The ingredients that power Ultrafood.

Acai Berry

Acai is unusual in that it is high in fat and low in sugar. The fat is mostly oleic acid, the same one that dominates olive oil. It carries fibre and one of the highest anthocyanin contents of any fruit — hence the near-black purple — and it tastes closer to unsweetened chocolate than to a berry. Fun fact: acai is mostly stone. The edible part is a thin skin of pulp around a large seed, which is why you'll never see it sold as a whole dried berry — only pulp or powder

Apigenin

Apigenin is one of the most widespread flavonoids in the plant kingdom — the same broad family of plant compounds as the anthocyanins colouring the berries in this blend. Parsley, celery and chamomile are the foods it's most associated with, and it's largely what chamomile is known for. Ours comes from bitter orange, Citrus aurantium — the sharp, thick-skinned citrus that's too bitter to eat raw, which is why it mostly ends up as marmalade, as the peel in Grand Marnier and Cointreau, and as a source of concentrated plant compounds like this one.

B. Animalis Lactis

The most-studied bifidobacterium of them all, and the workhorse of the dairy industry — largely because it copes with oxygen far better than its relatives, so it actually survives being made into things. The bulk of the research on it sits in digestive and immune work.

B. Bifidum

One of the dominant bacteria in a breastfed infant's gut, and studied mostly in digestive and immune research. It was the first bifidobacterium ever described, identified in 1899 at the Pasteur Institute in Paris — the name comes from the forked, Y-shaped cells.

B. Longum

Among the very first bacteria to settle in a newborn's gut, and one of the two species that dominate gut-brain axis research, alongside L. helveticus. Also heavily studied on the digestive side. Longum describes the shape: a long rod.

Bilberry Extract

Bilberry is what a blueberry would be if nobody had ever farmed it, and it's the one fruit here we use as a concentrated extract rather than as whole freeze-dried fruit. It carries several times the anthocyanin content of a cultivated blueberry, and a wider range of them, because the colour runs all the way through the flesh instead of sitting in the skin. Those anthocyanins are why it's in the formula. Bilberry is one of the most-studied fruit extracts in cognitive research — anthocyanins are among the few plant compounds shown to reach the brain — and using an extract rather than the whole fruit is how you get a meaningful amount of them into a single sachet.

Chicory Root (Inulin)

A prebiotic fibre studied for its role in feeding the same Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus families found in our live cultures. Chicory root is the richest common source of inulin — a natural plant fibre made of fructose units linked together in a way no human digestive enzyme can undo. Chicory is the first ingredient on our label, which makes it the single largest thing in the sachet, and Ultrafood contains 8.6 g of fibre per serving.

Folate (B9)

Folate is what your body reaches for when it's making new cells¹⁷, so demand climbs whenever it's building or repairing something. It also supports mental function⁵, helps reduce tiredness and fatigue³, and keeps your immune system working properly.¹ We use L-5-MTHF — methylfolate — which is the form folate already travels in through your blood. Most supplements use folic acid, which your body has to process first. Green vegetables are the best food source: the name comes from folium, Latin for leaf.

Twice your daily reference intake

Goji Berry

Goji berries are one of the richest food sources of zeaxanthin there is — a yellow-orange plant pigment closely related to the lutein in this formula. They also bring other carotenoids, vitamin C and the polysaccharides the species is known for. They're the one orange note in a blend that's otherwise red and purple, and most of the world's supply grows in Ningxia, in north-central China. Fun fact: goji is a nightshade — a closer relation to the tomato, potato and chilli than to any berry it sits beside.

L. Acidophilus

The most-researched lactobacillus there is, and the one behind acidophilus milk. Decades of work on it, most of it in digestive and immune research. Its name means acid-loving, which is rather the point: it copes with low pH better than most of its relatives.

L. Brevis

The vegetable specialist: the organism behind sauerkraut and kimchi, common in pickles, and found in a lot of sourdough starters. Studied mainly in gut and oral research. Also renamed in 2020.

L. Casei

The species behind the world's best-known fermented milk drinks, and one of the most heavily studied in digestive research. Casei means cheese — dairy fermentation and cheese ripening are its other trade. Renamed in 2020, though most labels including ours still carry the old Lactobacillus casei.

L. Helveticus

The stress-and-mood one. Alongside B. longum, this is the species most often used in gut-brain axis research — the two are frequently paired in the same studies, and they're paired here too. It's named after Helvetia, the Roman name for Switzerland, where it's used to make Emmental and Gruyère; cheesemakers prize it for breaking milk proteins apart, which is where much of the flavour in aged cheese comes from.

Lion's Mane Fruiting Body

Lion's Mane looks nothing like a supermarket mushroom: no cap, no gills, just a cascade of white spines growing off dead hardwood. It's been eaten in East Asia for centuries, it's rich in the beta-glucans that mushrooms are known for, and it's studied in brain-related research. What matters on a label is which part of the mushroom you're getting. We use 200 mg of fruiting-body extract — the mushroom itself, where the hericenones sit. Mycelium extracts, the cheaper option, are grown on grain and usually arrive with a good deal of that grain still in them.

Lutein

Lutein and zeaxanthin are the two carotenoids your body concentrates in the eye — they're the yellow pigment of the macula, at the centre of the retina, which is why the pair of them turn up together in eye-focused nutrition research. Lutein is also an antioxidant, from the same family as beta-carotene. You'll find it in dark leafy greens, sweetcorn and egg yolk. Marigold flowers are so rich in it that they're the main commercial source. Like the other carotenoids here it's fat-soluble, so it goes further in a meal than in a glass of water.

Magnesium Bisglycinate

Magnesium helps your muscles work properly¹⁶, supports your mind⁵, keeps your body's fluid balance right¹¹, and helps reduce tiredness and fatigue.³ It turns up in several hundred different reactions for one simple reason: the molecule your cells actually spend as energy only works while it's holding a magnesium atom. We use magnesium bisglycinate, where each magnesium is bound to an amino acid and absorbed as a single unit rather than competing with other minerals for the same way in. Pumpkin seeds, almonds, spinach, wholegrains and dark chocolate are the food sources — though around 60% of the magnesium in your body is locked up in your bones.

80% of your daily reference intake

Mulberry

Mulberries are full of good things. They're one of very few fruits with a meaningful amount of iron in them, they carry vitamin C and vitamin K, and they're rich in anthocyanins — the plant pigments behind all the dark fruit in this blend — as well as resveratrol, the compound people know from red wine. They sit second on our ingredient list, above every other fruit. Fun fact: the entire silk industry runs on mulberry. Silkworms eat the leaves and nothing else, and have done for around five thousand years.

Panax Ginseng

Ginseng is one of the oldest botanicals in continuous use anywhere in the world, used historically for vitality and resilience, and still one of the most-researched plants in nutrition. Its characteristic compounds are the ginsenosides, found in this plant and almost nowhere else. It's also a slow crop: the root stays in the ground four to six years before harvest, and Korean growers then rest the field for a decade before replanting. 200 mg per sachet. Fun fact: the Chinese name, rénshēn, means man-root — after the forked, two-legged shape a mature root grows into.

Plum

Plums carry vitamin K, vitamin C and potassium, and they're one of the best fruit sources of chlorogenic acid — a polyphenol far more concentrated in plums than in most fruit. The skin holds anthocyanins as well. Freeze-dried, plum gives the blend a rounder, deeper sweetness than the berries manage on their own. Fun fact: plums belong to the same group as cherries, peaches and apricots — and almonds. An almond is the seed of a fruit closely related to a plum.

Raspberry

Raspberries are one of the highest-fibre fruits there is by weight — genuinely unusual for something that sweet. They also carry vitamin C, manganese and a group of polyphenols called ellagitannins that raspberries are particularly known for. In the blend, raspberry brings the sharpness that stops the fruit tasting flat. Fun fact: a raspberry is a cluster of tiny separate fruits arranged around a core that stays behind on the plant when you pick it. That hollow in the middle is how you tell it from a blackberry.

Strawberry

Strawberries are a better source of vitamin C than most people realise — weight for weight they carry more than an orange does. They also bring manganese, folate and a broad range of flavonoids, including the anthocyanin that makes them red and the ellagitannins strawberries are known for. Fun fact: strawberries aren't berries. The red part is swollen flower stem, and the real fruits are the little pips on the outside — around two hundred of them per strawberry.

Vitamin A

Vitamin A keeps your eyesight working as it should⁸ — particularly in low light — and it also looks after your skin⁷, your immune system¹ and the way your body uses iron.⁹ We use beta-carotene, the orange pigment in carrots and sweet potato, rather than retinol. Your body converts it into vitamin A only as fast as it needs to, which makes a full day's worth a safe amount to take. You'll find it in anything deep orange or dark green, and in cheese, eggs and oily fish.

A full day's reference intake

Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)

Thiamine helps turn the food you eat into usable energy², and keeps your heart²⁰, nervous system⁴ and mind⁵ running. Your body doesn't store much of it, and you get through it faster when you're active or under stress. Ours is thiamine mononitrate, the form that stays stable in a dry powder. Pork, sunflower seeds, legumes and whole grains are the best food sources.

Over 18× your daily reference intake

Vitamin B12

Contributes to normal energy metabolism and the function of the nervous system.

B12 is essential for energy and a healthy nervous system, and it's one of the hardest nutrients to get from a plant-based diet. We use methylcobalamin — the form your body can use directly — at a generous dose so there's plenty to absorb.

20× your daily reference intake

Vitamin B3 (Niacin)

Niacin is the engine room of energy production² — your body turns it into two molecules that show up in more chemical reactions than anything else made from a vitamin. It also helps keep skin healthy⁷, supports mental function⁵, and helps reduce tiredness and fatigue.³ Fish, meat, mushrooms, peanuts and mung beans are all good sources. Fun fact: your body can make a little niacin of its own out of protein — but it takes about 60 mg of tryptophan to produce 1 mg of niacin.

Nearly 2× your daily reference intake

Vitamin B6

B6 is the vitamin your body uses to handle protein. It's involved in over a hundred reactions that build and break down amino acids — including the ones that make your brain's messenger chemicals. It supports mental function⁵, helps regulate hormones¹⁵ and helps reduce tiredness and fatigue.³

Over 14× your daily reference intake

Vitamin C

Vitamin C helps reduce tiredness and fatigue³, supports your immune system¹, and protects your cells from everyday wear and tear.¹⁰ It's also what your body needs to make collagen¹⁸, and it helps you absorb more iron¹⁹. Fun fact: nearly every other animal makes its own vitamin C. Humans carry a broken copy of the gene for the final step, so all of ours has to be eaten. Blackcurrants, peppers, kiwi, broccoli and citrus are the richest sources.

Over 6× your daily reference intake

Vitamin D3 (Algae)

Vitamin D supports your immune system¹, your muscles⁶ and your bones.¹² Your skin makes it from sunlight — but from about October to March the sun sits too low over the UK and northern Europe for that to happen at all, whatever the weather is doing. That gap is what this dose is built around. Almost all supplemental D3 is extracted from lanolin in sheep's wool. Ours is grown from algae, so it's suitable for vegans. Like vitamins A and E, it's fat-soluble — one of the reasons Ultrafood is made to go into food rather than water.

10× your daily reference intake

Vitamin E (Natural)

Vitamin E protects your cells from everyday damage¹⁰. It works from inside the cell membrane, stopping that damage spreading from one fat molecule to the next. There are eight versions of vitamin E, but your liver singles out just one — alpha-tocopherol — and keeps it in circulation, so that's the one worth taking. The "d-" on our label marks it as the natural-source form rather than synthetic "dl-". Sunflower seeds, almonds and wheatgerm are the densest food sources.

Around 2.5× your daily reference intake

Zeaxanthin

A carotenoid that works together with lutein in the central macula. The two are studied side by side for their role in visual health.

Zinc

Zinc supports your immune system¹, your cognitive function¹³, and the way your body gets energy out of food.¹⁴ You have no way of storing it, so it needs topping up daily rather than occasionally. We use zinc citrate, which absorbs better than the zinc oxide in most multivitamins. Oysters are in a league of their own as a food source; after that, beef, pumpkin seeds, cheese and wholegrains.

About 1.5× your daily reference intake