Clinical Data Highlight Faster-Acting Joint Health Ingredients in Competitive Supplement Market

Women’s health—particularly products aimed at supporting hormonal balance—has emerged as a rapidly growing segment within the dietary supplement industry. At the 45th annual Natural Products Expo West, Todd Runestad, chief storytelling officer at NXT USA, discussed how concentrated botanical ingredient—such as shatavari—are being positioned to address this demand while offering formulation flexibility.

Shatavari (Asparagus racemosus), a plant widely used in Ayurvedic medicine, has historically been associated with women’s health. Runestad noted that interest in hormonal balance supplements has accelerated in recent years, reflecting increased consumer awareness of hormonal fluctuations across different stages of life, from menstruation through menopause.

According to Runestad, shatavari functions as a hormonal adaptogen—an ingredient intended to help the body maintain balance under varying physiological conditions. He pointed to clinical research examining shatavari extracts in different populations, including women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and perimenopausal women. In these studies, hormonal markers moved toward more balanced levels, though the direction of change differed depending on the baseline hormonal profile of participants.

One factor influencing product development is the concentration of active compounds. Conventional shatavari powders typically contain about 5% shatavarins—the plant’s primary phytochemicals. Runestad explained that the Xeya Modern Shatavari ingredient is standardized to approximately 15% shatavarins, allowing effective doses of 50–100 mg, compared with roughly 400–500 mg for less concentrated forms.Lower dosing requirements may provide advantages for certain delivery formats.

Runestad also noted that ingredient developers are exploring additional formats, including water-soluble versions suitable for beverage applications.

As consumer interest in women’s health continues to expand, ingredients historically used in traditional medicine—such as shatavari—are increasingly being evaluated through clinical research and modern formulation approaches.

A transcript of his conversation can be found below.

Nicholas Saraceno: You mentioned the studies, but also TamaFlex, it's shown to help with joint discomfort within five days, which is remarkable compared to many other joint health ingredients.

Todd Runestad: Brands are putting that five-day claim right on the front and back. A far cry from the old school of glucosamine and chondroitin, which was like 68 weeks, and so that's like your second bottle. You really have to be committed like, “oh man, my knees really hurt. I’ve got to just suffer through it for two bottles to see if it's going to work.”

What TamaFlex does is it works on the 5-LOX pathway and the COX-2 pathway. So COX-2 is fast active and 5-LOX is long lasting. We've done three human clinicals, and at the same dose, every time with all subjects, you start to feel the effects in five days. I actually started working here at NXT about a year ago, because about a year and a half ago, I called up Eric, the guy who runs it, and I was like, “it doesn't have a joint health ingredient.” I was like,” lay that on me, because I was having a rough winter.” I was just sitting around from Covid, and my knees were starting to hurt. He sent me a couple bottles.

I was like, “that stuff works.” I'm only an n of 1, but we've done clinical studies showing that it does. Kenvue, which runs Tylenol, came out with their first supplement ever, just this past year—their Proactive Support—and they chose us. They chose TamaFlex because we have robust clinical trials, not just that it shows it works within five days, but what we call the four pillars of validation, which is patient assessment, physician validation, biomarker testing and blood tests, and then physical tests.

On the box, it does a nice story of explaining the five ways that it works for the five-day plan. Everything from your inflammation markers, like the C-reactive protein—that goes down, but then you've done testing, you can walk further and faster with it with less discomfort in the knees.