ProGo supplementation at 12 grams per day was also associated with an optimization of blood parameters, including significant increases in hemoglobin, red blood cell count, and ferritin, compared to whey protein isolate, according to findings published in Biomedicines.
“ProGo supplementation improved multiple key biological drivers of healthy ageing: erythropoietic function, systemic inflammation, glycemic control, and body composition,” wrote researchers from Hofseth BioCare (HBC) and More og Romsdal Hospital Trust in Norway.
“These findings are consistent with a bioactive rather than a purely nutritional effect and are hypothesis-generating with respect to a multi-domain profile relevant to healthy ageing and the maintenance of intrinsic capacity.”
ProGo
HBC has been honing its proprietary processes and building the clinical substantiation for its ingredient portfolio for over a decade, and now offers a portfolio of sustainable, upcycled solutions for a range of health endpoints. Among those solutions is ProGo, upcycled from Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) via a gentle enzymatic process.
Published data supports ProGo’s potential for maintaining iron status (linked to ferritin and hemoglobin), gastrointestinal health, weight management, muscle growth, sports nutrition, and perhaps even anti-sarcopenic effects.
The ferritin-boosting properties of the ingredient are reportedly linked to upregulation of a gene called FTH1, and this work helped the company achieve a label claim from Health Canada around ferritin and hemoglobin. The ingredient also upregulates HMOX1, a gene that encodes heme oxygenase (HO), an enzyme system important for cardiovascular and gastrointestinal health.
The iron-boosting activity was reported in a 2015 paper in the Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences, which compared ferritin and hemoglobin levels following consumption of salmon protein hydrolysate tablets or whey protein hydrolysate powder in 48 iron-deficient adults.
New data
The new randomized, double-blind, active-controlled study, led by HBC’s Dr. Crawford Currie, included 14overweight adults aged between 25 and 65. The participants were randomly assigned to receive either 12 grams per day of the salmon protein hydrolysate (ProGo) or an iso-nitrogenous whey protein isolate (WPI, 12 grams per day) for 56 days.
Results showed that, compared to WPI, hemoglobin increased by 4%, red blood cell count by 7%, and ferritin by 13%.
The participants in the ProGo group also reported significant improvements in hair, nail, and skin scores, compared to the WPI group.
Dr. Currie and his co-workers also found that the salmon protein hydrolysate significantly reduced HbA1c by 0.30%, and fasting blood glucose by 6.6 mg/dL.
“While these changes could appear relatively modest in absolute terms, they emerged over a short intervention period (56 days) in healthy subjects,” they wrote.
Fifty-six days of ProGo supplement was also reported to produce favorable changes in body composition, with significant reductions in waist circumference (7.7%), hip circumference (6.1%), percent body fat (10.7%), and BMI (7%).
A five percent reduction in BMI is considered clinically relevant, said the researchers, and the 7% reduction observed in this small trial may have contributed to the anti-inflammatory effects in the ProGo group.
“Critically, however, none of these effects were observed in the iso-nitrogenous whey protein comparator group, suggesting a bioactive rather than a purely nutritional effect for ProGo,” wrote the researchers. “Taken together, the breadth and internal consistency of these findings across multiple domains relevant to healthy ageing are noteworthy for a 56-day intervention in a small pilot cohort. “
Source: Biomedicines 2026, 14(8), 1663; doi: 10.3390/biomedicines14081663. “A Pilot Study of Salmon Protein Hydrolysate (ProGo) Supplementation to Assess Its Impact on Hematologic, Integumentary and Metabolic Health”. Authors: C. Currie, et al.
