Pilot study from Gencor and Pharmako Biotechnologies finds that HydroCurc and Levagen+ supports sports recovery and sleep

Gloucester Rugby Club players during match. Image courtesy of Gencor.

Gencor and Pharmako Biotechnologies has announced the results of a partnered case study with the English Gloucester Rugby Team. In the case study, 30 players took HydroCurc and Levagen+ extracts during the 2022-2023 season to evaluate their potential for aiding in post-match recovery and sleep.

According to a press release, the first five weeks of the season were used to establish a baseline. Players were given a recovery questionnaire the morning of game day and two days following game day to gather data on the recovery processes they following, and collected subjective measures of soreness, sleep, and vigor. At baseline, the athletes were given a whey-based recovery shake and high polyphenol natural juice, and after five weeks they continued to consume both drinks with the addition of a pill packet containing 600 mg of Levagen+, 400 mg of HydroCurc, and 3000 mg of Omega-3. Results showed that the athletes reported significant reductions in muscle soreness following the intervention despite there being higher levels of collisions in the second half of the season.

“We were thrilled to see both HydroCurc’s and Levagen’s ability to aid our players in post-match recovery and have then return to sport quicker than without supplementation,” said James Hudson, former rugby player and current performance nutritionist for the Gloucester Rugby Club, in a press release. “We will continue to test and evaluate both ingredients and determine how each can best be utilized.”

The study also investigated the potential sleep health benefits of Levagen +, with subjects taking 300 mg each night after the five-week baseline. Researchers used PSQI assessments and wearable biometric tech such as Oura rink and/or WHOOP band. According to their press release, results showed that players showed improvement in REM and deep sleep following Levagen+ supplementation.

“To see our ingredients being so effective and generate such significant results in a group of professional rugby players – an incredibly physically demanding sport – is extraordinary and reinforces the validity of all of our clinical research on these two outstanding ingredients,” said R.V. Venkatesh, co-founder of Gencor, in a press release.