‘Plasma protein’ start-up adds new study to back its claims for better absorption than ‘normal’ whey
The study, conducted by researchers from the University of South Florida’s Performance & Physique Enhancement Laboratory, was presented at the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) conference last week.
It was funded by the plasma-technology’s owners, Plasma Nutrition, a New York startup that developed technology to treat a base ingredient with a gas in plasma state.
In the poster, researchers compared blood plasma analysis of 10 resistance-trained healthy males in a randomized, double blind, crossover manner.
This means the researchers randomly assigned participants to consume either the novel plasma-treated whey protein isolate first, or the already established hydrolyzed whey protein isolate first, before then crossing over to consume the other protein after seven days.
Analysis of their blood plasma revealed that there were higher essential amino acid concentrations in the blood when participants ingested the plasma treated version.
Following up to a previous study looking at performance
This new study is a follow-up of one presented at the same conference last year, conducted by the same researchers, Plasma Nutrition co-founder Steven Motosko told us.
“Last year's [study] examined the bioequivalence of a reduced volume of ioWhey Protein versus a standard WPI by comparing performance measurements—body composition and strength,” he said.
In that study, they found that the participants achieved the same performance whether they consumed whey protein or the plasma-treated ioWhey Protein. The difference was, for ioWhey Protein, 26% less of the ingredient was needed.
“We followed up that study with a blood plasma analysis study…which demonstrated that ioWhey Protein is significantly more bioavailable than a non-optimized whey protein,” he added.
“We decided to test our technology against a high DH hydrolyzed protein to establish our technology as unequivocally the best protein. We're incredibly excited to see that even compared to the current protein gold standard, ioWhey Protein is significantly more bioavailable.”
Focus on protein first, but aiming for other ingredients
The ‘io’ in ioWhey stands for ‘Ingredient Optimized,’ a flexible brand name to allow the team to apply this technology on other ingredients—and that’s exactly what’s down the pipeline.
“Our focus so far has been on whey protein but we know that is just the start,” Motosko said.
“Our Ingredient Optimized technology has been designed as a platform to innovate across food ingredients, and we will continue to develop these applications. Plant proteins are definitely an area we plan to focus on moving forward.
“They should help the benefits of our technology reach a whole new consumer. We also would like to explore opportunities outside of protein as well.”
For now, ioWhey Protein can be found in products by Performix—a cookie, wafer, and powder—distributed online and at Vitamin Shoppe.
Source: ISSN 15th Annual Conference and Expo
Poster Presentation, June 7-9, 2018
“Comparison of a Plasma Modified Non-Hydrolyzed Whey Protein Isolate Supplement and a Standard Processed High DH Hydrolyzed Whey Protein Isolate Supplement on Bioavailability in Resistance-Trained Males”
Authors: Bill I. Campbell and Jaymes Longstrom
