Inflammation—often perceived as pain—is a key concern of active people. It often starts with a feeling of discomfort that might turn into minor pain. It also can manifest as a feeling of stiffness and soreness and this often prevents active people from increasing or maintaining their physical activity.

In one research study of active lifestyle consumers, 69% of respondents indicated that they engaged in physical activities more than three times a week. Sixty-two percent of these consumers agreed that recovery is a critical aspect of their post-workout plan and 67% of those polled would consume a dietary supplement to aid post-workout recovery. 

When asked what their preferred product of choice would be, they revealed that a sports bar containing plant-based peptides, delivering the benefits of managing inflammatory response of their body would be an ideal solution.

BASF uses Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is an area of computer science that applies self-learning algorithms to emulate human-like thinking, featuring high speed, pattern recognition and pattern recall. BASF’s partner, Nuritas, developed and trained algorithms using libraries worth of information on biological networks and active molecules to build highly-accurate predictors of biological activity.

Nuritas designed precise queries for peptides affecting inflammatory processes. In a first step, a query was started with a detailed landscape based on existing rich data from the globally accessible scientific knowledge, followed by human curation. Next, readily available food proteins were data mined for the presence of the active peptides and this search yielded brown rice as the most potent source material.

Artificial intelligence identified four peptides with potential for biological activity. BASF developed a food-based process to commercial scale, liberating a good fraction of the bioactive peptides into the protein hydrolysate, thus creating PeptAIde. BASF’s next step was do verify PeptAIde’s physiological relevance in silico, characterized in cell culture, and in volunteer users. BASF has documented how all three tests were successful.

BASF’s Vision for Sports Nutrition

PeptAIde is an ideal companion for active people—from leisure sports enthusiasts to performance athletes. It contains a unique set of plant-based peptides that have been identified, quantified, scientifically tested and are patent protected. It is produced from natural brown rice and its mild plant protein taste makes it an ideal fit for various sports nutrition formats. The peptide powder is versatile and can be easily used with other protein sources and typical sports nutrition ingredients.

To learn more about PeptAIde, visit: https://nutrition.basf.com/en/Human-nutrition/PeptAIde.html

Originally appeared in the January, 2019 issue of Prepared Foods as Plant-Based Solution for Sports Recovery.