PLT Health’s Beverage Stable Ingredients: Get Ready for Novel Drinks

It’s no secret that the sale of ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages has skyrocketed over the past decade. Between energy drinks, protein shakes, and bottled pre-workout drink formulas, the beverage space has taken over a major portion of the supplement industry.

In fact, we’re welcoming in a new generation of consumers who couldn’t be bothered to mix a powder into a shaker cup. The movement towards RTD applications has been swift and persistent, and it’s not stopping anytime soon.

“Pills Pay the Bills”? Not as much these days…

According to the National Business Journal, the industry has seen a shift from 63% of sales in pill formats to 44% of sales in pill formats between 2013 and 2021.^[1] “Pills pay the bills” is a formerly-popular mantra that’s heard in much lower frequency at industry conferences — powder, gummy, and beverage formats have taken over this past decade.

But what about botanicals?

This industry shift has created trouble for one category in particular: botanical ingredients. Many of our favorite herbs and extracts are difficult enough to flavor, let alone mix in powdered supplements. Getting them stable in drinks is a whole different ball game.

Take for example Boswellia. This incredible botanical is best known for its fragrant, anti-inflammatory resin. But as you can guess, a resin won’t work in powdered or beverage applications without some serious work. This has left us with the same few ingredients in energy drinks and RTD applications, and the crowded space has become quite repetitive.

Yet this is where the consumers are heading, so the smartest minds in the industry are heading there as well:

PLT Health: Leading the Push for Beverage Stable Ingredients

The recent launch of Ghost Joint, a new powdered joint support supplement, included an ingredient known as AquaLOX. This is the water soluble version of a Boswellia serrata ingredient named 5-LOXIN.

Both ingredients come from the same company who’s making a major push for beverage stable products: PLT Health Solutions. We also recently discussed their water-soluble Zynamite-S in our recent write-up on Zynamite, a mango leaf extract that’s quite hydrophobic in its raw form.

If you like spotting trends like we do, you’ll notice that PLT Health is making huge strides in the beverage application space. It’s no easy feat making gum resins and botanical extracts work in powders or ready-to-drink bottles, but PLT’s making it happen. In this article, we discuss their array of water soluble ingredients, and how their ability to spot this trend from a distance has put them in the perfect position for the upcoming decade. You can sign up for our PLT Health news alerts on PricePlow, and then we get into the details:

An Introduction to PLT Health

PLT Health Solutions is a global ingredient solutions company that powers innovations for brands so that those brands can build healthier, happier lives with their finished products. Their global platform interfaces with 60 different countries, sourcing ingredients from nearly two dozen.

At the core of PLT’s ethos is partnership: They don’t just make ingredients and hope they’re needed. They track trends and work with brands on existing problems — whether they’re sourcing, regulatory, or quality issues — and commercialize solutions that the market wants.

This translated to a focus on beverage-stable ingredients, seeing the unstoppable rise in powder and drink formats.

Heavy on research, broad in categories, rich in features

Further, demand from both consumers and brands for high-quality scientific research has led PLT Health to heavily invest into clinical data and research, with over 200 clinical studies funded and published, and dozens more in the pipeline!

This brings a perfect blend: delivery formats most consumers want, with the science that we want – a major win-win.

The ingredients cover nearly every product category, from sports and active nutrition to beauty to anti-aging and immunity to animal health. They provide the following features:

• Water-Dispersible
• Clinically-Backed
• Taste-Neutral
• RTM (Ready-to-Mix) Friendly
• RTD (Ready-to-Drink) Friendly
• Fast-Acting
• Low Dose
• GRAS
• Color

PLT Health’s Beverage Stable Ingredient Portfolio

Let’s take a look at the novel ingredients currently in PLT’s arsenal:

• AquaLOX®

  

  Ghost JOINT has arrived – it’s a joint support supplement POWDER, marrying time-tested ingredients like glucosamine with novel compounds like AquaLOX

  As discussed in the introduction, AquaLOX® is the water-soluble version of 5-LOXIN®, introduced to our community in Ghost Joint. Extracted from the popular joint-supporting plant Boswellia, both AquaLOX and 5-LOXIN are standardized for at least 30 milligrams of AKBA, the potent anti-inflammatory constituent.

  Brands only need 40 milligrams of AquaLOX to yield 31.2 milligrams of AKBA, whereas 100 milligrams of 5-LOXIN is needed to deliver 30 milligrams of AKBA.

  Normally, we see larger doses, due to added excipients required. In this case, PLT Health was able to make for a smaller dose, simultaneously getting just what’s needed, making it water soluble in the process!

• Zynamite-S®

  Covered in our recent article on Zynamite, Zynamite-S® is the water soluble version of this potent power-boosting nootropic that will work better in both beverages and powders.

  

  Zynamite is PLT Health’s Next-Gen Brain and Body Support Ingredient, harnessing the power of ≥60% mangiferin from mango leaf extract. Zynamite-S is the beverage-stable version.

  Zynamite is standardized for ≥ 60% mangiferin, which is a powerful polyphenol with non-stimulatory effects that can rival caffeine in terms of cognitive focus — and through a different mechanism. It’s developed from sustainably harvested mango leaves.

• ceratiq® Phytoceramides

  Moving away from sports nutrition for a moment, PLT Health supports the popular beauty-from-within category with ceratiq® Phytoceramides, which are plant-derived ceramides: naturally-occurring long-chain fatty acids that make up about half of the the skin’s outer layer.

  ceratiq Phytoceramides have been clinically demonstrated to support fast-acting and long-lasting wrinkle reduction and skin hydration, with trials showing improved hydration status in as little as 4 weeks.

• Collactive® Collagen Complex

  Continuing the themes of skin care and joint health, Collactive® Collagen Complex is a marine-based collagen. It has research supporting 19% reduction in deep wrinkles and 8% increase in epidermis hydration, with 71% of users noticing improvement!

  While this is a marine-based ingredient, it’s made of collagen and elastin peptides in the same ratios found in human skin. So it’s not just collagen — elastin provides strength and suppleness that pairs incredibly well with collagen.

• Dynagenix® Joint + Muscle Formula

  

  Neutral-Tasting Boswellia? PLT Health’s done it with Dynagenix

  Another soft tissue support ingredient, Dynagenix® Joint + Muscle Formula is another water-soluble Boswellia-based ingredient. This one’s been tested in two clinical studies to support reduced muscle soreness, as well as lower joint soreness, leading to easier exercise.

  This was measured by users attaining significantly greater strength recovery three days after an incredibly challenging leg exercise, making it great for athletes who need to go day in, day out.

• Earthlight® Whole Food Vitamin D

  The importance of sunlight can never be overstated. But when trying to supplement vitamin D, most users don’t know that a majority of it comes from lanolin, aka wool fat.

  Earthlight®, however, provides a cost-effective, food source of Vitamin D, providing a day’s supply in as little as 20 milligrams. It’s sourced from mushrooms, is approved by the FDA as a food additive for food and beverage products with nutrition facts panels, and is available in an organic option as well.

• MegaNatural-BP®

  

  MegaNatural-BP is drink-stable grape seed extract. This is normally used in cardiovascular support supplements… but we’re going to have to put this into a pre-workout RTD!

  Most supplement formulators are familiar with grape seed extract, which is used for both cardiovascular support and workout blood flow. MegaNatural-BP® was developed as PLT’s drink-stable version — with an industry-leading 94.6% polyphenols with high ORAC value.

  This means you can get results in relatively low doses, both 150 and 300 milligrams have shown efficacy in research after 6 weeks of use. It’s a patented, GRAS ingredient that’s extracted to include more lower molecular weight polyphenols, providing improved bioavailability and absorption.

• PROMUNEL®

  With immunity concerns at an all-time high, PLT Health has taken a traditional ingredient in bee propolis and made it better through improved dispersibility and bioavailability, bringing the ingredient to drink applications in PROMUNEL®.

  

  PROMUNEL is a water-dispersible bee propolis, and it’s sustainably-sourced.

  It’s organic certified and sustainably-produced, supporting the beekeeping industry through responsible husbandry. An oral spray with PROMUNEL has been clinically studied to outperform placebo in just 3 days of treatment when measuring sore throat, hoarseness, and swelling/redness.

• Rhodiolife® Rhodiola Rosea

  The adaptogenic herb Rhodiola Rosea is incredibly popular in numerous categories, from stress relief to nootropics to endurance and workouts. Rhodiolife® is sustainably sourced from the Altia Mountains – up where it grows best. It’s standardized for consistency, bringing four constituents that brands and consumers seek in rosavin, rosarin, rosin, and salidroside.

  Not all Rhodiola extracts work well in fluid — this one does.

• RipFACTOR®

  

  RipFACTOR® is an award-winning clinically-studied, concentrated herbal formula to accelerate muscle growth. The development of this formula involved screening over 2,000 botanicals for their ability to promote optimal strength, endurance, and muscle gains.

  RipFactor is a patented blend of extracts from mangoes and a flower named Sphaeranthus indicus. It’s known as a muscle accelerator, and is standardized for two phytochemicals claimed to activate mTOR signaling, increase nitric oxide production, and enhance mitochondrial function — 7-hydroxyfrullanolide (>4%) and mangiferin (>2.5%).

  In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study on weight-trained men published in 2023, just two weeks of RipFACTOR use was shown to significantly increase 1 rep max strength gains in bench press, leg press, and handgrip compared to placebo.

  Improvements continued through the 8 weeks — by the end, the men had 2.4 times greater strength gains than placebo — and the RipFACTOR group had significantly greater free testosterone, DHT, and reduced cortisol!

• Serezin™ Restorative Sleep + Pain Relief

  We haven’t covered a sleep ingredient yet, but you can rest assured that PLT Health is on the powdered sleep aid trend as well.

  A combination of Boswellia and ginger, Serezin has been researched to improve sleep across several measures, such as ease of falling asleep and quality of sleep within just one week. That’s not all — the next morning, study participants had significantly easier time waking up, more morning alertness, and an improvement in overall mood.

• SLENDACOR® Weight Management Complex

  

  Meet and maintain your weight management goals with Slendacor®

  The first water-dispersible weight loss ingredient to cover here is Slendacor, which is a patented herbal blend of extracts from Moringa oleifera and Murraya koeingii leaves plus Curcuma longa root extract.

  Slendacor’s shown statistically significant weight loss in as little as two weeks through its stimulant-free metabolic-boosting effects on thermogenesis, leading to up to 15% more calories spent while at rest. It’s been studied in three different clinical trials.

• Spectramune®

  Getting back to immunity and anti-aging, Spectramune is a patented, water-soluble combination of ashwagandha and Terminalia chebula that supports the inane immune system response. It’s been shown to improve markers of humoral immunity such as IgG (Immunoglobulin), T lymphocytes, and natural killer cells.

• Strengthera™ Muscle Maintenance + Vitality

  Similar to RIPFACTOR, Strengthera is extracted from Sphaeranthus indicus and Mangifera indica, but is studied with respect to the aging market. It’s been clinically studied in aging men and women, showing improved muscle strength and endurance, and an astonishing 90% improvement in walking capacity.

  We appreciate PLT Health’s efforts to separate athlete-tested strength gains from those in aging individuals. A less scrupulous company would confound the two, but they truly belong in their own categories.

• Supresa™ Crave Control

  

  A randomized, placebo-controlled study showed that Supresa reduces snacking and increases satiety

  To pair with Slendacor, Supresa™ is a patented saffron extract that can be used to support reduced hunger. It’s designed to reduce feelings of stress, helping to prevent stress-based overeating.

  A clinical study showed that 8 weeks of use in women led to a 55% decrease in snacking, compared to 28% reduction in the placebo group.

  This is no standard saffron extract — it’s patented for a high amount of safranal, crocin, and picrocin, standardized to >0.3% safranal.

• Zembrin®

  

  Zembrin® delivers an alert serenity that impacts mood, focus, and an overall sense of well-being. It’s been clinically shown to deliver its benefits at a very low dose and can enhance cognitive function as soon as two hours.

  Last but certainly not least in our list of water-soluble ingredients from PLT Health is Zembrin®, a mood-boosting, stress-relieving, cognition-enhancing Sceletium tortuosum extract we’ve covered more than a few times here on The PricePlow Blog.

  This amazing, experiential ingredient functions as both a serotonin reuptake inhibitor and a phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor, providing a mood burst that can be felt. And it works acutely in as little as 25 milligrams, leaving users feeling exceptionally good.

Energy, Stress & Mood, and Overall Active Nutrition

Another way to break these down is by category. Within the Sports and Active Nutrition space, we see three main categories here:

• Energy: Zynamite
• Stress & Mood: Rhodiolife and Zembrin
• Active Nutrition: RipFACTOR, MegaNatural-BP, and SLENDACOR

You can see these listed above in the image PLT provided for IFT — note that zümXR caffeine is not listed as beverage-stable, however.

Leading the Way for Novel Beverage Applications

If you’ve looked at pre-workout RTDs or energy drinks, you’ll notice that they’ve been “stuck” with the same batch of ingredients over and over. Generally, they’re going to be compounds like caffeine, citrulline, taurine, betaine, and maybe some L-carnitine. These are great — they’re ingredients we consistently tout on PricePlow — but sometimes we want something a bit more… exotic. Something experiential.

Those types of ingredients are generally not going to be single-molecule amino acids like L-citrulline. They’re botanicals.

So what do you do when you want to drink a powder or beverage with something different inside? Well, after the Ghost Joint and Zynamite-S launches, we now know the answer to that question:

You call PLT Health.

After all, if they could get Boswellia resin into a drinkable powder, there’s no limit to what else they can do.

You can sign up for our PLT Health news alerts below, so that you get notified when future articles and scientific research are discussed.