Clear Protein Water

Consumers have never been more aware of the benefits of healthier diet and lifestyle choices for mental and physical health. Protein packed foods and beverages have become the norm for anyone interested in improving their health and wellbeing.

This is reflected in the sports nutrition industry, which is growing at around 8.9% a year and is projected to be worth £22.5 billion by the end of 2027*, as consumers look to diversify their nutritional options on their quest to fuel a more active lifestyle.

Discover how our innovation team helped create a category first beverage for a sports performance brand that wanted to make fitness supplements more appealing and easier to digest for its customers.

Our clear protein water story
Our mission is to help customers grow their businesses through product innovation. Half the time we do this when businesses come to us with a product challenge and the other half we go to customers with solutions.

This time we were approached by an up-and-coming sports performance brand that were looking to create a new protein fuelled beverage for a rapidly growing audience. They were inspired by the huge demand for flavoured clear water beverages and how their appearance suggested a purer, more refreshing and hydrating product – so tasked us to create the sports equivalent.

Turning sports protein beverages on their head
Traditionally, performance protein is added to beverages such as milk and protein shakes as the whey protein ingredient used creates a cloudy appearance that wouldn’t be noticed in the end product. This was our biggest challenge when creating a clear version, coupled with the fact that Whey Protein can also be harder to digest due to its dairy content and higher levels of gas for many end users. All of these were things we wanted to remove within our response.

Our innovation team got straight to work on the challenging task by tearing up the traditional protein drink rule book. After a short time, they came back with a collagen protein solution called BODYBALANCE^®, produced by one of our global leading principals GELITA. It uses specific Bioactive Collagen Peptides to decrease fat mass, increase lean body mass and provide more muscle strength in combination with resistance training. Its clear appearance and lack of dairy ingredients instantly answered our clear liquid and digestion challenges.

Adding more flavour to the brief
The other great benefit of using a collagen protein solution meant that we could also add other benefits to our final solution, such as a wide variety of flavour variants and added vitamins and minerals thanks to our premix capabilities.

Unlike our competitors, we are able to offer premix solutions that combine all the ingredients our customers require in one finished product. This meant that they don’t need to source ingredients from different suppliers and then find someone to mix the required amounts for their final product. Our expert team have the capabilities and knowledge to mix micro-milligrams of each product to create a perfectly blended solution all under one roof. This helps compact customer supply chains and drastically reduces room for error.

OUR CLEAR PROTEIN WATER HELPS DECREASE FAT MASS, INCREASE LEAN BODY MASS AND PROVIDES MORE MUSCLE STRENGTH*

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Our clear protein water finished product
In order to help diversify their product, we also offered our sports performance client a range of flavour variants, along with Vitamin D, which helps to support normal immune system function and maintain healthy bones and teeth. Our clear protein water solution makes sports recovery and replenishment easier and far more enjoyable.

Other sports protein & lifestyle products
Our business started through sports performance ingredients and over the years we have produced a range of diverse, groundbreaking solutions. These include Whey Protein Powders for high street retailers and sports performance brands, protein variants for confectionery brands, as well as protein bars and snacks for health conscious snackers.