NNB Nutrition FlowTech: Non-Clumping Ingredient Technology

HydroPrime and GeniusPure were just the start – NNB Nutrition now has an entire series of ingredients named FlowTech™ that maintain stability with significantly less clumping over time. This includes citrulline, beta-alanine, L-carnitine, and more.

If you’ve been around supplements for a while, you no doubt know about glycerol, an osmolyte that improves athletic performance by improving cellular hydration.

Tired of clumpy supplements? NNB Nutrition sure is, so they’re fixing the problem with their new FlowTech Technology, available in 7 different ingredients like citrulline, beta alanine, acetyl L-carnitine, and more!

Glycerol’s ergogenic and pro-pump effects, combined with its low cost and excellent safety profile, should make it a wildly popular ingredient. But glycerol hasn’t gotten as much play as you’d hope.

Reason being, glycerol has a major drawback: the tendency to clump up. If you store glycerol long enough, especially in humidity, it can actually “brick”, becoming a solid, inseparable mass.

This is because glycerol is hygroscopic, meaning it draws moisture from the surrounding air. As it absorbs moisture, the weak electrical forces between the water molecules cause the glycerol molecules to coalesce, forming clumps – or eventually, one giant brick.

NNB Nutrition – Solving the Hygroscopic Problem, One Ingredient at a Time

To combat this, NNB Nutrition released HydroPrime, a more shelf-stable form of glycerol characterized by vastly lower hygroscopic activity, less grit, and better sieving (other common problems) while still meeting specifications at 65% yield.

When it comes to hydration, endurance, cell volumization, and heat tolerance, water is king. And this simple ingredient — glycerol — enables you to hold more water for better performance. NNB Nutrition is best at keeping it a powder.

NNB Nutrition has arguably become one the industry’s most important designer, manufacturer, and distributor of novel dietary supplement ingredients. We told them we needed better glycerol on the market, and they made it.

Yet glycerol isn’t the only ingredient with a tendency to clump. Another is alpha-GPC, a nootropic choline ingredient similarly hamstrung by hygroscopic issues and lower yields. Encouraged by the success of HydroPrime, NNB came out with GeniusPure, a more stable form of alpha-GPC that has 70% and 90% yields, as opposed to the traditional 50%.

The GeniusPure article linked above shows photographs of NNB’s in-house experiments, and feedback has been extremely positive so far. But the novel ingredient supplier’s only getting started:

Announcing Flowtech – NNB’s Series Of Non-Hygroscopic Ingredients

If you’re wondering whether there are any other ingredients that suffer from the hygroscopic issue, the answer is yes – there are many — including many industry favorites like beta-alanine and citrulline.

Dietary supplement manufacturers have become relatively adept at working around clumping issues, often with flow agents, excipients, and anti-caking ingredients including various forms of silica, magnesium stearate, cellulose, rice hulls, and more. But getting it right is time-consuming, costly, and, if you haven’t noticed… mistakes still get made — especially from some popular brands attempting to chase “innovation” over long-term stability.

Introducing NNB Nutrition’s FlowTech Technology, now in seven new ingredients!

The good news is that NNB Nutrition has established itself as the uncontested industry leader in terms of formalling solving this problem, and they’ve heard the complaints. So now, continuing the trend established by HydroPrime and GeniusPure, the company is announcing the release of an entire ingredient series, to be named the FlowTech™ series. It will include:

NNB Nutrition is an innovative ingredient development company with an elite team of over 100 scientists from over 10 countries.

• Beta-alanine (95% yield)
• Malic acid (AKA malate) (90% yield)
• L-citrulline (90% yield)
• Acetyl L-carnitine (90% yield)
• Phosphatidylserine (90% yield)
• L-citrulline malate 2:1 (90% yield)
• SAMe (70% yield)

GeniusPure will be branded as a FlowTech ingredient as well, with yield options of 55%, 70%, and 90%.

What is FlowTech?

NNB’s FlowTech™ technology is a moisture-proof solution that utilizes an efficient moisture-resistant coating system composed of FDA-approved, food-grade ingredients. It’s a unified technology approach that can be applied to several ingredients, then tailored specifically to each ingredients’ needs.

This provides excellent moisture resistance for long-term storage. Each ingredient will have uniform particle size, excellent flowability, and easy sieving and blending — with less dust generated in manufacturing. The taste and odor are very mild and easy to formulate with, and NNB is providing integrated R&D support with testing and analysis to support brands working on the leading edge with them.

The ingredient yields are shown above and below, but most are over 90% with the exception of sAME and the lower-yielding GeniusPure options. This leads to stable storage for more than one year, even in less-than-optimal conditions.

With FlowTech, we can more easily get to higher dosing with fewer stability problems, such as the highly-acclaimed 6.4 grams of beta-alanine and 10 grams of L-citrulline!

Finally, manufacturing facilities using FlowTech only require basic dehumidification, which can minimize energy consumption and production costs. It also meets various clean label needs, such as soy-free, vegan-friendly, sugar-free, gluten-free, non-GMO, and more.

Understanding NNB’s FlowTech Data

NNB released data comparing each ingredient against non-FlowTech ingredients. This includes the following:

• Dissolution rate at 0.5, 1, and 2 hours

  

  In late 2023, NNB Nutrition announced GeniusPure Alpha-GPC, which is patent-pending stabilized alpha-GPC at 70% or 90% and the first ingredient to use FlowTech

  The percentage of the active ingredient that dissolves over a specific period of time.

• 20 Mesh Sieve Pass Rate at 0 and 48 hours

  The percentage of material that passes through a 20 mesh sieve. This is a sieve with approximately 20 openings per linear inch along both the horizontal and vertical directions of the sieve screen.

• Weight increase by hygroscopy at 0 and 48 hours

  The amount of weight increased through atmospheric water accumulation after 2 days. For some ingredients, the changes are so quick that they can be measured within just a few hours!

• Angle of Repose at 0 and 48 hours

  This is a measurement to determine flowability of powders or granules. It refers to the maximum angle formed between the surface of a pile of powder and the horizontal plane when the powder is poured onto a flat surface.

  A smaller angle of repose indicates better flowability, meaning the powder can flow more easily (it lays flat). But a larger angle of repose indicates poorer flowability, meaning the powder tends to clump together in a taller pile — it doesn’t flow as freely.

  Angle of Repose Metrics

  NNB provides the following guidelines for angle of repose:

  • > 35%: Good flowability
  • 35-40%: Moderate Flowability – No assistance required
  • 41-45%: Fair Flowability – Some problems expected
  • 46-65%: Poor Flowability – Requires Stirring and/or Vibrating
  • < 66%: Very Poor Flowability – Severe clumping expected

NNB tested Beta-Alanine and L-Citrulline at 40°C / 104°F and the rest of the ingredients at 30°C / 86°F, all in 65% humidity.

Let’s now take a look at their data and purity levels for each one, and then get into some of the science behind them and why they’d be used in supplements.

NNB Nutrition’s FlowTech Ingredients: Physical Evaluation and Comparisons

The following is based upon NNB Nutrition’s internal testing:

• FlowTech Beta-Alanine

  FlowTech Beta-Alanine Yield: 95%

  Beta-alanine dissolves quite well. However, after 24 hours, things go quite poorly if the standard form is left out. You cannot get any through a 20 mesh sieve, and it gains 2.6% in weight from hygroscopy — the angle of repose is beyond 66%, making it an unusable mess in production.

  

  FlowTech Beta-Alanine, however, still flows at a 99.8% pass rate through a 20 mesh sieve after a day, and has a 31% reduction in weight increase. Its angle of repose is virtually unchanged.

  See NNB’s FlowTech Beta-Alanine Demo (with Intro)

  

• FlowTech Citrulline

  

  Look at how much better FlowTech holds up in a humidity chamber in just two days!

  FlowTech L-Citrulline Yield: 90%

  FlowTech L-citrulline dissolved much better than standard L-citrulline within 30 minutes of mixing. And if left out for 48 hours, standard citrulline’s angle of repose was also beyond 65% – it’s basically unusable if not properly taken care of. At that point, FlowTech citrulline has a 6X reduction in weight increase from hygroscopy – this is absolutely huge for all of those pre-workout supplements that slowly get exposed to humidity!

  

  Finally, after two days, 99.8% of FlowTech citrulline still passed through the 20 mesh sieve, while just 66.2% did for straight citrulline.

  NNB’s FLowTech L-Citrulline Demo

  

  If your pre-workouts are clumping, or you want to get higher yields, FlowTech may be the safest way to go.

• FlowTech Citrulline Malate

  FlowTech Citrulline Malate 2:1 Yield: 90%

  As you can see in the image below, this one gets wild — and in no time at all:

  

  NNB Nutrition FlowTech Citrulline Malate Comparison after just one hour in a humidity chamber

  Standard citrulline malate dissolves slightly better than standard L-citrulline, which is why you may often see it in pre-workout supplements. But it’s a total mess if left out for even one hour!

  

  In just one hour, citrulline malate turns into a total mess, with just a 10.4% pass rate in the 20 mesh sieve, and its angle of repose is already 65% at that point – basically unusable. FlowTech improves on these drastically, but it’s clear that you don’t want to leave citrulline malate out for too long. FlowTech dissolves better than plain citrulline malate right from the start, as well.

  NNB’s FlowTech Citrulline Malate Demo

  

• FlowTech Malic Acid

  FlowTech Malic Acid Yield: 90%

  Standard malic acid doesn’t dissolve too well for the first half hour, and is also hygroscopic, with 15.45% weight gain in 24 hours, reducing it to 66% sieve passability that clumps into a pile at that time.

  

  NNB’s FlowTech Malic Acid dissolves quicker, and has a 3X reduction in weight gain after 24 hours, where it still has a 99.8% pass rate through the sieve. Interesting, over a day’s time, its angle of repose went down, making it easier to work with in some respects. We don’t recommend leaving any ingredient out for a day, but that’s still interesting to see.

  NNB’s FlowTech Malic Acid Demo

  

• FlowTech Acetyl L-Carnitine

  FlowTech ALCAR Yield: 90%

  ALCAR dissolves well, but if left out for just 4 hours, it can no longer pass a 20 mesh sieve. NNB FlowTech Acetyl L-Carnitine has a 100% pass rate there still, and maintains its angle of repose, while poorly-handled ALCAR is basically unusable.

  

  One thing to note is that standard ALCAR has a better dissolution rate, so if you’re going to test FlowTech in a powdered application, see how the mixability goes.

  NNB’s FLowTech ALCAR Demo

  

• FlowTech Phosphatidylserine

  

  NNB Nutrition FlowTech Phosphatidylserine Comparison at 48 Hours

  FlowTech Phosphatidylserine Yield: 90%

  Phosphatidylserine dissolves poorly unless given some time, and has an angle of repose that’s already in the “moderately clumping” category right from the outset. With FlowTech, NNB’s treated PS is brought back to a good flowability angle — under 35 degrees — and will still completely pass a 20 mesh sieve at 48 hours. Hygroscopy weight increase is about the same.

  

  NNB’s FlowTech Phosphatidylserine Video Demo

  

• FlowTech SAMe (S-Adenosyl-L-methionine)

  FlowTech SAMe Yield: 70%

  Standard SAMe ingredients have a great dissolution rate, but that’s not where the problem is. According to NNB Nutrition’s testing, if the standard (non-FlowTech) raw material ingredient is left out for 24 hours, it simply will not pass through a 20 mesh sieve! FlowTech SAMe, however, will.

  

  Additionally, after 4 days, standard SAMe’s weight has been shown to increase by 20.1% due to water accumulation — FlowTech SAMe is 21.9% better in that respect.

  NNB’s FlowTech SAMe Video Demo

  

While the above data is not peer-reviewed or journal-published, NNB’s reputation has been built upon going the extra mile on things like this over the last decade, and we’re confident that it’s legitimate. But just to be sure, we’ve had some care packages sent to our closest manufacturing partners to confirm, and we’ll post any updates as they come.

Next, let’s talk about why you’d use each ingredient in a dietary supplement. Most supplement formulators and manufacturers are aware of the science, and can contact us or NNB Nutrition if interested in testing them out. Otherwise, read on:

What do These Ingredients Do in Supplements?

So what do the FlowTech ingredients do, and how do they work? Let’s break each one down — our regular readers have definitely seen most of this:

• Beta-Alanine

  Category / Purpose: Pre-Workout / Endurance

  

  Carnosine helps your body flush lactic acid out of the muscles. Beta alanine helps you get more muscle carnosine content.

  Beta-alanine is an amino acid with ergogenic, specifically endurance-boosting, effects. It has more than a decade of mass-market use behind it, and since it’s one of the industry’s safest and most effective pre-workout ingredients, we don’t think it’ll be going anywhere any time soon.

  When beta-alanine is combined with the essential amino acid L-histidine, the reaction produces carnosine, a molecule that your body uses to remove lactic acid from your muscles.^[1] Since the buildup of lactic acid creates muscular fatigue, slowing its building up delay the onset of fatigue – in other words, boost endurance.

  But if it’s the carnosine we’re after, why not just take carnosine instead of beta-alanine? The answer is that carnosine’s oral bioavailability is too low for it to be cost-effective. On the other hand, beta-alanine is very orally bioavailable, so even though there’s a chemical conversion that has to occur, supplementing with the precursor is actually more effective.

  Peer-reviewed studies have repeatedly found that beta-alanine supplementation can increase overall athletic performance by improving time to exhaustion,^[2,3] power output,^[4] and when taken long-term, body composition.^[5]

  Standard dose – 3,200 mg per day

  

  We’re interested in section (B) here, where beta alanine alone shows great results compared to placebo.^[6]

  Two big meta-analyses, looking at beta-alanine’s effectiveness across many different types of exercise and sporting competition,^[2,6] found that 3.2 grams of beta-alanine per day can increase endurance and reduce fatigue during exercise sessions between 30 seconds and 10 minutes long.^[1]

  Higher dose – 6,400 mg per day

  The standard industry dose of beta-alanine has pretty much always been 3,200 mg per serving, which is intended to be taken daily for an extended period of time. Consistent use is key, since beta-alanine is most effective once the user has achieved carnosine saturation,^[7] which is a process that takes a few months.

  However, recent developments have challenged the status quo in beta-alanine dosing. Two recent studies found that a 6,400 mg dose can double muscle carnosine content in just 2 to 4 weeks,^[8,9] which is about how long a standard-sized tub of pre-workout typically lasts when used daily.

  Two other studies found that 179 grams of beta-alanine, taken over 28 days (which works out to 6.4 grams per day), can significantly improve muscle performance during endurance events.^[10,11]

  FlowTech can get you higher dosing!

  NNB’s non-hygroscopic ingredients can really help formulators explore higher-dose applications of well-known ingredients. The less an ingredient clumps or bricks, the more of it you can use without worrying about ruining an entire product.

• L-Citrulline

  Category / Purpose: Pre-Workout / Nitric Oxide Pumps

  Citrulline is the industry’s staple nitric oxide (NO) boosting ingredient. It headlines basically all mass-market pre-workout formulas. It works by increasing your body’s production of arginine, an amino acid that’s the precursor to NO.^[12,13]

  

  The Arginine Citrulline Cycle with a breakout showing the arginine-to-nitric oxide reaction. Image courtesy Wikimedia with added biochemistry sources.^[14,15]

  It’s a conditionally essential amino acid,^[13] which means that although your body is capable of making citrulline on its own, it can’t make enough citrulline to cover all of its metabolic requirements. So in order to optimize any functions that depend on conditionally essential aminos, it’s usually necessary to increase one’s intake through supplementation or by eating specific foods.

  This is especially true when the body is subjected to metabolic stress, as in injury or illness. In these cases, your body’s needs usually far outstrip production, making supplementation an absolute necessity.

  In other words, anyone who’s training hard, dieting hard, or trying to maximize muscle growth can probably benefit from supplementing with conditionally essential aminos like citrulline.

  Why NO?

  The reason we want more NO is that increased causes vasodilation, a mechanism that causes the smooth muscle lining of your arteries to relax.^[16,17] When that lining goes slack, the blood vessels’ diameter increases, which is a simple change with lots of second-order effects that can benefit health and performance.

  

  Look at how much better FlowTech holds up in a humidity chamber in just two days!

  Although vasodilation causes arteries to get bigger, the volume of blood within those arteries stays the same, meaning that blood pressure and heart rate both decrease. This drop in cardiovascular resistance^[18-20] reduces strain on your heart, allowing it to circulate your blood with less effort.

  This improvement in circulation also increases perfusion, your cardiovascular system’s ability to saturate healthy tissue with blood.^[21,22] This boost in nutrient delivery and waste removal can actually accelerate recovery post-workout, and may even increase muscular gains.^[23,24]

  How citrulline gets turned into NO

  As we discussed earlier, citrulline is actually not the direct precursor to NO – that distinction belongs to arginine, another amino acid. So the conversion process looks like Citrulline → Arginine → Nitric Oxide (NO).

  So why not take arginine instead? Same answer as beta-alanine and carnosine – the oral bioavailability of arginine is pretty bad.^[25-28] Citrulline is so much better absorbed that it actually ends up being a more effective target for NO boosting.^[16]

  Citrulline benefits

  So now that we know a little bit about citrulline’s mechanism of action, we have to see whether citrulline supplementation actually yields the benefits we’re looking for in practice. Does the theory about how citrulline works really pan out?

  

  Ghost Pump V2 brings vicious pumps, thanks to L-citrulline (not FlowTech… at least not yet) and more

  Studies on citrulline supplementation show that it can enhance:

  • Power output during exercise^[29]
  • Athletic endurance – a 50% increase^[30]
  • Soreness after exercise – a 50% reduction^[30]
  • Growth hormone secretion in response to exercise^[31]
  • Amino acid and protein catabolism^[32]
  • Muscle growth following exercise^[33,34]

  We think you’ll agree, the evidence backing citrulline’s use for athletic performance is quite substantial. And even so, citrulline supplementation comes with some benefits that are not discussed very often:

  Citrulline’s impact on ornithine

  Citrulline can also increase your body’s production of ornithine,^[35] an amino acid that helps your body get rid of a cellular waste product called ammonia.^[36] Since the accumulation of ammonia in nervous and skeletomuscular tissue can cause mental and physical fatigue, facilitating ammonia detoxification through ornithine upregulation is yet another means by which citrulline can help increase endurance.

  Citrulline and sleep quality

  

  Going from 10 to 15 grams of L-citrulline may have raised plasma citrulline levels dose-dependently, but the plasma arginine levels certainly didn’t increase 50% alongside it! After 10, you hit the law of diminishing returns.^[37]

  Hopefully by now, we’re all aware that sleep duration and quality are important factors in recovery from exercise – in fact, sleep is when muscle gains actually happen. Fortunately for us, citrulline can help us get swole in our sleep, since boosting ornithine can decrease your body’s ratio of cortisol to DHEA, which is an important marker for stress that’s known to affect sleep quality.^[36]

  Few talk about citrulline and sleep quality, but there could be a connection – the reduced blood pressure effect may also be in play!

  Dosing: More is often better, but may increase clumping

  Over time, we’ve seen a few supplements head towards high citrulline territory, with as much as 10 grams inside! It turns out that there’s a reason for this — research from a “citrudose pharmacokinetic study” in 2007 compared 2, 5, 10, and 15 grams, and found that while 15 grams of citrulline led to the biggest increase in plasma arginine, 10 (maybe ~12) grams is really where things seem to meet the law of diminishing returns.^[37]

  Another study recently used 8 grams of citrulline and saw phenomenal pumps and perceived energy as well.^[38]

  Of course, this is a lot of material, and that means greater chances for clumping. Using FlowTech, NNB Nutrition can support these higher doses with ease!

• Citrulline Malate 2:1 (and Malic Acid)

  Category / Purpose: Pre-Workout / Nitric Oxide Pumps

  Citrulline malate 2:1 consists of free-base citrulline mixed with free-base malate (AKA malic acid). The ratio indicates we’re getting 2 molecules of citrulline for every 1 molecule of malate.^[39]

  Malic acid (malate)

  This ingredient brings all the benefits of citrulline we discussed above, plus some nice benefits associated with malic acid. The main one is that malate plays a crucial role in the Krebs cycle, which is the primary energy generation pathway for all your body’s cells.^[40]

  

  NNB Nutrition FlowTech Citrulline Malate Comparison after just one hour in a humidity chamber

  Both the citrulline and the malate can facilitate your cells aerobic respiration, generating more energy to fuel tough workouts.^[41]

  Atop the potential energy production effects, supplement formulators and manufacturers often use citrulline malate because the malic acid can support the flavor profile.

  Sometimes, for whatever reason, 6 grams of 2:1 citrulline malate simply tastes better than 4 grams of standard L-citrulline, even when adding malic and citric acids later on! We’re not sure why, but it sometimes works out that way. And if that’s the case for you, NNB Nutrition still has a FlowTech ingredient to support you.

  Malic acid is also used in flavor systems to bring tart and sour profiles. Where do you think those coated sour candies get it from? Malic Acid!

  FlowTech Citrulline Malate 2:1 Yield: 90%

  FlowTech Malic Acid Yield: 90%

• Acetyl-L-Carnitine

  Category / Purpose: Weight Loss and Nootropics / Fatty Acid Transport

  L-Carnitine is a molecule that facilitates the process of burning fat for energy. It does this by shuttling fatty acids into your cells, where energy-producing mitochondria (famously, the powerhouse of the cell per Schoolhouse Rock) convert them into adenosine triphosphate (ATP).^[42]

  

  After reading a new review based upon 100 citations,^[43] we are finding fewer and fewer reasons not to take ~2g L-Carnitine each day.

  Why is that such a big deal? The answer is that ATP is your body’s energy currency – it’s what your cells actually burn to perform useful work. If your body were a car, ATP would be the gas. Anything you demand of your body, from muscle protein synthesis to neuromuscular adaptation and recovery from exercise, consumes ATP.

  ATP synthesis is regulated by a cluster of intracellular proteins referred to as the mitochondrial respiratory chain complex. These proteins (named complexes I to IV) control the enzymatic reactions that convert energy substrates like oxygen, carbs, and fatty acids into ATP through a metabolic pathway called oxidative phosphorylation.^[44]

  Carnitine plays a crucial role in this process, so getting enough carnitine through diet (red meat is the best source) or supplementation is enormously important for optimizing health.

  Research consistently finds that carnitine supplementation is linked to healthy weight loss,^[45,46] higher insulin sensitivity, and better glucose metabolism.^[47]

  Carnitine can also increase your body’s ratio of brown adipose tissue (BAT) to white adipose tissue (WAT). Since BAT is more metabolically active than WAT, the more BAT you have, the more calories you’ll burn in a day as heat, in a process called non-shivering thermogenesis.^[48]

  ALCAR special effects

  Acetyl L-carnitine (ALCAR) is a form of carnitine with additional nootropic effects. It’s often used in brain-focused formulas thanks to its neuroprotective, neurotropic, and even antidepressant effects.^[49]

  

  Have an ingredient idea? Team NNB will co-develop it with you! The process is known as Ingredientology.

  ALCAR shares in the mechanism of action general to carnitine – namely, the shuttling of fatty acid energy substrates into mitochondria,^[50] a process that can improve function in pretty much any type of cell, including brain cells.

  When it comes to brain cells, what makes ALCAR uniquely effective is its ability to cross the brain blood barrier (BBB),^[51] something most nutritional supplements can’t do.

  In animal studies, ALCAR has been shown to facilitate learning by increasing neuroplasticity, the ability of brain structures to physically remodel themselves in response to sensory stimuli.^[52]

  One particularly interesting human study found that in men and women over the age of 65 who were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment, ALCAR supplementation caused a significant improvement to their scores on a battery of cognitive tests.^[53]

  L-carnitine clumping up your powdered fat burners?

  You wouldn’t believe how difficult some L-carnitine ingredients can be to work with, especially in certain stimulant-free fat burning powders that have required constant tinkering and reformulation. While top-tier brands like GHOST have figured it out, others with lower testing standards have suffered. There’s a great chance NNB Nutrition solved a bigger problem here than anyone realizes.

  We also find that 2 grams per day is generally the most-studied clinical dose, but 3 grams has been getting more attention as well. Issue is, stability has become difficult at such doses, so we see about half of these numbers far too often. With FlowTech, that no longer needs to be a reality.

• Phosphatidylserine

  Category / Purpose: Nootropics and Stress Relief / Cortisol Reduction

  Phosphatidylserine (PS) is a phospholipid and crucial constituent of the myelin sheath that electrically insulates your nerves. You can think of your nerves as wires – without that insulation, signals get crossed, leading to impaired transmission and even damage (like a short circuit).^[54] Obviously, keeping myelin healthy is incredibly important.

  

  NNB Nutrition FlowTech Phosphatidylserine Comparison at 48 Hours

  Some studies have found a inverse association between phosphatidylserine intake and brain function – the higher your intake, the lower your risk of cognitive decline and mood disorders.^[55-58]

  Other studies have shown that taking PS can make one more resilient to stress, and decrease anxiety symptoms.^[59] Higher doses can decrease your body’s production of cortisol, a glucocorticoid stress hormone that can impair cognition.^[60]

  Some evidence even suggests that PS can increase athletic endurance.^[61]

  As a phospholipid, this is definitely one that gets nasty in manufacturing processes. NNB has charts showing improved sieving and higher dissolution rates when mixed.

• SAMe (S-Adenosyl-L-methionine)

  Category / Purpose: Mood Enhancers and Liver Health / Methyl Donor and Neurotransmitter Booster

  SAMe (short for S-Adenosyl-L-Methionine Disulfate Tosylate and sometimes SAM-e) is a metabolite of methionine that’s normally synthesized from methionine and ATP.

  

  S-Adenosyl-L-methionine (SAMe) and synthesis of neurotransmitters. Don’t let a lack of SAMe slow your production down!

  SAMe generally works by significantly boosting the body’s production of glutathione^[62] as well as its function.^[63] This leads to reduced oxidative stress, especially in the liver^[62] and brain.^[64,65] Glutathione depletion is a major problem, and preventing this is why SAMe seems so universally powerful for so many individuals (a great reason why it’s in a multivitamin).

  The big thing here, however, is how well SAMe improves mood, which is supported by numerous studies powerful enough for affirmative reviews and meta-analyses,^[66-69] one of which goes back to 1994,^[70] before the screws really got turned on us. It can support dopamine activity in the brain.^[69,71]

  

  The SAMe Supplement (S-Adenosyl Methionine) is a naturally occurring nootropic that enhances brain function, combats depression, and even supports liver health.

  SAMe supports three central metabolic pathways that are behind these effects:^[66]

  1. Trans-sulfuration (glutathione synthesis)
  2. Transaminopropylation (polyamines development)
  3. Methylation (supporting the conversion of norepinephrine to epinephrine, regulation of monoaminergic neurotransmitters, and sarcosine synthesis)

  The third point above is important — beyond its glutathione and dopamine support, SAMe is a methyl donor,^[70] supporting numerous important biochemical reactions.

  Finally, SAMe has been well-studied as a liver protective ingredient as well,^[72] another great reason to put it in supplements that go beyond mood, since the liver is undoubtedly our most important metabolic organ.

• Alpha-GPC (GeniusPure)

  Category / Purpose: Nootropics and Strength Boosters / Choline Donor

  FlowTech GeniusPure Yields: 55, 70, and 90%

  

  NNB’s 70% yield GeniusPure alpha-GPC was much more resistant to hygroscopic gel-ification than generic 50% yield alpha-GPC.

  Alpha-GPC is a form of choline, an essential B vitamin that your body needs to build and maintain the phospholipid bilayer membranes that make up the outer layer of all your body’s cells. Choline also plays an important part in the intercellular communication carried out by those membranes.^[73]

  Choline is a necessary precursor for acetylcholine (ACh) synthesis. We refer to ACh as the learning neurotransmitter because it plays an important part in the neurological processes that facilitate learning and memory.^[74] It makes perfect sense, then, that studies have found increasing ACh production through choline supplementation can cause significant boosts in cognitive function, especially when it comes to memory consolidation.^[75,76]

  As with carnitine, there are several different widely-used forms of choline, each of which has its own specialized benefits. Alpha-GPC is, like ALCAR, the nootropic form of the ingredient, thanks to its ability to transit the blood-brain barrier.^[77]

  Intriguingly, alpha-GPC also seems to have direct benefits for strength training performance and gains. In one 2015 study, six weeks of supplementation with 600 mg of alpha-GPC per day significantly increased subjects’ peak force production during a mid-thigh pull exercise,^[78] a test whose results correlate strongly with deadlift performance.^[79]

  Other studies have found that alpha-GPC can increase growth hormone production, even in healthy young adults,^[80] a population that usually has high GH levels as a baseline. And since GH is, as we should all know, a potent anabolic hormone, this could potentially go a long way towards optimizing muscle growth in response to exercise.

  We covered GeniusPure with more detail and videos in our main GeniusPure video.

No more clumping!

Conclusion

Needless to say, NNB Nutrition’s release of FlowTech will give supplement manufacturers and formulators a lot more flexibility. Brands will have more freedom to mix and match ingredients without having to think about the possibility of additive hygroscopic interactions between ingredients.

Meanwhile, consumers will be free to store products they’ve purchased for far longer, without having to worry about them clumping and bricking. Not to say that we’re going to suggest keeping them outside in Florida, but if you run a few pre-workouts at the same time, you won’t have to worry about the FlowTech-based one turning into a brick.

We love NNB Nutrition for their novel ingredients like GlucoVantage, MitoBurn, and MitoPrime. But sometimes, we just need them to solve our existing problems — you know they’ll get right back to novel ingredient development, helping to push the dietary supplement further.

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