Nutraceuticals World (NW): What types of consumers and which age groups are driving demand for cognitive health and performance solutions? What factors are behind this trend?

Steve Fink, Vice President of Marketing, PLT Health Solutions: We are seeing an unprecedented level of interest in cognitive support—across every demographic and supporting a broad range of lifestyle goals.

In the past, many cognitive health consumer products were aimed at two ends of the age spectrum: pre-natal/childhood for healthy development and seniors for anti-aging. These are of course important areas for cognitive health and are the subject of intense activity. At PLT Health Solutions, we have been focusing on what we consider to be an underserved demographic—the 18-54 age range.

Within this group, we see intense interest in issues such as “peak performance,” “well-being,” “stress reduction,” and “quality of life.” The market opportunity with this group is massive. Peak performers including knowledge workers and students make up 40% of the U.S. population and are growing. Stress affects 75 million people in this group and the effect of stress on other aspects of cognitive function is significant.

Similarly, the impact of cognitive performance on other aspects of life is becoming better understood by this demographic—as evidenced by the introduction of ingredients to improve mental performance in exercise via sports nutrition products and as a means of easier weight management.

Consumers are actively seeking everything from enhanced focus and better information processing, to reduced stress, improved mood, faster learning, effective memory, better adaptability, and enhanced multitasking.

NW: What does cognitive health mean in this context? What are the elements of healthy cognition? How do these factors—like stress, sleep, mental performance, and mental energy—all relate to and impact one another?

Fink: The cognitive health market is unique in the supplement and functional foods industry. It comprises a number of different target benefits (Table 1)—all of which interact and support one another and, compared to a category such as weight management for example, is among the most difficult to develop quality science to support messaging. At the same time, we know it is extremely important to consumers.

NW: Alongside an experiential benefit they can feel and notice, what do consumers want or expect from product solutions?

Fink: PLT is actively engaged in the cognitive health space, with a range of ingredients that have relevance to various aspects of cognitive functioning. What all these ingredients have in common is that they are relatively fast-acting—even experiential; they are backed by quality clinical science, and they feature low, once-a-day doses.

Other features that should be of interest to formulators of cognitive health products that translate well to consumers include water-dispersibility and neutral taste, allowing innovative delivery formats, traceability, sustainability, and a compelling origin story.

NW: How is PLT Health Solutions’ Nutricog Cognitive Performance Complex unique? What health needs does it address? What market gap might it help fill?

Fink: Nutricog™ Cognitive Performance Complex is a unique, patented combination of Haritaki (Terminalia chebula) and Boswellia (Boswellia serrata)—standardized to gallic acid, ellagic acid, and amyrins. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, users of Nutricog demonstrated significant improvements compared to placebo across multiple cognitive domains, including learning, memory, sustained attention, working memory and executive function, where increases in cognitive speed were seen concurrently with improvements in accuracy while multitasking.

What is unique about Nutricog is the sheer range of cognitive support benefits that have been demonstrated in clinical trials. The recent clinical study examined a wide range of clinical endpoints. The power of these clinical results is not just that Nutricog showed significance in such a broad array of cognitive function areas, but the amount of change versus placebo that was demonstrated.

Nutricog also checks many boxes consumers want in an ingredient today. It’s completely novel and botanical. It’s experiential, with significant benefits occurring within 15 days. It’s effective at a relatively low dose, making compliance easier, and its constituents are sustainably, traceably grown and manufactured.


NW: The clinical study that assessed the efficacy of Nutricog showed a range of performance benefits. What are your top takeaways from the results? What conclusions can you draw?

Fink: Nutricog is a new ingredient. What we often find is that the market will tell us where it is best deployed. Consumers will tell us why they like it and continue to buy it. Learning? Memory? Multi-tasking? It can support all of these. Clinical results show enhanced functioning via:

• Improved Verbal and Visual Episodic Memory
• Faster, Better Learning
• Enhanced Focus, Attention and Concentration
• Thinking Faster and More Accurately

Specifically, the study showed:


NW: What other ingredients does PLT offer in the cognitive health market?

Fink: PLT Health Solutions has a broad cognitive support ingredient portfolio featuring proprietary, branded ingredients all of which are backed by clinical science. Today, our portfolio (see chart below) offers multiple ingredient solutions in three main areas: cognitive function, stress/mood, and mental energy.

Each of our cognitive ingredients offers different strengths in different cognitive areas. There are some benefit overlaps with these ingredients, but based on clinical study endpoints, each can be recommended to meet specific formulation targets.


Synapsa^® Natural Memory Support is a patented, standardized form of Bacopa monnieri that has been the subject of more than 35 years of clinical study. In seven double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical studies, healthy adults using Synapsa showed significantly improved performance in areas such as visual processing, learning rate, working memory, information retention, and mental performance in cognitively demanding environments versus a placebo regimen.

The studies show support for two distinct types of benefit from Synapsa Natural Memory Support: daily, long-term use to enhance learning and memory and short-term use to improve mental performance in cognitively demanding situations, such as test-taking.

For mental energy, PLT offers two solutions—one stimulant based and one non-stim. zümXR^® Targeted Release Caffeine is a new form of modified release caffeine developed for food, beverage, and supplement products. All zümXR ingredients feature state-of-the-art delivery system technology drawn from the pharmaceutical industry that represents a significant step forward from conventional caffeine coating technologies.

zümXR Targeted Release Caffeine is available in Delayed Release and Extended-Release forms. Caffeine sources include both synthetic anhydrous and natural green coffee. With zümXR Targeted Release Caffeine ingredients, formulators can create unlimited types of energy profiles—by combining immediate release, delayed release, and extended-release ingredients.

Zynamite^® is a patented Mangifera indica extract standardized to ≥ 60% mangiferin developed from sustainably harvested mango leaves. It has been shown to enhance mental energy without a stimulant effect. Zynamite is fast-acting and experiential. It has been the subject of nine clinical studies and has received six global industry awards.


In the Mood/Stress category, PLT offers two ingredients—one sourced from the Siberian Altai Mountains with the other grown in the desert areas of South Africa.

Rhodiolife^® is a standardized extract of Rhodiola rosea, which is considered a true adaptogen. Rhodiolife generates sustained energy and is used to combat the effects of mental and physical stress. PLT’s Rhodiolife Rhodiola rosea has been a gold standard in the adaptogen category for over a decade. But in the last two years, our innovation partner Nektium has elevated the value of this ingredient with significant investments in sustainability, traceability and ingredient identity, regulatory compliance, and ease of formulation.

In September of 2022, PLT announced Nektium’s cultivation program for Rhodiola rosea. This is a groundbreaking project that was the result of over a decade of work on Nektium’s part, where we were able to achieve a physical and phytochemical profile identical to wildcrafted Rhodiola sources. Cultivation of Rhodiola rosea has been attempted around the world for some time, but few if any have achieved success on anything approaching a commercial scale.

Furthering our goal of promoting sustainability, PLT announced our first CITES compliant Rhodiolife Rhodiola rosea in North America in 2023. This new development will assure its Rhodiola customers a secure supply of a premium, highly sustainable product that meets all regulatory requirements.

Zembrin^® is a novel, multi-patented, clinically studied extract of the South African succulent plant Sceletium tortuosum. Zembrin can help give people power over their lives by introducing a sense of calm serenity and alert focus. It is an experiential ingredient. It has been shown to start working in as little as 2 hours and is safe enough to be used every day for months.

Sceletium tortuosum is a protected species and wild harvesting is not sustainable for commercial products. Zembrin innovator, South African HG&H Pharmaceuticals employs a seed-to-shelf ingredient management program with its specially cultivated Sceletium.