Ingenious Ingredients self-affirms GRAS status for paraxanthine ingredient

23-Nov-2021 - Last updated on 23-Nov-2021 at 15:27 GMT

The GRAS self-affirmation means the paraxanthine ingredient can be used in a range of food and beverages, including energy drinks. Image © allanswart / Getty Images

Ingenious Ingredients (Ing2) has announced it has achieved self-affirmed GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status for its Enfinity-branded paraxanthine ingredient for use in food and beverages.

The GRAS status was determined using established scientific procedures, and confirmed the safety of the ingredient for use in energy beverages, decaffeinated coffee beverages and powders, and nutrition and cereal bars in levels up to 300 mg.

Ralf Jaeger, PhD, co-founder of Ing2, told NutraIngredients-USA that the company is pleased that its Enfinity paraxanthine ingredient has been recognized as a safe ingredient for use in various food and beverage categories.

“The new GRAS status is a major endorsement of the quality and safety, specification, and manufacturing process based on our extensive research over the last years,” said Dr Jaeger.

“With GRAS status, Enfinity can be used as a food ingredient for the first time and will revolutionize the way energy, pre-workout, and nootropic food products will be formulated allowing for unique consumer experiences.”

Ing2

Ingenious Ingredients L.P. (ING2) was founded in 2018 by Dr. Jaeger, Dr. Martin Purpura, Shawn Wells, and Kylin Liao to develop new ingredients for sports and active nutrition (muscle health), nootropics (brain health), and more.

Paraxanthine is a down-stream metabolite of caffeine. Indeed, about 70% of caffeine is metabolized to paraxanthine, with smaller percentages of being metabolized to theobromine and theophylline.

Speaking recently with NutraIngredients-USA, Wells explained that about one third of the population are fast metabolizers of caffeine: These are the people who can go straight to sleep after they have a cup of coffee. On the other hand, about a third of the population are slow metabolizers, and have problems with issues like headaches and arrythmia: All the side effects and very little benefits.

A recent study, published in Nutrients, found that a single 200 mg dose of paraxanthine produced significant improvements in a range of cognitive measures, including memory, reaction time, and attention.