The company said the tests, carried out at DoCoLab in the University of Ghent in Belgium, were a formality but would remove any doubts for athletes, more concerned than ever about testing for banned substances.
Jan Hunik, PeptoProSports project manager at DSM Food Specialties, said "the clean bill of health … is all the more important because the drink is presently only available to Dutch athletes".
The recovery drink is one of the first finished products to be developed by DSM but after its trial by the Dutch Olympic team could be targeted at general consumers.
Until then, the test market will be made up of around 200 athletes and given the current environment, they need to be assured of the product's content. DoCoLab, which is an official laboratory for analysis of substances classified as doping, is drawing up a list of ingredients for sport food supplements that are free of banned substances. The recovery drink has now also been added to the 'White List' of the Netherlands Centre for Doping Affairs, published on the NZVT website.
DSM has also commissioned new trials on the product's efficacy at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands. Previous tests focused on demonstrating improved performance after consumption of the recovery drink. The purpose of the new tests is to obtain extra scientific evidence of the efficacy of the drink, particularly with a view to its marketing after the Olympic Games.
Athletes who have tried the recovery drink reported in their initial reaction that they could train harder. The second series of tests will focus on the role of the drink in glycogen absorption by the muscle tissues. This will include obtaining a better understanding of the various steps that ultimately enable the muscles to make a fast recovery.