IFT First 2024: PLT Health Solutions harnesses science-backed ingredients for functional beverages

10 Jun 2024 --- PLT Health Solutions will showcase its broad portfolio of “beverage-friendly” ingredients that provide a range of science-backed benefits for the functional beverage space, at this year’s IFT First Conference in Chicago, Illinois, US. The company will focus on three major health and wellness segments — energy, active nutrition and stress/mood management.

Overall, PLT markets more than a dozen water-dispersible and water-soluble solutions, primarily botanical ingredients, across key health categories. In the past eight months, it has unveiled three new water-soluble and dispersible ingredients: Zynamite S for mental energy, water-dispersible Rip Factor for muscle strength and endurance and a water-soluble version of its adaptogen, Rhodiolife Rhodiola rosea. 

Each of these botanical complexes required significant R&D to meet the standards of the beverage industry, says PLT. 

According to Steve Fink, vice president for marketing, consumers are increasingly turning to more convenient delivery systems and, as a result, the company has been engaged in an across-the-board campaign to either create or modify its ingredients to make them formulation-friendly in new delivery systems. 

“For a variety of reasons, beverages present a range of challenges when it comes to consumer sensory and experience — this is especially true when it comes to plant-based and botanical ingredients,” he explains.

“In approaching this development work, we’ve focused on things beverage producers want: uniform particle size and density, good water dispersibility/solubility, neutral taste and color and stability. At the same time, our beverage-friendly ingredients maintain features that every product developer wants. They are fast-acting to the point of being experiential, are low dose and maybe most importantly, backed by quality clinical science.”

Top three wellness categories 
Most industry players consider functional beverages to be one of the fastest-growing segments of the natural ingredient industry. 

At IFT next month, PLT will be featuring beverage-friendly ingredients focusing on three health categories: energy, active nutrition and stress/mood.

Energy: With its zumXR Targeted Release Caffeine and Zynamite, PLT offers both stimulant and non-stim energy ingredients via the recently introduced Zynamite S format.

Active Nutrition: As part of its growing Sports/Active Nutrition portfolio, PLT’s beverage-friendly ingredients will include Mega Natual-BP grape seed extract for enhanced blood flow and endurance, Rip Factor Muscle Accelerator with extensive clinical science demonstrating improved muscle strength and endurance and Slendacor Weight Management Complex, which offers non-stimulant calorie burning and weight loss. 

Energy, active nutrition and stress/mood applications highlight a growing interest in innovative beverage ingredients.Both Mega Natural-BP and Slendacor also have clinically demonstrated cardiometabolic benefits.

Stress/Mood: PLT will be present Rhodiolife Rhodiola rosea, which taps into the adaptogen trend and Zembrin Sceletium tortuosum, which has extensive clinical work showing reduced stress and enhanced mood in less than two hours from intake.

Disruptive beverages
According to Fink, PLT is eager to engage the IFT audience with ingredients that can help form the basis for innovative, disruptive beverages. 

“When it comes to functional beverages, ubiquitous ingredients like protein, vitamins and minerals are a great starting point, but today’s consumers are looking for more impactful and innovative health benefits. They want more functionality in their functional beverages,” he says.

“The clinical science behind these ingredients and the front-of-pack messaging they can support will help consumer products companies create a great deal of excitement in the market.”

Edited by Elizabeth Green