Origin Story for Rack’s evening product: The call to action and science behind Rack’s evening blend – Part 1

During trying times, when massive amounts of difficult and stressful events fill the days, the average amount of sleep that is available decreases and along with it, performance and morale. This is a downward spiral that increases inflammation, oxidative stress and reduces the ability of the body to fully and completely repair during the sleep window, especially since increased stress tends to shorten and impair sleep. This is an issue that has plagued both the warfighter and the common man for generations, especially during hard times. The US DoD sent out a call for proposals to solve this problem in 2019 and we were selected to do just that: we set out to create a product that provided a healthy, natural way to get 8 hours of sleep in a 4-hour window. This was the target set by DoD and Rack’s evening blend was the answer.

Granted, getting 8 hours worth of quality sleep in a 4 hour window is not exactly possible, but functionally that was our goal. Getting quality, efficient sleep during short periods in the rack. During our research we focused on the scientific consensus that chronically sleeping less than 7 hours a night is linked to negative effects on health, performance, resilience, cognitive capabilities and decision making for most people. Sneak peek of the results:  Our product was rigorously tested and proven to add over an hour of sleep on average to our consumers as well as improve all the sleep stages, including N2 for cognition, N3 deep sleep and REM stages, bringing the average total sleep time from 5:50 up to 7:00 hours of quality sleep. We also had participants reporting feeling more alert and refreshed in the morning after taking our product before bed.

In this article we are going to dig into the needs of the warfighter (which are the same as for you and me, albeit in a totally different setting) that were kept in mind during the development, the science behind the ingredients we chose for the product, and a more detailed look at the initial results of the study.

 

The warfighter, and everyone else.

Warfighters often train and perform missions in a sleep deprived state^9,10. Short term and chronic sleep deprivation have been shown to have negative consequences on military-specific tasks such as endurance exercise performance^1,2, anaerobic exercise performance^2,3,4, army physical fitness test and assault course performance^2,5, cognitive function and vigilance^6,7,8, and rifle shooting performance⁸.  Other negative health issues such as systemic inflammation, metabolic, endocrine^21,22, and immune disfunction²² have also been linked to sleep deprivation. These negative effects of sleep deprivation may be connected to an increase in risk of injury, accident, and casualty rates among military personnel.

Needless to say, it’s important that we reduce sleep deprivation as well as the negative effects of it as much as possible. While this may seem like an extreme scenario, more than one third of American adults are also not getting enough sleep on a regular basis according to the CDC. This means that also you and I are likely not performing at our best and it’s taking a toll on our body and mind.

 

The sleep process and it’s complexity

If we had a short night but would be able to hang on the couch watching Netflix the day after, we would probably all manage just fine! However, maintaining a high level of performance while not being able to sleep long enough is a whole different story. Sleep is complex and depends on many variables such as circadian rhythms, previous amounts of sleep, sleep inertia, metabolic states, hormonal status, and individual requirements for optimizing sleep periods²³. It’s therefore important to note that a holistic approach to sleep would be most effective, considering both nutritional and behavioral interventions. We’ll discuss this holistic approach another time (think about sleep hygiene, what to eat and not to eat, exercise etc.). For now we’ll focus on the nutritional intervention (food, not drugs) close to bed time that would optimize sleep and maximize your recovery.

 

The ingredients we chose.

• Alpha lactalbumin

To explain this ingredient, we’ll have to take a few steps back and talk about the neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT) and how our body works first.

Serotonin (5-HT)

Serotonin (5-HT) is a key modulator of several functions in our body including sleep-wake cycling²⁷, cognition and emotional states^28,29 , appetite³⁰, and immune system functionality³¹. When this neurotransmitter’s activity is altered we see that these functions don’t work as they should anymore and it’s even a contributing factor to neurobehavioral disorders such as anxiety, bipolar disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.^24,25,26. 

Tryptophan

5-HT is synthesized in the brain from the essential amino acid tryptophan and its rate of synthesis is dependent on the availability of this ingested amino acid. That is because tryptophan is not made by the body and must be consumed through our diets. Simplified: we need to consume tryptophan to make serotonin and we need serotonin to be able to sleep properly as well as be balanced healthy individuals.

An extensive review of the effects of tryptophan on cognition, mood and sleep has been performed by Silber & Schmitt¹² and suggests that dietary supplementation with tryptophan has been shown to increase sleep latency as well as the quality and quantity of sleep.

Tryptophan metabolism

Let’s make it a little bit more complicated and talk about how tryptophan gets absorbed in our body for it to do its job and for serotonin (5-HT) to use it. Tryptophan enters the brain from the bloodstream via the LAT1 transporter which also transports other large neutral amino acids (LNAAs) into the brain. LAT1 transporters are limited and, thus, tryptophan must compete with LNAAs for transport into the brain¹¹. Not everyone fits on the LAT1 train! For that reason, we need an ingredient rich in tryptophan relative to other LNAAs because that will increase the tryptophan amount that fits on the LAT1 train.  And that’s exactly what brings us to the 1^st ingredient: alpha-lactalbumin.

Alpha-lactalbumin as a tryptophan source

So knowing all this, we chose alpha-lactalbumin as our first ingredient. Alpha-lactalbumin is a protein found in the milk of mammals and is particularly rich in tryptophan and, thus, would make an excellent candidate to improve sleep. Markus et al. (2005)¹³ believed so as well, as their study of military personnel demonstrated positive outcomes of evening alpha-lactalbumin consumption on performance in poor sleepers. 

In addition to its tryptophan content, Alpha-lactalbumin is a rich source of the amino acid cysteine.  Cysteine is the rate limiting amino acid in the synthesis of the antioxidant glutathione (GSH)¹⁴. GSH is one of the most important scavengers of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS are produced during normal metabolism and may have a damaging effect on health³². In vivo studies have shown that sleep deprivation or disturbance causes regional reductions in brain GSH ^15,16. One study has shown that regular consumption of whey proteins over a two-week period showed a dose dependent increase in lymphocyte GSH (45 g/day, +24%)¹⁷.

Put more simply, the benefit of having more GSH produced by the body due to the increased amount of cysteine in our product is that you have more protection against the negative effects of oxidative stress and ROS molecules which damage DNA, cause inflammation and increase cellular aging.

A final reason why we chose alpha-lactalbumin is that the consumption of amino acids through intact proteins sources such as Alpha-lactalbumin provide advantages to consuming individual free amino acids, like synthetically produced tryptophan. We are a firm believer in that in most cases it is better to work with the natural processes of the body rather than taking shortcuts (we’ll go in more detail about this another time). Also, intact-proteins are digested and absorbed more favorably than equivalent amino acids^18–20 and have far greater gastrointestinal tolerance (causing less digestive issues) and application possibilities.

 

• Tart cherry extract

So in addition to promoting sleep, we wanted to lessen the harmful effects of sleep deprivation and optimize recovery while asleep. For that reason we were looking for ingredients that are good at suppressing inflammation, improving mood, promoting relaxation as well as stress tolerance. We chose to include the best available form of tart cherry extract on the market.

Tart-Cherries are naturally rich in melatonin, tryptophan, antioxidants, anthocyanins, and other anti-inflammatory phenolic compounds^33,34. Interventions with tart-cherry juice have shown that tart-cherry supplementation accelerates recovery, improves mood, and reduces anxiety. One study shows faster recovery of several functional performance measures following prolonged intermittent sprint activity³³ which is likely caused by the reduction of the post-exercise inflammatory processes. This could be highly advantageous for athletes in tournament, military personnel under sustained load periods^33,34 and everyone else who wishes to recover faster after doing some damage. In a separate animal study, it was shown that tart cherry intake reduced hyperlipidemia, percentage fat mass, abdominal fat (retroperitoneal), and also many inflammation markers³⁵. Tart cherries are also associated with decreasing the risk for the development of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease³⁵. Yet another study showed that tart-cherry decreased post-run markers of muscle catabolism (break-down of muscle tissue) and physiological stress in aerobically trained individuals³⁶. Subjects also had 13% faster half-marathon race finish times (p = 0.001) and inflammatory markers were lowered by 47%³⁶. Tart-cherry juice interventions were also shown to increase urinary melatonin levels and provide improved sleep time and sleep quality in a healthy adult population³⁴. Finally, tart-cherries have also been shown to contain a large number of compounds that have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties which aid in recovery and sleep³⁷. Definitely a power-house ingredient and it tastes great too!

 

Ok, that was quite a lot! But now you know why alpha-lactalbumin and tart cherry extract were the winners and made it into Rack’s evening blend. Continue to Part 2 of this story to learn how we studied the final product and what the results were.

 

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