PLT Health Solutions, Inc and zümXR are launching a new green coffee bean caffeine ingredient aimed at energy supplement, shot and food markets. The new ingredient is based on zümXR targeted release caffeine technology and will be available in delayed release, extended release and liquid-stable extended release forms. 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. This technology will allow food, beverage and supplement formulators to design custom energy profiles into their products, delivering predictable performance for the consumer. The companies feel the new green coffee bean source of caffeine will resonate with consumers who prefer nature-based ingredients—and will open some new international markets. The caffeine is extracted via a supercritical CO2 process, without the use of chemical solvents, making zümXR one of the cleanest forms of caffeine on the market, according to the companies.
 
According to Sid Hulse, vice president of product development at PLT Health Solutions, caffeine sourced from green coffee beans adds a new market audience for zümXR technology that has been delivering predictable, reproducible performance in energy profile design. “Since it was introduced, zümXR targeted release technology has generated excitement with product developers because of its ability to create high quality, experiential products. Green coffee bean caffeine opens up an entire new group of consumers to this technology and experience,” he said. “With our high-quality beans, and our use of solventless supercritical CO₂ extraction, we’ll be offering the cleanest, highest quality energy experience on the market today. As the market matures, it is this kind of ingredient innovation that will help producers of consumer energy products,” he said.
 
A Leap Forward in Caffeine Delivery Technology
Most approaches to making modified release caffeine feature lipids and waxes that were originally designed to mask flavor and later adapted to this application. Many of the early modified release solutions were done ‘in tablet’ rather than as an ingredient matrix, which meant no powder and no beverage applications. Laboratory testing has shown that, quite often, the extended release materials either give up too much caffeine too quickly, or don’t give up enough caffeine at all – limiting the consumer’s experience. The zümXR approach has been developed using pharma modeling techniques for dissolution design, with USP methodologies used to measure performance. 
 
It features high quality, tightly controlled coating materials that are heat stable, which broadens the applications where these ingredients can be used. The flexibility of this technology allows targeted release caffeine solutions to be used in a broad array of applications, including beverage, supplements, stick packs, powders, gummies, bars and gels. To date, most interest in these ingredients have been centered on using them in conjunction with immediate release caffeine in an effort to design an energy profile that offers an experiential energy boost fitting the application. 
 
According to Mr. Hulse, it is the predictable performance of these ingredients that helps deliver value in custom designed energy profiles. “The zümXR technology shows excellent reproducibility of dissolution profiles from batch to batch. As a result, we can design energy profiles that fit lifestyle requirements. For example, we can imagine a ‘morning pick me up’ that would function like a long-lasting cup of coffee, a pre-workout product that gives an extra boost of energy an hour or so into a workout without post workout crash. Or a ‘long study night’ product that gives smooth and steady long-term energy. The predictive performance of zümXR targeted release caffeine makes it easy for formulators to deliver on the promises they make about their products,” he said.