NNB Nutrition CEO Jake Mulder and Chief Brand Officer Dustin Elliott dive into dipeptide science, global manufacturing, and natural sweetener breakthroughs like SweetVantage+ on Episode #229 of the PricePlow Podcast.
NNB Nutrition CEO Jake Mulder and Chief Brand Officer Dustin Elliott join us for Episode #229 of the PricePlow Podcast, recorded live at IFT FIRST 2026 in Chicago.
It's the second of two conversations we recorded with NNB on-site. The first, Episode #227, dug into Shawn Wells' science-first philosophy. This one turns to the business side of building an ingredient supplier: how NNB scales dipeptides like DL185 Dileucine and the newly trademarked VasoRush, why the company favors ingredients that already exist in nature over new dietary ingredient filings, and how a tightening global whey supply is pushing brands toward clarified plant proteins like NNB's clear pea protein.
Jake and Dustin also walk through the flavor science behind SweetVantage+, NNB's brazzein-enhanced stevia system built to mask some of the worst-tasting (and most effective) ingredients in the industry, and look back at how far the company has come since it first started working with PricePlow back in 2019.
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https://blog.priceplow.com/podcast/jake-mulder-dustin-elliott-nnb-nutrition-229
Video: NNB Nutrition Talks Business, Manufacturing, and Flavor Science at IFT FIRST 2026
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:02:31 — 70.1MB)
Detailed Show Notes: Jake Mulder and Dustin Elliott on NNB Nutrition’s Growth
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0:00 - Introductions
Ben opens by welcoming NNB Nutrition back to the podcast, joined this time by CEO Jake Mulder and Chief Brand Officer Dustin Elliott. Jake has spent 15 years in dietary supplements, most of it on the supply chain and operations side, after starting his career in the MLM space. This is his first time on the PricePlow Podcast.
The crew had already sat down with Shawn Wells earlier that day for Episode #227's science-focused conversation, so this one shifts toward NNB's growth, the problems the company is solving, and where it's headed as a business.
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2:45 - Why Dipeptides Are Winning the Peptide Conversation
Peptides are having a moment, but Dustin explains why NNB is betting on dipeptides specifically instead of the broader peptide chains flooding the market. Because dipeptides like dileucine already exist naturally in the body, NNB can prove existence in nature rather than filing a new dietary ingredient notification, a process that can block a European launch for years while it works through EFSA registration.
Dustin ties this to research on the PepT1 transporter, the same pathway behind NNB's pharmacokinetics work on dileucine, which shows dipeptides raising blood amino acid levels within 30 minutes. The company is applying the same playbook to VasoRush, a newly trademarked di-arginine, di-citrulline dipeptide it's introducing for nitric oxide and pump at SupplySide Global.
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10:00 - Dileucine's MuscleTech Launch, One Year Later
Mike asks about the business side of dileucine's launch with MuscleTech, which held the exclusive early on despite regular stock-outs. Jake says the launch went almost exactly as planned. Sellouts created the same drop-and-demand effect brands see with sneaker releases, which pulled other companies into the category and validated the ingredient rather than hurting it.
NNB has since had to invest in new machinery and facilities to keep up, and Jake admits early production had real growing pains. The bigger shift has been scientific: research keeps pointing to speed of absorption mattering more than dose size, opening the door to chews and pouches instead of 30g to 50g scoops.
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16:30 - Inside NNB's Global Manufacturing Playbook
Mike wants to know how NNB manages its global footprint, and Jake credits close coordination with Kylin Liao on the China side. The company moved out of the commodity ingredient game before COVID, betting instead on a defensible, service-first model. When the pandemic scrambled supply chains, customers started asking NNB to make creatine and collagen, categories it hadn't focused on, and NNB said yes.
Shawn Wells, Chief Science Officer at NNB Nutrition, breaks down GLP-1 Drag, precision fermentation, and NNB's next wave of buccal delivery ingredients on Episode #227 of the PricePlow Podcast.
That flexibility turned it into one of the largest creatine suppliers to the United States. Jake also explains "plating," the process of drying oils onto a carrier like tapioca fiber, which NNB prefers over maltodextrin. The same manufacturing muscle now shows up on shelves: Jocko Fuel's GO energy drinks pair NNB's SalidroPure and MitoPrime in a single can.
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19:45 - C8Vantage: The MCT Powder Built for One Customer
Mike calls C8Vantage the best MCT powder he's tried, and its origin story backs that up. Jake says the whole SKU exists because one customer's previous supplier could no longer support them, so NNB stepped in with a better price and built the product around that single account.
It paid off for everyone. C8Vantage now comes in two forms: one plated on milk protein for a creamier texture, and a vegan version plated on pea protein. Mike prefers the dairy version but says both outperform typical MCT powders. For NNB, it's a pattern that repeats across the catalog: find one client's real problem, solve it precisely, then bring the solution to the rest of the industry.
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21:15 - Fiber, Postbiotics, and Defending a Precision Fermentation Moat
A multinational client has NNB chasing the next big opportunity: fiber. Jake says the team already works across prebiotic fibers and postbiotics like butyrate, and sees a unique blended fiber as a way to give that client a real moat instead of a commodity ingredient anyone can source.
Mike also asks how NNB protects its precision fermentation work from getting copied. Jake's answer: the barrier is the process itself. Fermentation is slow, expensive trial and error, and even after the science works, a formula still has to clear cost and taste hurdles before it's commercially viable.
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24:45 - The Protein Crisis: Proprietary Blends, Whey Supply, and Clarified Plant Proteins
NNB Nutrition's VasoRush™ is a peptide-bonded di-citrulline and di-arginine ingredient built for pumps. It absorbs faster via PEPT-1 and drives more cGMP per unit of nitric oxide, meaning more vasodilation, not just more NO.
Mike presses Jake on the state of the protein market, knowing he has opinions. Global whey supply isn't growing since cheese production (and its whey byproduct) isn't scaling with demand, so brands are stretching supply with clarified plant proteins instead. NNB's line, including ClearPea and ClearRice, removes the flavor and texture issues that normally rule out pea and rice protein, with clarified pumpkin seed and mung bean versions in development.
Even major global suppliers like Glanbia are feeling the same squeeze, and as costs climb, some major brands have quietly discontinued bulk tub formats entirely. Jake makes the case, cautiously, that proprietary blends have a legitimate use here: shifting a formula's ratios slightly can absorb rising costs without forcing a full label overhaul.
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31:45 - Precision-Fermented Dairy and PeptiClear's Second Act
The conversation turns to Perfect Day, which is scaling up production of beta-lactoglobulin, one of the major proteins in whey, at a new facility in India. Jake calls the approach novel but says NNB is making a different bet: improving whey yield from cheese-making regions whose byproduct has historically been considered unusable, rather than building a fermented protein from scratch.
Mike also asks about Helaina, the company using precision fermentation to produce human-identical lactoferrin (branded effera) through a partnership with Nestlé announced earlier this year. On the branded side, Dustin confirms PeptiClear is alive and well, now applied across NNB's full line of clarified plant proteins with white-label options for brands entering the clear-protein-soda category.
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37:00 - Dileucine Meets ClearPea: New Sarcopenia Research
Most natural sweeteners lean on marketing. NNB Nutrition ran the actual benchmark instead. SweetVantage Reb M9 went head-to-head with 6 sweeteners across water, green tea, EAAs, and sparkling water in a trained-panel sensory study. It matched sugar and tracked closest to sucralose.
Dustin outlines where the dileucine research is headed next: pairing it with ClearPea protein at a more commercial dose, roughly 10g to 15g of ClearPea with 1g of dileucine and 1g of free leucine, instead of the original 2g Dileucine dose alone.
NNB's latest preclinical work uses a rat model of sarcopenia to compare how the combination affects the soleus (mostly type 1 muscle fiber) versus the gastrocnemius (mostly type 2) during atrophy and recovery. Dustin points to emerging research suggesting leucine itself supports mitochondrial health within muscle cells, not just the anabolic signaling it's known for. Jake sums up the stakes with a simple analogy: an engine misfiring on two of eight cylinders still runs, but you'll notice the difference.
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48:30 - The Hardest Ingredients to Flavor, and How Reb M9 Changed the Game
Jake runs through NNB's most notorious flavor problems: astaxanthin, dileucine, and GlucoVantage (dihydroberberine) are all backed by strong science and all taste awful. Since consumers want these ingredients in beverages and gummies rather than capsules, NNB partnered with flavor houses for years without fully solving the problem, so the team eventually built its own solution.
The starting point was stevia. Early formulas leaned on Reb A alone, which left the familiar bitter, back-of-tongue aftertaste. Ratioing Reb A, Reb D, and Reb M together (each hitting a different part of the palate) got NNB close to a sugar-like profile. The real breakthrough came from a patented, improved version of Reb M the team calls Reb M9, which closes most of the remaining gap alone.
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51:45 - Brazzein, SweetVantage+, and the Formulator's Guide to Natural Sweeteners
Even Reb M9 couldn't fully mask NNB's worst-tasting ingredients on its own, so the team's scientists found that brazzein, a natural sweet protein, helps cover what's left. Pairing Reb M9 with brazzein created SweetVantage+, dosed higher for harder-to-mask ingredients like dileucine and lighter for milder ones.
To prove it out, Dustin's team worked with Eurofins' sensory division on a formulator's guide, benchmarking Reb A, Reb D, monk fruit, Reb M9, sucralose, sugar, and Reb M9 plus brazzein, all matched to the same sweetness (12 degrees Brix) across water, soda, tea, and EAA applications. A trained sensory panel then scored each for bitterness, metallic notes, and aftertaste, giving flavor houses a real map of where each natural sweetener holds up.
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59:15 - Customizing SweetVantage+ and What's Next for NNB
Dustin says NNB would rather customize brazzein levels for each customer, typically in the 0.5% to 1% range but up to 4% for especially bitter or astringent applications, than sell a single fixed ratio. Jake confirms flavor houses are now incorporating brazzein directly into their systems, and some are even pairing it with sucralose to improve sucralose's own flavor profile.
Mike closes by reflecting on how far NNB has come since the two started working together in 2019, moving well beyond easier wins like BAIBA (MitoBurn) and GlucoVantage into harder, more technical categories under its "Pure, Potent, Precise" philosophy. The team also teases a new NNB manufacturing facility taking shape in China, complete with a building shaped like a giant "N."
Where to Follow and Learn More
Connect with Jake Mulder, Dustin Elliott, and NNB Nutrition
- LinkedIn: Jake Mulder
- LinkedIn: Dustin Elliott
- Instagram: @nnbnutrition
- NNB Nutrition on LinkedIn
- NNB Nutrition on PricePlow - Sign up for news alerts
- NNBNutrition.com
Resources Mentioned
- Episode #227: Shawn Wells Breaks Down GLP-1 Drag - Part 1 of this two-part IFT FIRST 2026 series
- Episode #192: NNB Nutrition's Pure, Potent, Precise Revolution
- Episode #152: Shawn Wells and Dustin Elliott Take on GLP-1, MPS, and Collaborative Energy
- Episode #123: Dileucine in MuscleTech Peptide 185
Ingredients Discussed
- C8Vantage
- SweetVantage
- GlucoVantage and MitoBurn Overviews
Huge thanks to Jake and Dustin for pulling back the curtain on NNB Nutrition's business side, and to the whole team for hosting us at IFT FIRST 2026. If you missed the first half of this series, go back and catch Episode #227 with Shawn Wells. We'll be watching for VasoRush's SupplySide Global debut and NNB's new China facility.
This episode is brought to you by Perfect Shaker. Check out their shaker cups at PricePlow.com/perfect-shaker or PerfectShaker.com.
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