Solving the Protein Problem: NNB Nutrition’s Jake Mulder & Dustin Elliott

NNB Vitamin CEO Jake Mulder and Chief Model Officer Dustin Elliott dive into dipeptide science, international manufacturing, and pure sweetener breakthroughs like SweetVantage+ on Episode #229 of the PricePlow Podcast.

0:00 – Introductions

Ben opens by welcoming NNB Vitamin again to the podcast, joined this time by CEO Jake Mulder and Chief Model Officer Dustin Elliott. Jake has spent 15 years in dietary dietary supplements, most of it on the availability chain and operations facet, after beginning his profession within the MLM area. That is his first time on the PricePlow Podcast.

The crew had already sat down with Shawn Wells earlier that day for Episode #227’s science-focused dialog, so this one shifts towards NNB’s progress, the issues the corporate is fixing, and the place it is headed as a enterprise.

2:45 – Why Dipeptides Are Profitable the Peptide Dialog

Peptides are having a second, however Dustin explains why NNB is betting on dipeptides particularly as an alternative of the broader peptide chains flooding the market. As a result of dipeptides like dileucine exist already naturally within the physique, NNB can show existence in nature quite than submitting a brand new dietary ingredient notification, a course of that may block a European launch for years whereas it really works by EFSA registration.

Dustin ties this to analysis on the PepT1 transporter, the identical pathway behind NNB’s pharmacokinetics work on dileucine, which exhibits dipeptides elevating blood amino acid ranges inside half-hour. The corporate is making use of the identical playbook to VasoRush, a newly trademarked di-arginine, di-citrulline dipeptide it is introducing for nitric oxide and pump at SupplySide International.

10:00 – Dileucine’s MuscleTech Launch, One Yr Later

Mike asks concerning the enterprise facet of dileucine’s launch with MuscleTech, which held the unique early on regardless of common stock-outs. Jake says the launch went virtually precisely as deliberate. Sellouts created the identical drop-and-demand impact manufacturers see with sneaker releases, which pulled different firms into the class and validated the ingredient quite than hurting it.

NNB has since needed to spend money on new equipment and services to maintain up, and Jake admits early manufacturing had actual rising pains. The larger shift has been scientific: analysis retains pointing to hurry of absorption mattering greater than dose dimension, opening the door to chews and pouches as an alternative of 30g to 50g scoops.

16:30 – Inside NNB’s International Manufacturing Playbook

Mike needs to understand how NNB manages its international footprint, and Jake credit shut coordination with Kylin Liao on the China facet. The corporate moved out of the commodity ingredient sport earlier than COVID, betting as an alternative on a defensible, service-first mannequin. When the pandemic scrambled provide chains, prospects began asking NNB to make creatine and collagen, classes it hadn’t centered on, and NNB stated sure.

Shawn Wells, Chief Science Officer at NNB Vitamin, breaks down GLP-1 Drag, precision fermentation, and NNB’s subsequent wave of buccal supply substances on Episode #227 of the PricePlow Podcast.

That flexibility turned it into one of many largest creatine suppliers to the US. Jake additionally explains “plating,” the method of drying oils onto a provider like tapioca fiber, which NNB prefers over maltodextrin. The identical manufacturing muscle now exhibits up on cabinets: Jocko Gas’s GO power drinks pair NNB’s SalidroPure and MitoPrime in a single can.

19:45 – C8Vantage: The MCT Powder Constructed for One Buyer

Mike calls C8Vantage the perfect MCT powder he is tried, and its origin story backs that up. Jake says the entire SKU exists as a result of one buyer’s earlier provider might not help them, so NNB stepped in with a greater worth and constructed the product round that single account.

It paid off for everybody. C8Vantage now is available in two varieties: one plated on milk protein for a creamier texture, and a vegan model plated on pea protein. Mike prefers the dairy model however says each outperform typical MCT powders. For NNB, it is a sample that repeats throughout the catalog: discover one consumer’s actual drawback, resolve it exactly, then convey the answer to the remainder of the business.

21:15 – Fiber, Postbiotics, and Defending a Precision Fermentation Moat

A multinational consumer has NNB chasing the following huge alternative: fiber. Jake says the crew already works throughout prebiotic fibers and postbiotics like butyrate, and sees a novel blended fiber as a approach to give that consumer an actual moat as an alternative of a commodity ingredient anybody can supply.

Mike additionally asks how NNB protects its precision fermentation work from getting copied. Jake’s reply: the barrier is the method itself. Fermentation is sluggish, costly trial and error, and even after the science works, a formulation nonetheless has to clear value and style hurdles earlier than it is commercially viable.

24:45 – The Protein Disaster: Proprietary Blends, Whey Provide, and Clarified Plant Proteins

NNB Vitamin’s VasoRush™ is a peptide-bonded di-citrulline and di-arginine ingredient constructed for pumps. It absorbs sooner by way of PEPT-1 and drives extra cGMP per unit of nitric oxide, which means extra vasodilation, not simply extra NO.

Mike presses Jake on the state of the protein market, realizing he has opinions. International whey provide is not rising since cheese manufacturing (and its whey byproduct) is not scaling with demand, so manufacturers are stretching provide with clarified plant proteins as an alternative. NNB’s line, together with ClearPea and ClearRice, removes the flavour and texture points that usually rule out pea and rice protein, with clarified pumpkin seed and mung bean variations in improvement.

Even main international suppliers like Glanbia are feeling the identical squeeze, and as prices climb, some main manufacturers have quietly discontinued bulk tub codecs fully. Jake makes the case, cautiously, that proprietary blends have a legit use right here: shifting a formulation’s ratios barely can soak up rising prices with out forcing a full label overhaul.

31:45 – Precision-Fermented Dairy and PeptiClear’s Second Act

The dialog turns to Good Day, which is scaling up manufacturing of beta-lactoglobulin, one of many main proteins in whey, at a brand new facility in India. Jake calls the strategy novel however says NNB is making a special wager: enhancing whey yield from cheese-making areas whose byproduct has traditionally been thought of unusable, quite than constructing a fermented protein from scratch.

Mike additionally asks about Helaina, the corporate utilizing precision fermentation to supply human-identical lactoferrin (branded effera) by a partnership with Nestlé introduced earlier this 12 months. On the branded facet, Dustin confirms PeptiClear is alive and nicely, now utilized throughout NNB’s full line of clarified plant proteins with white-label choices for manufacturers getting into the clear-protein-soda class.

37:00 – Dileucine Meets ClearPea: New Sarcopenia Analysis

Most pure sweeteners lean on advertising and marketing. NNB Vitamin ran the precise benchmark as an alternative. SweetVantage Reb M9 went head-to-head with 6 sweeteners throughout water, inexperienced tea, EAAs, and glowing water in a trained-panel sensory examine. It matched sugar and tracked closest to sucralose.

Dustin outlines the place the dileucine analysis is headed subsequent: pairing it with ClearPea protein at a extra industrial dose, roughly 10g to 15g of ClearPea with 1g of dileucine and 1g of free leucine, as an alternative of the unique 2g Dileucine dose alone.

NNB’s newest preclinical work makes use of a rat mannequin of sarcopenia to match how the mixture impacts the soleus (largely kind 1 muscle fiber) versus the gastrocnemius (largely kind 2) throughout atrophy and restoration. Dustin factors to rising analysis suggesting leucine itself helps mitochondrial well being inside muscle cells, not simply the anabolic signaling it is identified for. Jake sums up the stakes with a easy analogy: an engine misfiring on two of eight cylinders nonetheless runs, however you will discover the distinction.

48:30 – The Hardest Components to Taste, and How Reb M9 Modified the Recreation

Jake runs by NNB’s most infamous taste issues: astaxanthin, dileucine, and GlucoVantage (dihydroberberine) are all backed by robust science and all style terrible. Since shoppers need these substances in drinks and gummies quite than capsules, NNB partnered with taste homes for years with out absolutely fixing the issue, so the crew ultimately constructed its personal resolution.

The place to begin was stevia. Early formulation leaned on Reb A alone, which left the acquainted bitter, back-of-tongue aftertaste. Ratioing Reb A, Reb D, and Reb M collectively (every hitting a special a part of the palate) obtained NNB near a sugar-like profile. The true breakthrough got here from a patented, improved model of Reb M the crew calls Reb M9, which closes many of the remaining hole alone.

51:45 – Brazzein, SweetVantage+, and the Formulator’s Information to Pure Sweeteners

Even Reb M9 could not absolutely masks NNB’s worst-tasting substances by itself, so the crew’s scientists discovered that brazzein, a pure candy protein, helps cowl what’s left. Pairing Reb M9 with brazzein created SweetVantage+, dosed greater for harder-to-mask substances like dileucine and lighter for milder ones.

To show it out, Dustin’s crew labored with Eurofins’ sensory division on a formulator’s information, benchmarking Reb A, Reb D, monk fruit, Reb M9, sucralose, sugar, and Reb M9 plus brazzein, all matched to the identical sweetness (12 levels Brix) throughout water, soda, tea, and EAA functions. A skilled sensory panel then scored every for bitterness, metallic notes, and aftertaste, giving taste homes an actual map of the place every pure sweetener holds up.

59:15 – Customizing SweetVantage+ and What’s Subsequent for NNB

Dustin says NNB would quite customise brazzein ranges for every buyer, sometimes within the 0.5% to 1% vary however as much as 4% for particularly bitter or astringent functions, than promote a single fastened ratio. Jake confirms taste homes at the moment are incorporating brazzein immediately into their methods, and a few are even pairing it with sucralose to enhance sucralose’s personal taste profile.

Mike closes by reflecting on how far NNB has come because the two began working collectively in 2019, transferring nicely past simpler wins like BAIBA (MitoBurn) and GlucoVantage into tougher, extra technical classes beneath its “Pure, Potent, Exact” philosophy. The crew additionally teases a brand new NNB manufacturing facility taking form in China, full with a constructing formed like a large “N.”