Top headlines from the past seven days included MLB star Shohei Ohtani joining Kirin as ‘Immune Care’ ambassador, Tru Niagen entering the beauty market and rhodiola’s boost for athletic performance and cognition.
MLB star Shohei Ohtani joins Kirin as official ‘Immune Care’ ambassador
Major League Baseball star Shohei Ohtani has been appointed “Immune Care” promotion ambassador by Kirin Holdings, accompanied by a nationwide TV commercial campaign.
The campaign will focus on the Kirin iMUSE supplement series, which is built around Kirin’s postbiotic Lactococcus lactis strain Plasma. The ingredient, which won the 2023 NutraIngredients-USA Microbiome Modulation ingredient of the year award, is reported to activate key immune cells called plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), which are key drivers of the immune system and stimulate both innate and adaptive immune responses.
As part of this partnership, the first phase of advertising began on Jan. 1, 2026, with TV commercials and outdoor advertisements in Japan. Kirin plans to launch additional initiatives, including behind-the-scenes footage of the commercial, interview videos and a large-scale project led by Shohei Ohtani to promote “Immune Care.”
Japan-born Ohtani moved to the MLB in 2017 when he joined the Los Angeles Angels. In 2023, he transferred to the L.A. Dodgers. He has been selected as MLB’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) for three consecutive years and four times overall.
“I am honored to be appointed as Kirin’s ‘Immune Care’ Promotion Ambassador and to help raise awareness about the importance of immune care,” Ohtani shared in a press release from Kirin.
Tru Niagen enters beauty market with NR supplement
Supplement brand Tru Niagen has extended its healthy aging platform into the beauty-from-within space with the debut of Tru Niagen Beauty, a daily supplement positioned to support skin elasticity, hydration, and healthy hair and nail growth through NAD+ driven cellular health.
November’s launch marked Tru Niagen’s first dedicated move into nutricosmetics, with the supplement specifically formulated to be taken alongside the brand’s core Tru Niagen 300 mg and Tru Niagen Pro 1,000 mg products.
“At Tru Niagen, our mission has always been to help people age better through the power of cellular health,” Dr. Andrew Shao, senior vice president of global regulatory and scientific affairs at Niagen Bioscience, told NutraIngredients. “As the science and consumer awareness around NAD+ continue to evolve, we saw a natural opportunity to extend those benefits to aesthetic wellness.”
That opportunity culminated in the Tru Niagen Beauty launch, which builds on “decades of NAD+ science to bring a truly inside-out approach to visible vitality.”
Rhodiola supplements may boost performance and cognition in athletes
Seven days of Rhodiola rosea supplementation improved strength, endurance and cognitive function in resistance-trained athletes, according to a new study published in Nutrients.
“To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate that RR [Rhodiola rosea] can elicit concurrent improvements in maximal strength, muscular endurance and power—challenging a previously reported trade-off,” wrote researchers at Jacksonville State University in the United States and Azad University in Iran.
They reported differing effects on performance with the two doses they tested: “Lower doses preferentially enhancing late-set muscular endurance/volume and higher doses favoring maximal lower-body strength without sacrificing power.” The findings also revealed dose-dependent nootropic effects.
The study noted that rhodiola’s effects have previously been described as “modest and outcome-specific, rather than broadly ergogenic” and that the benefits and mechanisms involved may depend on intake patterns, length of supplementation and the type of exercise.
Rhodiola rosea is a perennial herb that mostly grows at high altitudes in Arctic areas of Europe and Asia, with forms of the herb in trade including dry extracts in solid dosage forms such as capsules and tablets, liquid extracts, cut, dried rhizome and root and powdered rhizome and root.
It has traditionally been used to manage stress, depression and mental and physical fatigue, and to boost energy.
