Biotics: From GLP-1 Support to Nutricosmetics

Live from Natural Products Expo West, Nutritional Outlook interviewed Katy Kinsella, Senior Business Development Manager, ProActive Health with Kerry, on new research behind the probiotic BC30, its effect on quality of life for individuals taking GLP-1 medications, and the versatility of the postbiotic Plenbiotic.

For more on the new 2026 Flavor Charts and the KerryNow sampling platform, watch our interview with Shannon Coco, Senior Sales and Marketing Director with Kerry, live from Expo West.

Transcript

Erin McEvoy: A recent study found that BC30 helps GLP-1 medication users with digestive symptoms. Beyond quality of life, do these benefits help improve compliance for the medication and potentially the effectiveness of the therapy?

Katy Kinsella: Yeah, it's actually really exciting. So BC30 is our Bacillus coagulan. It's our premium probiotic, and you can formulate it into foods and beverages. And what's really great is that it has digestive support benefits. It also has protein absorption benefits. And because that is such a crosshair of what a GLP-1 user needs because there are side effects that affect your gastric digestion, and they need really high protein since they're losing a lot of [weight and muscle mass from] not eating as much. So BC30 is that this great [solution] for them, by being able to help with the gastric discomfort that will allow them to stay on the medication longer, and then it also helps better utilize the protein that they're eating. So because BC30 is so well positioned for this, we actually decided to do a study in a GLP-1 consumer. So we did a consumer perception study and found 253 people, asked them quality of life questions: How did it help your digestion? Would you recommend BC30 to somebody on a GLP-1 medication? And the answer overall, overwhelmingly, was yes to all things. So absolutely can help GLP-1 consumers stay on the medication longer.

Erin McEvoy: Does Kerry see the GLP-1 medication user as a potential long term consumer of ingredients like BC30 even after getting off the medication?

Katy Kinsella: Yeah, absolutely. It was interesting. In one of the sessions that I went into yesterday, they were saying that 22% of households now have at least one person on a GLP-1 medication, and that's really going to change so much about how consumers are going to be purchasing what's in your grocery cart. So BC30 long term is really an excellent ingredient to have, just for digestive support period, whether you're on GLP-1, before you take it, while you're taking it, or even after and that protein absorption, you know, is a nutrient that we all should be consuming, you know, consistently, and so it helps with the protein absorption. So whether you're on a GLP-1 medication or not, BC30 is a premium ingredient to consume.

Erin McEvoy: The Plenibiotic postbiotic is a versatile ingredient that supports both digestive health and skin health, yeah. Can you talk about the value of having an ingredient that aligns with multiple health benefits?

Katy Kinsella: Well, there's this real trend happening right now in ingredient stacking. People are like, "I want hydration and energy,""I want hydration and skin health." So one [benefit] just isn't enough. So Plenibiotic is a postbiotic. It's not necessarily in the consumer vernacular right now, but it's certainly coming. What's great about it is that it has skin health benefits as well as digestive support benefits. But what's different for it, versus, say, our probiotic, is that the flexibility and application [possibilities]... you can put it in a shelf stable beverage where you really can't put a probiotic in for efficacy reasons, but Plenibiotic you can and still get digestive support benefit.