Glanbia Nutritionals launches new heat-stable creatine for use in RTD beverages

02-Aug-2019 - Last updated on 02-Aug-2019 at 15:51 GMT

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Responding to increased consumer demand for ready-to-drink sports nutrition products, global ingredients giant Glanbia launches heat-stable creatine monohydrate called CreaBev.

The ingredient was developed using a patent-pending technology which allows it to be formulated in heat-stable ready-to-drink sports products, said Mayuresh Bedekar, senior product manager of bioactives at Glanbia Nutritionals.

“Creatine is degraded to creatinine when at room temperature in water,” he told us. Creatinine is a waste product that provides no benefits to the body, which removes it as waste, he added.

During the research and development stage in Glanbia’s labs, the team tested the short-term stability of CreaBev and compared it to standard creatine monohydrate over a two-hour period.

They reported that 98.37% of the creatine monohydrate from CreaBev was present in water, while only 11% of the standard processed creatine monohydrate remained in the first five minutes after mixing with water. The results have not been peer-reviewed or published, but Bedekar said that publication is planned for 2020.

It is available to product formulators in the US, Canada, and Mexico, with launched in Europe and Asia slated later this year.

The market for creatine products

Glanbia regularly compiles a ‘Social Listening Report,’ which outlines results from consumer surveys. In the most recent iteration based on a survey of 1,014 US consumers conducted between January and March 2018, they found that 86% of consumers had a positive sentiment towards creatine monohydrate.

In another survey conducted to gauge supplement use and format preferences, 40% of 283 creatine buyers said that they preferred pre-workouts in ready-to-mix powder formats.

This was followed closely by consumers who preferred ready-to-drink supplements at 39%, showing increased demand for sports nutrition products beyond powders.

Using CreaBev means formulators have more flexibility in terms of finished product format and heating levels because of the ingredient’s stability, Bedekar argued.

For the end user, “CreaBev benefits consumers with the ability to consume creatine in new delivery systems outside of ready-to-mix powders,” he said.

“Additionally, they have the assurance that they are receiving an adequate amount of creatine in the RTMs formulated with CreaBev.”