Move over leucine, there’s a new gold standard in town

Previously exclusive to one brand, the patent-pending DL-185 is now available for worldwide distribution to supplement brands and manufacturers.

NNB Nutrition said dileucine is a patent-pending ingredient that recently surpassed leucine as the gold standard of muscle protein synthesis—something not seen in over a century.

"This is really exciting because leucine was always the gold standard in muscle protein synthesis, and now we have a new gold standard," said Shawn Wells, chief science officer at NNB Nutrition.

"It's really about how quickly it spikes in the plasma. And this goes back to signaling and so the faster we can get it to plasma is more important than the actual dose. And so this is where dileucine comes in because it is that dipeptide—it is using that PEP1 transporter. And therefore it's head and shoulders better. This is where we see it is 185% faster. This is where we see 86% more leucine in muscle at 30 minutes versus regular leucine, and we see 60% more muscle protein synthesis gram for gram."

The company said the innovation is a major step in the evolution of sports nutrition and beyond, with opportunities for a variety of demographics beyond just weightlifters.

"People that are on medications like the Ozempic, they might need this kind of help, and also people that are sarcopenic," Wells said. "As we age, we are losing muscle rapidly. And the number one predictor of longevity is muscle mass and correlated to it is strength. And that correlates to bone mineral density and level of activity and all these things that you can do that determine quality of life. And so we're very cognizant of dileucine being used for these applications for aging, for GLP1 use."

To hear more on the science behind DL-185 and other emerging ingredients, watch the full interview.