Dr. Ralf Jäger has co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications and collaborated on the development of game-changing ingredients and products across active nutrition, gut health, cognition, metabolism and more.
An inventor at heart, Dr. Jäger has filed more than 50 patents and does not merely study ingredients, he creates them. From mechanistic rationale and formulation to clinical validation and commercialization, he has helped bring novel, science-backed dietary ingredients to market, addressing unmet consumer needs while raising standards for safety, efficacy and transparency.
Bringing creatine to the mass market
Dr. Jäger, who wears many hats, including co-founder of global consulting company Increnovo, has contributed to the clinical understanding of creatine supplementation, helping to establish its role in strength, performance and training adaptations, while reinforcing its safety. This work helped lay the scientific foundation for creatine’s eventual acceptance as one of the most evidence-based ingredients in sports nutrition.
Speaking about how interest in this ingredient has exploded in recent years, he said he is particularly pleased to witness a growth in interest and marketing focused on females.
“As a scientist, creatine use in women was always one of the most frustrating ones, because every study we did showed that it has great benefits,” he said, noting that fears around weight gain were one of the key reasons women were not taking it.
“It took a couple of Instagram and YouTubers that basically [said] when they used creatine, it gave them a more ‘voluminous butt’, and for whatever reason, that language resonated with a lot of people and we’re now seeing an increase in uptake of creatine use in women,” he added. “We have done research for many, many years but it takes some YouTuber to talk about makes your butt look bigger for it to become a hit. That’s one of the frustrating things as a scientist. But either way, now women that are taking it.”
Noting a pattern for influencers translating his research into real world change, he said Kim Kardashian now sells an energy drink utilizing caffeine paraxanthine, a primary caffeine metabolite with improved tolerability and performance-related benefits, uncovered by Dr. Jäger’s research.
“One of the drawbacks of caffeine is that slow responders don’t get the optimal benefits,” he said. “Caffeine overall works very well, so if you’re looking at the total group effects, it’s very effective. But if you’re breaking it down by individuals, you have almost half of the people that get very little to no benefit of caffeine supplementation. And that has to do with genetics and how fast people are metabolizing it.”
After noticing these limited effects, Dr. Jäger’s team began researching paraxanthine, discovering it works better for people who are slow caffeine metabolizers.
“The ingredient is now popping up everywhere, including in an energy drink called Update which I see Kim Kardashian promoting,” he said.
Closing the gap between plant and animal proteins
Another defining achievement within Dr. Jäger’s career has been his pioneering research demonstrating that high-quality plant proteins can match animal proteins in supporting muscle health, training adaptations and performance.
At a time when animal protein was considered essential, this work challenged prevailing assumptions and helped drive a major market shift, with Dr. Jäger naming this as one of his proudest achievements.
“When we started working on plant proteins, they were considered inferior, and it took me quite a long time to actually find the research site that was willing to take on the study,” he said.
During the first study, a large amount of plant protein was used in comparison to animal protein, with subsequent studies combining plant proteins with probiotics or digestive enzymes.
“We then compared equal amounts of whey protein and plant protein to show that actually, they are pretty much very similar when it comes to performance if you combine that with the resistance training,” he said. “So I think that was one of the bigger impact series of studies that we have done that definitely helped plant proteins become more popular in the active nutrition area.”
Dr. Jäger has also expanded established ingredients into new applications, showing benefits of phosphatidylserine beyond cognitive aging, identifying gut-microbiome effects of glucosamine and advancing next-generation probiotics.
Nominating our NutraChampion for the award, Sebastian Balcombe, the founder and CEO of Specnova, where Dr. Jäger leads clinical research, said: “Dr. Ralf Jäger exemplifies what it means to be a true NutraChampion, a scientist, innovator and leader whose work has advanced nutrition science while strengthening the credibility and growth of the industry. No other individuals have combined scientific rigor, translational impact and global influence as consistently.”
