Nourished, a UK-based personalized nutrition brand, has launched Sleep Pro, a sleep support gummy that is the first consumer product in the country to feature PeptiSleep. This ingredient is a plant-derived peptide identified using Nuritas’ AI-powered discovery platform. The product combines 250 mg of PeptiSleep with vitamin C, tart cherry extract, zinc, and B vitamins in a sugar-free format. Sleep Pro is designed to aid deeper, longer, and more restorative sleep through a mechanism that regulates cortisol levels rather than inducing drowsiness.
AI discovery and clinical results
PeptiSleep is derived from rice bran protein and was selected through an AI process that analyzes millions of sequences to find bioactive peptides. Dr. Nora Khaldi, founder and CEO of Nuritas, notes that the ingredient represents a new generation of nutritional science. The ingredient is designed to support all stages of sleep by reducing cortisol, a hormone linked to stress and poor sleep. In a clinical trial involving adults with mild to moderate sleep impairment, participants taking 250 mg of PeptiSleep daily saw a 17% increase in deep sleep and a 13% increase in REM sleep. They also gained approximately 40 extra minutes of total sleep per night, according to the company.
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Unlike melatonin, which acts as a hormone to induce sleepiness, PeptiSleep works through a non-addictive mechanism. It helps regulate peripheral cortisol levels, which may promote a calmer state. The supplement also showed improvements in next-day recovery when measured using wearable sleep technology. All Nourished products are plant-based, sugar-free, and free from artificial colors, gelatine, and major allergens. The brand also recently introduced an AI-powered gummy supplement for Boots Ireland, which uses 3D printing technology to layer up to seven ingredients into a single gummy.
Addressing the UK market gap
The regulatory environment in the UK limits the availability of melatonin supplements, which are often sold over the counter in other regions but cannot be sold as food supplements in the UK. This creates a gap in the market for science-backed sleep products that do not rely on hormones. Sleep Pro was developed to address this gap by using nutritional science to support the body’s natural sleep processes. The company highlights that 91% of UK adults wake up during the night at least once a week, with only 9% reporting uninterrupted sleep. More than half of the population is concerned about the long-term health impacts of poor sleep.
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Because the formula relies on a plant peptide rather than a hormone, the product aims to offer a distinct alternative to standard sleep aids. This approach may appeal to consumers seeking to avoid the side effects or dependency risks sometimes associated with sedative sleep supplements. The ingredient is the result of a collaboration between Nourished and Nuritas, leveraging AI to identify naturally occurring compounds with specific physiological effects.
