Arla Foods Ingredients is set to launch a new, premium whey protein ingredient offering performance benefits to manufacturers of sports nutrition products that are designed to aid recovery.
Lacprodan® HYDRO.365, which will be unveiled at Health Ingredients Europe 2012, is a whey protein hydrolysate, a type of protein that is considered to be the ‘gold standard’ among all sport nutrition proteins on the market today.
New HYDRO.365 is a highly effective solution for athletes who require fast recovery after intense competitive events or training and workout sessions. Whey protein is already known to be the most effective type of protein for aiding recovery, thanks to its rich amino acid content. But whey protein hydrolysates like HYDRO.365 are scientifically proven to offer far-superior benefits because they are digested and absorbed more quickly, optimising the body’s muscle-building and repair response following exercise.
Demand for efficacious post-exercise recovery products among serious athletes – both professional and amateur – is rising fast all over the world. According to Euromonitor, global sales of protein-based sports nutrition products rose by 59% to $5.4 billion between 2006 and 2011.
Peter Schouw Andersen, business development manager for health & performance at Arla Foods Ingredients, says “Sales of protein-based sports nutrition products have risen strongly in recent years, but what these figures do not show is the fact that many consumers are also coming to recognise that not all proteins offer the same degree of benefits. Increasingly, they are discovering that the very best ingredients – like HYDRO.365 whey protein hydrolysate – provide a level of effectiveness that is simply not available from other proteins, including other whey proteins.”
Mr Andersen continues “In an era when the margin between winning and losing can be breathtakingly slim, elite athletes are constantly looking to maintain their competitive edge. They know they need to train hard to get results, but the frequency of strenuous training sessions typically has to be moderated to allow sufficient time to recover. Without proper recovery a sportsperson cannot hope to maintain peak performance and prevent problems such as muscle damage, dehydration and injury. HYDRO.365 is the perfect solution to meet their needs.”
Whey protein hydrolysates like HYDRO.365 were once the domain of professional athletes only, but increased participation in endurance sports such as marathons and triathlons is changing all that. As a result, millions of serious amateur athletes are now demanding higher quality protein-based recovery products.
“There has been a dramatic increase in the numbers of people taking part in endurance events. The London Marathon is a great example. This year, 170,000 applied to take part, compared with 99,000 ten years earlier in 2002. This one example illustrates that more people than ever before now consider themselves to be serious athletes, even on an amateur basis, and they are demanding serious post-exercise recovery products to help them reach peak performance time after time,” says Mr Andersen.
HYDRO.365 from Arla Foods Ingredients offers all the proven, superior sports nutrition characteristics of whey protein in a highly-purified form that makes it easier to digest, so recovery time is reduced. In one study, which monitored athletes taking whey protein hydrolysates after exercise, the results indicated that they could recover their full peak power and eliminate muscle soreness after just six hours, compared with several days in the case of standard whey protein.
New HYDRO.365 can be formulated into a comprehensive range of sports nutrition product formats – ready-to-drink beverages (including clear beverages), powders, gels, bars and tablets. It is highly soluble, UHT stable, pH neutral and has a low bitterness profile.
“Whey is already recognised as the best type of protein for sports nutrition, thanks to its excellent amino acids profile. But as a gold-standard whey protein hydrolysate, HYDRO.365 builds on that unrivalled reputation for performance by making the protein even easier to absorb. Athletes everywhere can now enjoy shorter recovery periods, enabling them to train harder for longer and ultimately perform better time and time again,” says Mr Andersen.
For more information:
Visit: www.arlafoodsingredients.com
