Nutraceutical supplier Lonza has introduced a new sports nutrition probiotic ingredient, TWK10, which is a unique strain of Lactobacillus plantarum isolated from naturally-fermented Taiwanese Kimchi. Clinical trials show evidence that this ingredient can deliver sports nutrition benefits including enhanced endurance, improved body composition, and energy levels. The ingredient, which is licensed exclusively from Synbiotech for North American and European buyers, is clean label and vegan, and can be used in dietary supplements and foods, with additional applications already in development, Lonza said. TWK10 is now available to buyers in North America.
 
“At Lonza, we continue to look for and develop science-backed ingredients to help brands create cleaner, more effective products that active consumers demand,” Dr. Thomas Kiy, vice president of strategy and portfolio development at Lonza, said. “TWK10 probiotic is a world-first for the sports nutrition market, and a true innovation.”
 
In addition to modulating gut microbiota in ways shown clinically to improve sports endurance and performance benefits, Kiy said that the probiotic also appears to increase the amount of butyrate-producing bacteria, which is associated with improvements to energy metabolism.
 
“Fermented dairy products with active bacterial cultures are the typical source of many probiotics currently on the market,” Kuei-Ming Lee, vice president of human healthcare at Syndbiotech said. “However, our extensive research exploring over 300 plant-derived probiotic strains revealed a unique strain with excellent survival rates. Currently, two human clinical trials have been completed on TWK10 probiotic, and studies have shown that it delivers significant benefits for fitness enthusiasts and active individuals, including increasing muscle endurance.”
 
In the first clinical trial, published in the Chinese Journal of Physiology, a total of 16 adult subjects over 20 years of age were recruited for a placebo-controlled experiment involving exhaustive treadmill exercise. After six weeks of daily supplementation, levels of lactic acid, blood ammonia, blood glucose, free fatty acid, and creatine kinase were evaluated during exhaustive energy, in addition to exercise performance. It was shown that supplementation resulted in significantly improved exercise performance and blood glucose levels following exhaustive exercise, compared to the placebo group, providing evidence that the probiotic appears to have ergogenic benefits for runners.
 
A second clinical trial, published in the journal Nutrients, found that the bacterial strain was capable of improving exercise performance and body composition after 54 healthy participants between the ages of 20 and 30 took either a supplement or placebo daily. Functional and physiological assessments in this double-blind, placebo-controlled trial were taken using a combination of exhaustive treadmill exercise, along with fatigue associated measurements including lactic acid, blood ammonia, blood glucose, and creatinine kinase. Systemic inflammation and body composition measurements were also taken, with results showing that TWK10 significantly improved exercise performance in a dose-dependent manner, in addition to significant decreases in body fat and increases in muscle mass in the high-dose group. “Taken together, our results suggest that TWK10 has the potential to be an ergogenic aid to improve aerobic endurance performance and physiological adaptation effects,” the authors of the study concluded.