“There’s no such thing as a healthy use of Ambien, there’s no such thing as a healthy use of anti-anxiety drugs—they have their place, but they don’t have their place in long-term sleep solutions,” Dr. Rouse told NutraIngredients-USA.
“There’s not a drug solution to this, there’s only a lifestyle solution. And that’s why we believe a whole-food, nutraceutical approach is a lifestyle approach that’s sustainable and healthy,” he added.
This summer, Dr. Rouse’s powder supplement brand Healthy Skoop soft-launched its Sleep Protein product, a powder blend with 8g of rice and pea protein, tart cherry, B vitamins, and minerals such as magnesium and calcium, designed to promote sleep by mixing 0.95 oz. of the powder with 4-6 oz. of liquid.
Solving America’s sleep problem with a shake
Last year the CDC said that insufficient sleep is a public health problem, and a 2014 article in The Atlantic revealed that the number of emergency-room visits related to prescription sleep aid abuse has doubled in recent year.
“The research is there to suggest that there is the need,” Rouse said. “We thought, goodness, isn’t it interesting, as technology and stress continued to increase in our lives, so did insomnia.”
Though there is an abundance of sleep promoting supplements made out of botanicals, Healthy Skoop’s research on consumer reports found that there is a gap in the market. “Through our research, we learned that a lot of people like to eat before bed. A lot of people are looking for something easy and satisfying before bed, or after dinner as a dessert,” he said.
The idea was to hit two birds with one stone: Create a sweet treat before bed that can also help Americans with troublesome sleep to finally catch some Zs.
L-Tryptophan, melatonin, B vitamins, tart cherry: "A dream team of ingredients"
The protein-derived L-Tryptophan is the shake powder’s active ingredient that helps build blocks for serotonin, a neurotransmitter that regulates sleep (notorious as the component in turkey that causes the post-holiday feast need to doze), as well as melatonin.
“Along with that we use B vitamins, which actually helps to be a synthesis support system for serotonin which in turn becomes melatonin,” Rouse said. “And then there’s a combination of calcium and magnesium which serve as a natural relaxation.” Finally, there’s tart cherry, which Rouse said is a natural source of melatonin.
“We’re focusing on women, primarily moms who are trying to balance a career and family,” said Kristine Carey, ‘chief marketing skooper’ at Healthy Skoop. “It’s really a struggle for lots of people nowadays to get to sleep and stay asleep when there’s a lot going on.”
Available online now, the product will go on shelves at the end of October. Stores that already stock Healthy Skoop products include Kroger stores in Colorado, Rocky Mountain Whole Foods, Lucky Market, and small indie stores throughout the West and Midwest.
Interested to explore the challenges and opportunities for botanical supplements?
Experts from GNC, Nature’s Way, Herbalist & Alchemist, and the American Botanical Council will discuss the challenges and opportunities in botanicals category in a FREE forum hosted by NutraIngredients-USA. Click HERE to register.
