From Broccoli Sprouts to Podiums: The Science Powering the Next Wave of Personal Records
In 2007, a group of researchers published the first article linking dietary nitrate — found in beets — to improved exercise performance. Beet supplements reshaped sports nutrition and are now ubiquitous among endurance athletes; one of the researchers was elected to the Nobel Prize Assembly on the strength of those findings.
Those same researchers have now identified a second naturally-derived compound with measurable effects on athletic performance: isothiocyanates (ITCs), derived from broccoli sprouts. Their work became Nomio.
It’s a pattern that rhymes with one of the great origin stories in sports nutrition. In 1965, a University of Florida physician named Dr. Robert Cade watched his football players wilt in the heat and asked a simple question: what are they losing, and how do we replace it? The answer became Gatorade — a science-first solution born from observation of real athletes under real stress. It changed how the world thought about hydration and performance, and built one of the most recognized brands in consumer history.
What we now know, of course, is that Gatorade is loaded with sugar, artificial dyes, and synthetic additives. That was fine for a different era’s understanding of nutrition, but increasingly out of step with how today’s athletes think about what they put in their bodies.
Nomio is this generation’s answer to a similar founding question — what does science actually say about performance and recovery? — asked again, with better tools. The same impulse, the same commitment to athlete observation, but now with cleaner ingredients, deeper mechanistic understanding, and none of the compromises.
Here’s how Nomio works: ITCs activate cellular pathways involved in regulating physical and metabolic stress. In applied research, Nomio has been shown to reduce lactate accumulation during exertion, lower oxidative stress from repeated training loads, and support faster recovery between sessions. The practical result: athletes absorb training more effectively and show up stronger the next day.
What drew us to Nomio wasn’t just the science, but the pattern of adoption. Over the past year, athletes using Nomio have set the American Marathon Record (Conner Mantz), won World Cup Gold on 5000m in 2025 and American indoor mile record in 2026 (Cole Hocker), set three European Records in 2025 on 5000m, 10km and half marathon (Andreas Almgren), set the Ironman world championship and world record on the Ironman marathon with 2:29 (Casper Stornes).
Critically, this adoption has been primarily organic. These athletes aren’t sponsored to use Nomio. They’ve integrated it into their routines because it works.
That pull is now extending across disciplines. Nomio recently entered the U.S. market with early traction among American endurance athletes. It has a new product-science partnership with a leading pro cycling team, embedding directly into training environments and performance feedback loops. And most recently, The Wall Street Journal highlighted Nomio’s use among elite Nordic skiers at the Winter Olympics, where athletes turned to it to speed recovery during one of the most physically demanding events at the games.
The supplement category is having a moment. A convergence of consumer trends is reshaping how people think about performance and recovery: recreational competition is booming (marathon participation has surged in recent years), GLP-1 adoption had millions of people paying attention to what they put in their bodies, and wearables are turning biomarkers into casual dinner table conversation. The result is a growing category with software-like margins and real tailwinds. But most supplements still compete on branding and influencer spend rather than real differentiation. We think the enduring winners will be built on two things: scientific defensibility and organic, community-driven adoption. That’s what makes Nomio stand out.
We also believe some of the most valuable consumer products ahead will help people feel and perform better without requiring major lifestyle changes. Nomio is a simple drink derived from broccoli sprouts. There’s no complicated protocol, no dramatic overhaul. You take it, you recover better, and the hours you put into training translate more reliably into progress.
That applies whether you’re an elite athlete chasing marginal gains or someone training for a first marathon who wants the work to stick.
We’re proud to back the Nomio team as they build at the intersection of biology, performance, and recovery — alongside world-class athletes who have made it part of their own practice: Stan Wawrinka (former ATP world No. 3), Magnus Norman (former ATP world No. 2), Mads Pedersen (UCI Road World Championships winner), and Marcus Krüger (two-time Stanley Cup champion). We’re joined by exceptional founders from within the Collaborative Fund network, including Nick West (Bandit) and Gabi Lewis (Magic Spoon).