be used without the advice of your doctor. It does not claim to treat or cure health conditions. 

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Plant-based organic food startup Daily Harvest is partially pivoting from its direct-to-consumer model to the frozen section of over 1,100 Kroger grocery stores nationwide. 

The announcement of Daily Harvest’s first retail partnership comes almost a year after the plant-based company conducted two rounds of layoffs and a highly-publicized lentil crisis that resulted in hospitalizations and illness from Daily Harvest’s French Lentil + Leek Crumbles. 

After an ongoing investigation involving Daily Harvest and the FDA, it’s believed that a product ingredient, tara flour, was most likely the source of many customers’ abdominal discomfort and gallbladder removal. However, a recent report by Bloomberg indicates that the investigation is ongoing and that an internal FDA report suggests that a protein powder derived from the seeds of sacha inchi could have been the culprit. 

The serious situation has resulted in several lawsuits targeting the startup and its suppliers for damages, which Daily Harvest’s founder and CEO, Rachel Drori, seems to shake off.

“Lawsuits are lawsuits and they happen behind closed doors in a court room. So, you know, I’m not concerned about it,” Drori told Fast Company in June. “Our mission is bigger than that: It’s to help people eat more fruits and vegetables every day and to challenge the status quo of the food system.”

In a rather unusual (or perhaps brilliant?) marketing move, Daily Harvest is giving away ten pairs of tickets to Swift’s last concert stop in the U.S. as it celebrates entering Kroger stores. 

“Who’s ready to step into the FNV Era???” Drori posted on LinkedIn as she announced the partnership with Kroger.

The FNV Era refers to Daily Harvest’s “fruit + veg era” and is also a nod to Swift’s current concert tour, The Eras. While tickets are an independent promotion and not associated with Taylor Swift, a link to the contest depicts a Daily Harvest smoothie and a red-lipped blonde mid-sip.

The frozen food brand, launched by Drori in 2015 with $25,000 of her savings, ended up raising $100 million from private investors by 2021, with celebrity backers including Gwyneth Paltrow, Serena Williams, Bobby Flay and Shaun White.

Much like at-home fitness, Daily Harvest exploded during the pandemic. With consumers stuck at home on their Pelotons and restaurants closed, sales for Daily Harvest products surged. In a March 2020 interview with Forbes, Drori seemingly snubbed the convenient area of the supermarket while believing in the power of Daily Harvest’s farm-fresh frozen foods. 

“I have no interest in the freezer aisle. It’s broken,” Drori told the publication at the outset of the pandemic. “We have totally turned that on its head. We’re reimagining what a packaged food company can look like.”

Now, three years later, Drori seems to have had a change of heart. 

In an online post in February, she laid out Daily Harvest’s intentions to push into local grocery stores while recognizing that the “chosen experience” of many members would be to order online. Still, Drori referenced that even in the post-pandemic environment, only 25% of consumers have purchased food online, with only 16% making online food purchases consistently, underscoring her viewpoint that Daily Harvest has only “scratched the surface” on its potential impact.

According to Drori, expanding beyond the online community will allow Daily Harvest to have a considerable impact on consumers with quick-to-prep products made from whole fruits and vegetables. 

“While we will continue to help our members form daily F+V habits directly, we are also excited to show up for the rest of our community who have not tasted our food and want to buy Daily Harvest as part of their weekly grocery routine,” she wrote. “We want to reach people where they are already shopping and continue to learn about their tastes and eating values so that we can continue creating delicious, nourishing and convenient options that meet their unique needs.”

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Caffeine is a naturally occurring psychostimulant that is most prevalent in tea leaves, coffee beans, mate and cacao beans. An estimated 80% of adults worldwide drink caffeine daily. Historians speculate that it dates back to the 9th century, making it one of the oldest-used stimulants. 

You may have heard caffeine described as a drug, and when deprived, users can experience headaches and extreme lethargy. It’s a stretch to describe caffeine as a powerful drug, but it is an effective stimulant that can be used to your advantage. 

When we drink coffee or tea daily, we associate the aroma and ritual surrounding the process with positive feelings. Caffeine increases dopamine levels in the brain, even increasing dopamine receptors. With more receptors, you’ll be more likely to experience positive moods at a lower stimuli level. This may be why users return to the ritual morning after morning. 

There are many advantages to using caffeine with appropriate dosing and timing. Negative side effects of caffeine are usually because it’s being used in excess or incorrectly.

Advantages

Caffeine creates drive and focus. It’s been shown to enhance performance physically and slow cognitive decline.

Increases Mental Performance

The major advantage of caffeine is an increase in focus, memory and ambition or drive. The way caffeine does this is by binding to adenosine receptors. Adenosine is the molecule responsible for lethargy. As the day progresses it will naturally accumulate.

Caffeine acts as an antagonist to adenosine, and because it binds to its receptors it blocks the ability for adenosine to make us tired. However, this doesn’t mean that adenosine disappears. If you continually drink coffee throughout the day that accumulated adenosine will make you crash once you stop sipping.

If you’re less tired, you’ll have better focus and mental performance. Since caffeine can cross the blood-brain barrier, it can exert its actions directly. Studies have shown that caffeine boosts memory, accuracy, decision-making and perhaps creativity. Compared to other stimulants commonly used for those with ADHD, caffeine showed a greater likelihood of sustaining attention. Even relatively low doses of caffeine, about 65mg, can upgrade your working memory.

Improves Physical Performance

Athletes frequently ingest caffeine before major events. It’s not just athletes that use caffeine to boost performance. Using it before a regular exercise routine can help you push past your limits more than you otherwise would have. 

Endurance exercisers who use caffeine can have an increase in performance by 2-4% after taking 3-6mg of caffeine per kg of body weight. This may be because caffeine promotes adrenaline which in turn frees up fatty acids for energy. In doing so this would conserve glycogen, a quick energy source. This would theoretically help you exercise longer as you’ll have more energy available.

Muscular strength and endurance are not always improved with caffeine usage. Studies are conflicting and results are not uniform across the board. Individual susceptibility to caffeine varies due to genetics. The amount of physical performance increase depends on your susceptibility. Caffeine is metabolized in the liver by enzymes. You can have gene variances that can make you metabolize caffeine faster or slower. This all plays a role in performance and susceptibility to the negative effects of caffeine.

Typically, about 200mg of caffeine before exercise will probably improve your workout even if it doesn’t improve your strength or muscle fatigue. This is because it still blocks adenosine and increases drive, which in the long run might help you get those extra reps.

Slows Cognitive Decline

Caffeine has been correlated with lower rates of dementia and Alzheimer’s. 1-2 cups of coffee daily can reduce your risk of these diseases and other cognitive issues. Researchers found that the major reason for this is because it clears amyloid-beta peptide from the brain. Buildup of amyloid-beta peptide is a major cause of cognitive decline. 

How Much Caffeine Is Too Much?

More than 400mg per day can cause negative outcomes. This can include increased anxiety, heart palpitations and an elevated heart rate. This number varies based on individual tolerance, especially when it comes to anxiety. 

1-3mg of caffeine per kg of body weight is recommended to get the advantages without having negative side effects. Caffeine is most effective if you drink it 90-120 minutes after you wake up. This helps alleviate any feelings of crashing in the afternoon. You should not drink caffeine 8-12 hours before bedtime so that your sleep is not interrupted. 

The amount of caffeine in a brewed cup of coffee depends on how strong you make it. There is usually 95mg in 1 cup (8 fluid ounces) of drip coffee. A shot of espresso will have 65mg and a cup of black tea contains 47mg. Yerba mate will have 80mg of caffeine and is often used as an alternative to coffee since it’s close to the amount you get from drip coffee.

Final Thoughts

Caffeine can certainly be abused, increasing anxiety, heart rate and palpitations. However, using caffeine in a methodical way improves mental performance, physical endurance and slows cognitive decline. 

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