EverGrain partners with PIPA to advance its research on upcycled barley protein's nutrition potential

PIPA, nutrition AI company and EverGrain, the first ingredient business to unlock the human health and commercialization potential for upcycled barley made from brewer's spent grain, are joining forces to advance the scientific study of the ancient grain through PIPA's computational platform LEAP.

The science-led ingredient business has spent several years developing and researching the benefits and bioavailability of its EverPro protein product via in vivo and in vitro trials and is now leveraging PIPA's AI capabilities to take the science further, faster.

PIPA's nutrition AI platform, LEAP, will assess thousands of molecules and identify potential polyphenol combinations that could potentially lead to faster muscle recovery for high performing athletes. Today, there is no other known protein source that presents both quality protein and polyphenols known for their anti-inflammatory effects in a single natural source. As athletes drive to ever higher heights in their respective arenas, the ability to build and recover muscle simultaneously becomes crucial. LEAP is positioned to help inform the science that could confirm EverPro's unique ability to deliver both, at a fraction of the time and cost traditionally expected.

The LEAP platform offers a map of the food and nutrition universe, distilling what's historically true and scientifically proven about their effect on health. With an ever-expanding knowledge graph of over 280 million connections and relationships, LEAP's advanced AI toolkit reveals new, never studied before insights to propel research and discovery of molecules and health targets.

"Working with PIPA will change the game in bringing a new generation of high quality, scientifically sound plant-based ingredients and products to the sports nutrition category," said EverGrain's Head of R&D, Steffen Munch. "The LEAP platform will enable us to drastically reduce the time and costs it typically takes the ingredient industry to get to clinical trials and product development while still maintaining the scientific integrity and rigor we demand in everything we do."

"The use of AI has revolutionized the food industry on many levels, but there was a major gap in utilizing it for nutrition science and innovation," added PIPA CCO, Eric Hamborg. "PIPA's LEAP platform enables us to discover scientific information and insights at unprecedented speed and accuracy so companies like EverGrain – and the food and beverage brands they serve can address the growing consumer demand for plant-based, sustainable, nutritious functional foods."

"We are excited about this new collaboration that allows us to work closely with the R&D and Science teams at EverGrain and together leverage our purpose-built AI tech to demystify the black box that threads together human health, biology and nutrition," said Christos Stamelos, CTO at PIPA. "Our partnership is an opportunity to make discoveries that will inform the next generation of functional foods and supplements addressing key consumer needs; from aging and immunity support to digestive health and sports performance."