Metabolic health has moved from clinical jargon to everyday conversation.
Recent CDC data estimates that about 38m people in the US are living with diabetes, while roughly 98m adults have prediabetes, with more than 80% unaware of it.1,2
Elevated blood glucose is recognized as one of the key cardiovascular risk factors within the American Heart Association’s ‘Life’s Essential 8’ framework, alongside blood pressure, blood lipids, and body mass index.3
This background has created a powerful demand signal. Consumers are seeking practical tools to prevent progression from prediabetes, support healthy weight management, and maintain long-term resilience.
At the same time, the way people interact with glucose has changed. The continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) market was valued at around $13.66bn in 2024 and is projected to quadruple by 2033.4
Originally designed for people with diabetes, CGMs are increasingly adopted by health-conscious users who want real-time feedback on how meals, sleep, and exercise affect their blood glucose. For brands, formulators and ingredient suppliers, this convergence of glucose awareness and data-rich wearables represents an urgent challenge and an obvious innovation opportunity.
Multiple approaches to glucose management
While GLP-1-related pharmaceuticals have gained significant attention, nutrition and lifestyle remain foundational to healthy glucose regulation. As a complement to these approaches, there is growing interest in solutions that act during digestion by modulating carbohydrate-processing enzymes.
Two enzymes play central roles in the breakdown of dietary starches:
- α-amylase, which initiates starch digestion
- α-glucosidase, which further converts carbohydrates into absorbable sugars
Certain polyphenol-rich extracts have been shown in laboratory studies to partially inhibit these enzymes. By slowing the pace of carbohydrate breakdown, these compounds may help to support a more gradual post-meal glucose rise.
This is the context in which polyphenols, and TCI’s ingredient SugarLock™, have gained interest.
Peanut-skin extract: Upcycling polyphenols for metabolic support
The thin red skins surrounding peanuts are typically discarded in processing, yet they are rich in procyanidins and other polyphenols. TCI has developed a standardized extract from this upcycled material. Published research suggests that peanut-skin polyphenols may:
- Inhibit α-amylase activity in vitro
- Support healthy body composition when used alongside a balanced lifestyle
- Help maintain healthy fasting glucose levels in adults with elevated baseline values
In a six-week, 31-subject human study, supplementation with SugarLock™ was associated with:5
- ~7.4% improvement in fasting blood glucose in subjects with elevated baseline values
- ~2% reduction in body fat, alongside modest reductions in weight and waist/hip circumference
- Potential for visceral fat reduction targeting, based on MRI images over the intervention period
A CGM-based pilot: Exploring real-world meal responses
To explore how the extract may behave in practical eating scenarios, TCI recently published a pilot human crossover study using continuous glucose monitoring. Researchers evaluated post-meal glucose responses to a standardized high-carbohydrate meal consumed alone or preceded by three commercially relevant botanical extracts, including peanut-skin extract, mulberry leaf extract, and white kidney bean extract.6
Key observations from this exploratory dataset included:
- The peak glucose value in the peanut-skin extract group was lower compared with the control meal and with other tested extracts
- The relative post-meal rise (‘spike’ magnitude) peaked at approximately 24.1%, lower than in the comparison groups
- Over a three-hour window, the extract group exhibited roughly 30% less total glucose elevation than the meal-alone condition, based on incremental glucose analysis
As continuous glucose monitoring moves further into both clinical research and consumer use, postprandial glucose variability is emerging as a key focal point for metabolic-health innovation. This shift is encouraging greater interest in nutritional ingredients that act on defined physiological targets and whose effects can be quantified beyond traditional fasting markers.
Recent peer-reviewed human data on peanut-skin-derived polyphenols, with SugarLock™ serving as a representative example, indicate that multi-target modulation of carbohydrate digestion may attenuate post-meal glucose excursions under real-world dietary conditions.
Although further validation in larger and more diverse populations is required, such findings underscore a broader trend toward evidence-led, mechanism-based ingredients that align with data-driven approaches to metabolic health.
In line with this need, a large-scale clinical trial in North America, including sites in the US, is currently being planned to further evaluate these effects across broader populations and dietary contexts.
References
- CDC Diabetes. A US Report Card.
- CDC Diabetes. Prediabetes: Could it be you? infographic.
- American Heart Association. Life’s Essential 8™ - How to Manage Blood Sugar Fact Sheet.
- Grand View Research. Continuous Glucose Monitoring Devices Market (2025 - 2033).
- Lin, Y.; et al. Evaluation Effects of peanut skin extract on blood glucose regulation and body fat reduction. Journal of Biobased Materials and Bioenergy. 2017;11(3), 242–247.
- Lin, Y. K.; et al. Pilot Human Test on the Effect of SugarLock® Peanut Skin Extract in Stabilizing Postprandial Blood Glucose Fluctuations. Int J Diabetes Metab Disord, 2025; 10(2), 01-06.