The products, which the company is calling Co-Biotics, are an expansion of its consumers use case and consider not only the health of the host but also the health of the microbiome, Cathrin Bowtell, Seed’s CEO, told NutraIngredients.
Available initially via the company’s website Seed.com and on Amazon, and then nationwide in Target (Oct.11) and Sprouts (Nov. 3), the products have an omnichannel price point of $39.99 for DM-02 and $34.99 for AM-02 and PM-02.
“We don’t believe in SKU proliferation,” Bowtell said. “Everything we do is a tango between science and commercial opportunity.”
She added that the multivitamin category is ripe for disruption, while “a large number of our members tell us constantly that they wish we would prioritize sleep and energy.”
ViaCap system
All three Co-Biotics contain two complementary formulations—one for the host and one for the microbiome—housed together in the company’s proprietary ViaCap capsule-in-capsule system, which has already been proven in clinical trials for the company’s flagship DS-01 Daily Synbiotic, said Zain Kassam, MD, Seed Health’s chief medical officer.
The outer cap (for the human host) is designed to deliver vitamins, minerals and other bioactive compounds for uptake in the small intestine to meet the needs of host physiology, Dr. Kassam said. The inner capsule (for the microbiome) is engineered to transport prebiotics, postbiotics and other microbially accessible nutrients to the colon.
DM-02 Daily Multivitamin is formulated to provide 100% of the daily value of 20 essential vitamins and minerals in bioavailable and bioactive forms, Dr. Kassam added. The product also contains a cellular energy complex to support cellular and mitochondrial function that includes CoQ10, PQQ, MK-7 (vitamin K2) and spermidine.
AM-02 Energy + Focus is a caffeine-free daily formulation of TeaCrine theacrine, SoWell methylliberine and CereBoost American ginseng root to support sustained energy, sharpen focus and enhance cognitive performance. The inner capsule contains B vitamins, prebiotics and postbiotics to target the gut-brain axis.
PM-02 Sleep + Restore is a “very different angle on sleep,” Bowtell said, one that is intended to be used daily, adding that “sleep in a phenomenally exciting category.”
There is a proclivity of sleep aids to contain excessive melatonin, she said, but PM-02 is formulated to provide both rapid and slow-release melatonin for a combined dose of 500 micrograms. The outer capsule also contains Shoden Ashwagandha and PQQ.
The inner capsule delivers prebiotics, postbiotics and cofactors to the microbiome.
“There’s been a huge emergence of science of how the microbiome affects sleep and circadian rhythms,” Dr. Kassam said.
The interplay between diet, the microbiome and health
Dr. Kassam said that development of the Co-Biotics products was informed by a broad body of evidence on the interplay between diet, the microbiome and health.
“We benefited from insights generated by academic collaborators, including Dr. Eran Segal [at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel], whose work on the Human Phenotype Project—the foundational dataset behind CODA—has identified microbes consistently associated with beneficial functions such as short-chain fatty acid production,” he said.
“While CODA itself was not directly used in the development of these products, Eran’s expertise—and his role as a co-author of our forthcoming Co-Biotics paper—were valuable in shaping the scientific framework that guided our ingredient selection and formulation strategy.”
DS-01
The new products can be used independently, but they have been designed to work together and to compliment DS-01, Bowtell said.
A broad-spectrum probiotic with 24 genetically distinct microorganisms across 12 species, DS-01 was developed with Dr. Gregor Reid, Seed Health’s scientific advisor, past-president of the International Scientific Association of Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) and former chair of the United Nations World Health Organization Expert Panel that authored the global scientific definition of probiotics. The product won the NutraIngredients-USA Award for probiotic product of the year in 2022.
“We can confidently say that the new products have been developed to the same standards as DS-01,” Bowtell said. “We will never do any differently.”
