This is the eighth year running that the Nutraingredients Awards have taken place and this year the number of categories has gone up to 17. The awards honour the best and brightest in ingredients, finished products, companies, people and initiatives in the nutrition and dietary supplements industry.
Jennifer Mo, Founder of Pura Collagen entered her product, Pura Collagen Flex, and explains why it is a contender and so relevant to the industry.
She says: "Ours is a particularly ground-breaking sports nutrition product. The sport nutrition industry has a habit of focusing on products that increase strength or accelerate an action but your next workout is only as good as your last recovery.
"If you are not looking after your white tissues; ligaments, tendons, cartilage and fascia, all of that wear-and-tear that the pre and during workout products are helping your body to achieve will create mounting and long-lasting injury.
"Joint health is the cornerstone of positive, effective movement. When we created Flex we focused on the whole joint, which is a complex area made up of varying and specific tissues, so we used two Bioactive Collagen Peptides and key supporting ingredients to ensure targeted tissue support that delivers results in a clinically proven amount of time. There’s nothing like Flex on the market today."
Incredibly healthy
Asked whether the company has a vision for more products in the foreseeable future, she explains that Pura Collagen has an "incredibly healthy" new product development pipeline and that the company is a solutions one.
"As long as there are health concerns that can be resolved with scientific applications of specific collagen peptides, we have or will have a formulation to address that. Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body and the one that declines steadily due to a number of normal and external factors so by addressing that production can resolve a number of health concerns."
Detailing the target audience and how they will benefit from it Jennifer explains that the products are both pure and proven with each one developed to have a positive impact on the consumer's life.
She adds: "I developed the range to address health concerns that I had and I quickly realised the universal appeal of what I had created. I don’t know a single person who doesn’t want to age better or look after their health in a way that allows them to gain the full potential of their lives.
"As an active person about to turn 50, the driver for me was to be able to continue with the same amount and intensity of movement that I had when I was in my 20s. Designing Flex was like penning my autobiography. I was riddled with reoccurring injury from a lifetime of sport and I did not want my age or the pain that I was encountering to slow me down.
"Our full range is used by people of all ages to address a number of health concerns. In order to reach a wide consumer group, we’ve ensured the ingredients we use are at the effective level and only clinically support the specific Bioactive Collagen Peptides targeted action."
Winning
And finally, describing what winning a Nutraingredients Award would mean, Jennifer concludes: "Winning such a prestigious award highlights our achievements to the industry and showcases the merit in true innovation. The clinical research taking place in the collagen market is an exciting and ground breaking space and we love nothing more than rooting our products in that science and delivering effective and user friendly options to reach a large number of health conscious consumers."
The online ceremony (register here) is taking place on 4 May and we would be delighted if you could join us to celebrate this year's winners.