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Eight years in the lab. One shot.
Every number on this page comes from peer-reviewed, placebo-controlled research. Here's the story, the scientists and the findings.
Where it started
It started with a burp.
Nomio's science has a 30-year backstory. It runs through the Swedish lab that changed how athletes think about nitrate, and gave the world the beet shot.
- 1994
A strange spike
At Karolinska Institutet, Jon Lundberg's team saw nitric oxide jump to roughly 1,000 times normal in a student who had just burped. Tracing that spike revealed how the body turns nitrate from vegetables into nitric oxide.
- 2007
The science behind the beet shot
Filip Larsen, first author alongside Eddie Weitzberg and Jon Lundberg, showed that dietary nitrate lowers the oxygen cost of exercise. That finding launched the beet shots endurance athletes use today.
- 2010s
The next question
The same researchers asked what else in vegetables changes how muscles handle hard work. The answer was isothiocyanates (ITCs) from broccoli sprouts. The catch: ITCs break down within hours.
- 2023
The first human trial
A double-blind study in Redox Biology found lower lactate, less oxidative stress and better performance after a week of hard training with broccoli sprout ITCs.
- 2025
Nomio
After eight years of work, ITCs were finally stable enough to bottle. Nomio launched, and quickly spread through Olympic and world-class endurance athletes.
- 2026
One shot, 3 hours before
A second peer-reviewed study found lower lactate near threshold 3 hours after a single dose, the way Nomio is used today.
The team
The scientists behind Nomio.
Two researchers who have built their careers in exercise physiology, advised by the scientists who discovered the nitrate pathway.
Filip Larsen
Co-founder & research lead
Associate Professor, Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences. First author of the landmark 2007 nitrate study. Leads Nomio's ITC research.
Michaela Sundqvist
Researcher
Postdoctoral researcher, Department of Physiology, Nutrition and Biomechanics, Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences. Led the 2026 study on a single dose of ITCs.
Jon Lundberg
Scientific advisor
Professor of Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet. Co-discoverer of how the body turns dietary nitrate into nitric oxide.
Eddie Weitzberg
Scientific advisor
Professor, Karolinska Institutet. Co-discoverer of how the body turns dietary nitrate into nitric oxide.
The findings
One hard week, measured.
In a double-blind crossover study, 9 active adults did 7 days of daily high-intensity intervals: once with broccoli sprout ITCs, the active compounds in Nomio, and once with a placebo. Here's what changed.
12%Lower blood lactate
At the same submaximal effort after the training week. On placebo, lactate went up.
12%Longer time to exhaustion
46 seconds longer in a max test, compared with 5 seconds on placebo.
10%Less oxidative stress
Measured in muscle biopsies. On placebo, it went up.
Flockhart et al., Redox Biology, 2023. Participants took broccoli sprout drinks twice daily. Read the full study
The studies in detail
Double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover. 9 active adults drank broccoli sprout juice twice daily during 7 days of high-intensity interval training, then repeated the week on placebo.
With ITCs: lactate at the same effort fell while it rose on placebo, time to exhaustion improved by 46 seconds (vs 5 on placebo), and oxidative stress markers in muscle and blood went down. NRF2, the body's antioxidant master switch, increased in muscle. VO2max did not change.
15 adults cycled at three submaximal intensities 3 hours after a single dose of a glucosinolate-rich sprout drink or placebo. Blood lactate was lower near the lactate threshold.
The effect followed a U-shaped dose curve: a moderate dose worked best, matching the ITC content of one Nomio shot.
Independently of Nomio, David Hood's lab at York University in Toronto treated muscle cells with sulforaphane, an ITC, while electrically stimulating them to mimic exercise training.
Sulforaphane increased mitochondrial respiration, mitochondrial content and the signals that build new mitochondria. The authors describe it as the first evidence that sulforaphane mimics the mitochondrial adaptations of training.
Built for hard training blocks
Signs of handling hard training better.
Hard weeks are where fitness is built, and where fatigue piles up. During that same week of daily intervals, athletes on ITCs showed clear signs of coping better with the load.
HeldMax heart rate
On placebo, max heart rate dropped 3 bpm after the week, a common sign of accumulated fatigue. On ITCs it held steady.
58%Less time in low blood sugar
2 h 16 min a day on ITCs vs 5 h 21 min on placebo, tracked around the clock with glucose monitors.
NRF2Your own defenses, switched on
The body's antioxidant master switch increased in muscle on ITCs, but not on placebo.
That's the stretch of training Nomio is designed for.
How we test
Rigor you can check.
Supplement claims are easy to make. These are the standards behind ours.
01
Double-blind
Neither participants nor researchers knew who got ITCs and who got placebo.
02
Placebo-controlled crossover
Every participant was tested both ways, so each person is their own comparison.
03
Measured inside the muscle
Muscle biopsies tracked oxidative damage, NRF2 and mitochondrial function.
04
Tracked around the clock
Continuous glucose monitors logged blood sugar 24 hours a day.
05
Dose-finding
Several doses were tested. The best response came at a moderate dose, matching one Nomio shot.
06
Peer-reviewed and public
Published in Redox Biology and Physiological Reports. Both studies are free to read.
Where the evidence ends
What we don't know yet.
Honest science means saying where the evidence ends. Our human studies so far are small, with 9 and 15 participants, and were done in healthy, active adults in the lab.
The mechanism behind Nomio's effect is still being worked out.
Our next step is larger studies with trained athletes. We'll keep publishing what we find.
All studies.
Read the research for yourself.
- Glucosinolate-rich broccoli sprouts protect against oxidative stress and improve adaptations to intense exercise trainingFlockhart et al., Redox Biology, 2023. The 7-day, double-blind training study.Read the study
- Effects of a glucosinolate-rich beverage on blood lactate concentrations during submaximal exerciseVinge et al., Physiological Reports, 2026. The single-dose study, 3 hours before exercise.Read the study
- Sulforaphane treatment mimics contractile activity-induced mitochondrial adaptations in muscle myotubesChampsi and Hood, American Journal of Physiology – Cell Physiology, 2025. Independent lab study in muscle cells.Read the study
- Effects of dietary nitrate on oxygen cost during exerciseLarsen, Weitzberg, Lundberg and Ekblom, Acta Physiologica, 2007. The landmark nitrate study.Read the study
- How ITCs activate NRF2Background reading on the body's master regulator of its own antioxidant enzymes.Read the paper
Like super shoes, in a bottle.
Free shipping in the contiguous US, 1–5 day delivery and a 30-day satisfaction promise on The Feed.
Frequently asked questions
Anyone doing structured hard training: intervals, tempo runs, hill repeats, long races. Nomio's research was done with healthy, active adults, not elite pros.
Nomio is not recommended for children, or for pregnant or breastfeeding women.
Take one shot 3 hours before your hardest sessions or races. On your biggest days (VO2max work, hills, long structured runs), add a second shot 1 hour before bed. Most athletes use 1–4 shots a week. No more than 2 shots a day.
Lemon-forward with a broccoli edge that fades in seconds. It's a 2 fl oz shot you take in one go, not something you sip.
Order through The Feed, with free shipping in the contiguous US and The Feed's 30-day Always Happy Promise.
Nomio was developed over 8 years at Karolinska Institutet and the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, by many of the same scientists who discovered nitrate's role in endurance performance. The key studies are summarized above.
Keep it refrigerated for the full 8-month shelf life. It also holds up at room temperature, so you can bring it to training, races and travel.
We're committed to clean sport. Nomio is on the Cologne List and has been tested for banned substances.