Lonza Debuts MuscleGuard Vegan Sports Nutrition Formulation

10.21.19

Patent-pending ingredient combination includes Carnipure L-Carnitine, creatine, leucine, and vitamin D.

Lonza has developed and launched a unique patent-pending ingredient combination branded as MuscleGuard, positioned as a vegan formulation that offers sports performance and recovery benefits for both athletes and active individuals.
 
MuscleGuard comprises a precise and clinically-studied ratio of four nutrients: Lonza’s Carnipure L-Carnitine, creatine and leucine with vitamin D. The science-backed vegan MuscleGuard formulation delivers positive results for sports performance and recovery through statistically significant increases in muscle strength, mass and activity.
 
MuscleGuard was found to deliver significant muscle health benefits, including a 63% increase in muscle strength, mass and activity in a clinical study on older people to support consumers’ sports and exercise aspirations.
 
Lonza’s patent-pending MuscleGuard formulation is ideal for use by both male and female athletes and active individuals. Vegan and vegetarian, it offers nutritional support for pre-, intra- and post-workout. Convenient as a standalone sports drink mix, it can also be easily incorporated into existing sports nutrition regimes such as protein powders and shakes. This innovative patent pending formulation combines new scientifically supported results, smaller dosing and addresses demand for vegans and vegetarians, the company noted.
 
Shane Durkee, vice president of platform innovation, Consumer Health and Nutrition at Lonza, said: “At Lonza, we continue to push the boundaries of science-backed technologies to help brands create cleaner, healthier and more effective products that active consumers’ demand. Our new vegan MuscleGuard solution showcases our science-led approach to ingredient innovation—bringing clinical evidence together with consumer trends and preferences.”
 
Science-Backed Solution
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial on healthy older participants for eight weeks showed a composite score of muscle mass, strength and physical activity that was statistically significant in MuscleGuard supplementation compared to the placebo (Bellamine, et al. Nutr Metab. 2017). In addition, individuals who received the MuscleGuard formulation also displayed a 1.0 kg increase in total lean muscle mass, leg lean muscle mass, and a 1.0 kg increase in lower leg strength, without diet or exercise modification.
 
Further investigation into the formulation’s mechanism of action through muscle biopsies among participants showed a two-fold increase in the mTOR protein and the insulin growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which are both central to muscle protein synthesis, muscle fiber regeneration and, ultimately to strength and performance.