Fermentation-Derived Ingredient Targets Sports Nutrition, Stress Support, and Sustainability

At Natural Products Expo West, Lorena Carboni discussed Landkind, Gnosis by Lesaffre’s fermentation-derived ingredient, and how the company is positioning it across sports nutrition, stress support, and broader adaptogen applications. Carboni emphasized that Landkind should not be described as a standardized Rhodiola rosea extract, but rather as a fermentation-derived ingredient. She explained that while salidroside is a naturally occurring compound in Rhodiola rosea, conventional botanical extracts contain multiple compounds and can vary considerably. By contrast, fermentation allows the company to produce the same substance consistently from batch to batch.

That consistency, Carboni said, is one of the ingredient’s main differentiators. Another is sustainability. She noted that Rhodiola rosea has faced pressure related to harvesting practices, making sustainable sourcing an increasingly important issue for both manufacturers and consumers interested in adaptogenic products. In that context, Landkind is positioned as a way to deliver the benefits associated with salidroside without relying on direct botanical extraction.

Carboni also pointed to clinical research supporting the ingredient’s use in sports nutrition. Gnosis has conducted a published clinical trial showing that 60 milligrams per day (30 milligrams twice a day) of salidroside improved oxygen uptake during high-performance training, helped protect against muscle damage associated with intense exercise, and supported sustained exercise output. She added that the ingredient may also offer a mental or stress-support benefit, which could be relevant for athletes and active lifestyle consumers managing fatigue and training demands.

Beyond efficacy and sustainability, Carboni highlighted certification as another part of the positioning strategy. She said Landkind has undergone testing through the Informed Ingredients program for substances associated with doping concerns, which may help support its use in sports-focused formulations. Overall, the ingredient is being positioned as a multi-purpose solution spanning sports performance, stress resilience, and adaptogen-oriented product development.

A transcript of her conversation with Nutritional Outlook can be found below.

Nicholas Saraceno: Landkind is a standardized pure salidroside derived from Rhodiola rosea that has been clinically studied for energy, muscle recovery, and mood support, with emerging research also pointing to nutricosmetic benefits. How do these diverse outcomes shape its positioning across performance, stress resilience, and beauty-from-within product categories?

Lorena Carboni: I have to, as me say, clarify for who is hearing us that it is a pure substance. It is a substance that is obtained through a fermentation. It is a fermentation-derived ingredient, so it cannot be defined as a standardized, pure salidroside. Salidroside is a substance, a compound that is present in Rhodiola rosea. And when there is the extraction of Rhodiola rosea, as a substance to be used as an adaptogen, there is a number of compounds. Salidroside is present at 1%, What we have done—so the innovation—is to have the most active part of Rhodiola in a form that is the same every time, with a batch-to-batch reproducibility, because the fermentation process is something that is set, where each time, we can control any condition and we have, at the end, the same products.

First of all is the capacity to provide the same products to our customers, but also the sustainability. Rhodiola rosea is a botanical compound that is today included in the species of herb, because of problems in the harvesting approach, and so it is something that the consumer that wants to stay in the adaptogen field has to know. How we can we protect the planet, how can I be really sustainable, while at the same time having the advantages that nature gives me? Landkind elevates this concept, because in the end, the consumer can have the best advantages of Rhodiola using the planet as a source.

Salidroside is extremely well studied—especially as an adaptogen. Gnosis has carried out specific clinical trials on sports performance, due to the potentiality of these ingredients. We have this clinical trial that is the only one available today that’s published in a well-recognized magazine and journal. We found very interesting results related to sports application at 60 milligrams per day (30 milligrams, twice a day), which can be switchable to improve the oxygen uptake, especially when you have high performance and training sessions, but also to protect the muscle from the damage that can be present when there is a high-intensity workout.

At the same time, there is also a mind effect, so a capacity to reduce the stress that athletes—but also people that do active wellness, or just sports in general—can have because when you feel fatigued, you tend to be stressed, so you cannot conclude your training session, and it's where Landkind helps. Finally, it can also help maintain the high intensity performance, supporting the exercise. At the present time, we are the only one that can provide this kind of results.

On the other side, this ingredient is well certified, so we have also carried out the certification with the Informed Ingredients Committee, and it means that the ingredient has been tested on 285 different substances that are recognized for doping. It also means that whoever uses our ingredients can be sure that it is approaching sports in healthy way. So tday, we suggest for the use of these ingredient on sports nutrition, but also on the adaptogen field, because it's part of the role of Rhodiola as a botanical ingredient.