Better than arginine? Compound Solutions markets new green tea-derived vasodilation ingredient VASO6

Launched at this year’s SupplySide West in Las Vegas back in September, Compound Solutions​​ CEO Matt Titlow said that, compared to popular vasodilation ingredient arginine, VASO6’s requires a far smaller dose to be effective.

“With VASO6 you only need 300 mg, and with arginine is upwards of 7 g,”​ he told NutraIngredients-USA. This means product formulators have more flexibility as to what delivery formats they want to use, ranging from capsules to powders to beverages.

“You can’t put 7 g of material in a capsule, it’s impractical,”​ Titlow argued.

A history of the ingredient​

The ingredient is derived from a patented, specific set of extracts found in plants, a patent assigned to the University of South Florida. The extraction method’s inventor, according to the patent document provided by Compound Solutions, is Dr David Fitzpatrick, a retired professor from the university.

“In the year 2000, he published a study that said the constituents of grapeseed contributed to vasodilation,” ​Titlow explained. VASO6 applies the same concept and method to extract green tea’s constituents responsible for vasodilation based on Dr Fitzpatrick’s study.

Because VASO6 is derived from green tea, a plant that has been consumed by humans for thousands of years, and the polyphenols comprising the extract have been used decades before DSHEA in 1994, Titlow argued that the ingredient does not need an NDI, nor is it necessary to go through GRAS verification.

“As a green tea extract, it’s compliant globally,”​ he added.

From athletes to gamers​

Main users of supplements for vasodilation tend to be bodybuilders, hence, VASO6 is marketed primarily to sports nutrition brands for use in pre-workout supplements, Titlow said. The ingredient already appears in Wreckage by Musclepharm and Re1gn by Olympus Labs.

Beyond sports nutrition, “we’re targeting the gaming and nootropic category,” ​Titlow said.

Though there have been published studies on the chemical constituents and extraction methods used to make VASO6, there are none published yet that look at VASO6’s vasodilation benefits specifically.