Nootropics Depot Launches SulfoMax Sulforaphane Supplement

Nootropics Depot has launched SulfoMax, a powdered supplement that delivers 27 mg of active sulforaphane per serving, which the company reports is the highest potency in a finished product.

Sulforaphane is too unstable to store in a bottle, the company noted, and the common strategy formulators take is to pair glucoraphanin, its shelf-stable precursor, with myrosinase, an enzyme that converts it, inside a capsule, and the reaction happens after a person swallows the capsule.

Nootropics Depot’s analytical lab used a Distek dissolution tester with simulated gastric fluid to put the assumption that this industry-standard formula is efficacious to the test. The testing showed that at pH levels of stomach acid, myrosinase is mostly inactivated, and much of the same reaction that proceeds normally at intestinal pH barely happens in acid; therefore, much of the precursor in a conventional capsule passes through without ever becoming sulforaphane.

SulfoMax moves the reaction outside the body. Potassium bicarbonate buffers the glass of water into the pH range where myrosinase stays active. Within that window, the enzyme, supplied by 240mg of white mustard seed powder (the richest myrosinase source among the brassicas the company evaluated) hydrolyzes the glucoraphanin from 360mg of black kale extract standardized to 17%. A 12mg dose of vitamin C serves as a cofactor that pushes the conversion further, and an acacia fiber base keeps enzyme and precursor suspended together long enough to finish the job. Five minutes after mixing, the glass holds active sulforaphane. Then it can be diluted with more water and drank, or mixed with other ready-to-mix supplements.

Research suggests that sulforaphane acts as an indirect antioxidant by supporting expression of the cell’s defense systems, promoting antioxidant redox balance, a healthy inflammatory response, and long-term cellular resilience. But if sulforaphane isn’t delivered to cells, it cannot promote these health benefits.

“We watched the capsule approach fail in simulated gastric fluid over and over,” said Paul Eftang, CEO of Nootropics Depot. “Once you have seen myrosinase quit in stomach acid enough times, the answer is obvious: do the chemistry in a glass of water, where we control the pH, then verify the result on the UPLC. Then you know you are getting the same amount of sulforaphane each time you take a dose.”

The formulation took almost two years of development, with each formulation measured at Omnient Lab, the company’s sister laboratory in Tempe, Arizona, rather than estimated from precursor math. SulfoMax should be taken once daily in the morning with food, five minutes after stirring into a glass of water, the company reported.