TruBeet took home the accolade during an award ceremony held in Bangkok on September 2, where a total of 17 winners across Product and Ingredient of the Year, as well as speciality awards, were revealed.
TruBeet competed for the title against two other finalists, namely Physta Tongkat Ali by Biotropics Malaysia and ViNitrox by Nexira.
A beetroot extract standardized to nitrate and polyphenols, TruBeet has been reported to improve vascular health, including endothelial function, arterial stiffness and blood flow, alongside exercise performance and muscle oxygenation.
Some of the synergistic pairings that TruBeet is used in sports nutrition products include electrolytes and with creatine. The ingredient is mostly made into powder sachets or ready-to-drink formats.
Speaking to NutraIngredients after the win, Salman Mehkri, head of business development, said that the company would continue to conduct further studies on TruBeet’s cardiovascular benefits and in turn, improvements in exercise performance amongst not only young adult men, but also seniors and women.
“We are driving cardiovascular health for exercise performance,” he said.
This stems from the idea that the cardiovascular system plays a crucial role in physical performance, from elite athletes all the way to individuals who lead an active lifestyle.
Another reason is that the sports nutrition market largely focuses on pre-workouts and acute doses and the company hopes to provide more holistic solutions with sustained benefits.
“We’ve tested TruBeet across multiple domains, including exercise performance and muscle oxygenation. More importantly, more recently, what we’ve invested in is the cardiovascular system as well, because we believe the cardiovascular system is what drives physical performance,” he said.
Nitrate as the key element
The high nitrate content in TruBeet is the key source of its cardiovascular benefit.
When nitrate is converted into nitric oxide in the body, nitric oxide acts as a key signaling molecule that supports blood flow, endothelial response and arterial flexibility.
“These improvements in turn support oxygen-carrying capacity in blood and deliver better oxygen to the muscles and the rest of the body, and in turn, helps with exercise performance,” he said.
Advancing studies among active seniors and women
Beyond performance athletes, the company is seeking to understand how TruBeet could provide cardiovascular and exercise support for a wider population – especially seniors, due to the growing active aging demographic.
“As you age, the endogenous nitric oxide starts to become less efficient. Supplementation would be important for the seniors, even just for their day-to-day activities to make sure that they have better endurance and have a better quality of life,” said Salman.
Another group that the company is studying is the effects of TruBeet on pre-hypertensive individuals.
“People are getting more aware of having an active lifestyle. They don’t necessarily have to be professional athletes but the common person who just needs a simple workout to keep up with their healthy lifestyle,” he said. “Even these people need dietary support, and the dietary support comes from the cardiovascular system whenever they are physically exerting through a run, weight training, calisthenics and so forth.”
Existing findings
Working with Dr. Stephen Bailey, programme director of the Physiology and Nutrition of Sport and Exercise MSc at Loughborough University, the company has also concluded studies that show TruBeet’s benefits for endurance exercise performance and cardiovascular health.
One of the studies, published in Food and Function in February 2026, reported that TruBeet supplementation could improve arterial stiffness, with no dose differences seen, regardless of whether a dose of 200mg, 400 mg or 800mg was given.
However, when it comes to endothelial function, only the dose of 400mg had led to improvements. Similarly, aortic systolic BP only improved with the supplementation of the 800 mg dose.
In another study published in Antioxidants (Basel) in 2022, it was reported that TruBeet supplementation could improve end-sprint performance in endurance events when ingested prior to and during exercise.
Last month, a study published in Food and Function also reported that TruBeet supplementation could attenuate the impact of cardiovascular strain caused by caffeine intake in pre-workout products by improving arterial stiffness and by improving endothelial function.
