Samyang Roundsquare, the Korea-based food and healthcare arm of Samyang Group, has launched Spindle, a metabolic health brand targeting age-related muscle decline, with its debut product Spindle Muscle+ now available in the United States through us.spindle.bio.
The Clinical Backing
The product is built around Akkermansia MYO™, a heat-stabilized, pasteurized postbiotic derived from Akkermansia muciniphila — a gut microbe whose levels naturally decline with age. According to third-party clinical data on file, a 12-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in adults aged 60 to 80 found that Akkermansia MYO™ delivered a 14.1% increase in muscle power versus control, a 10.4% increase in hamstring strength, a 5.0 percentage-point improvement in grip strength, and a 37.8 percentage-point reduction in myostatin — a biomarker that limits muscle growth when elevated. Prealbumin levels, a marker for muscle maintenance and repair, rose 5.6 percentage points versus control. The ingredient also carries an FDA-reviewed New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) notification, a threshold that remains relatively uncommon in the crowded postbiotic segment.
The science taps into the emerging gut–muscle axis hypothesis — the idea that gut barrier integrity and microbial composition materially influence protein synthesis and systemic inflammation, and therefore muscle function. Supporting basic science was published in Nutrients (Kang et al., 2024), while foundational Akkermansia research appeared in Nature Medicine (Depommier et al., 2019).
Market Positioning
Samyang Roundsquare is positioning Spindle squarely in the longevity and healthspan segment, targeting adults in their 40s and 50s who are taking a proactive, data-driven approach to physical capability. The company also identifies adults on GLP-1 medications as a priority cohort — a rapidly expanding group at elevated risk of lean muscle loss during weight reduction, a need that mainstream supplement brands have been slow to address directly.
"Maintaining muscle strength over time depends on more than protein and staying active alone," said Faissal Tahiri, Head of Healthcare at Samyang America. "With Spindle, we are bringing forward a science-led approach that looks at the biological systems influencing muscle function, including the growing scientific understanding of the gut–muscle connection."
Ahjin Kim, Head of R&D at Samyang Healthcare, framed the development rationale around evidence discipline: "The clinical research behind Akkermansia MYO™ gave us the evidence we needed to bring that science into a product people can trust. Spindle Muscle+ reflects our commitment to formulating from data, not assumptions."
What It Means for the Trade
The launch signals that major food and healthcare conglomerates are moving beyond conventional protein-and-amino-acid formulations and into the postbiotic and microbiome-adjacent supplement space — a category that has attracted significant investment from both established nutraceutical players and venture-backed startups. For foodservice and retail buyers, the GLP-1 positioning is notable: as GLP-1 drug adoption accelerates, the market for muscle-preservation products aimed at that population is emerging as one of the faster-growing adjacencies in functional nutrition.
Spindle Muscle+ is formulated gluten-free, non-GMO, and free from common allergens including egg, soy, wheat, nuts, fish, and shellfish. It is manufactured in a GMP-certified facility and does not require refrigeration, with a stated shelf-stable potency of up to two years — a practical advantage for e-commerce and specialty retail distribution. The product's postbiotic format, as distinct from live-culture probiotics, also sidesteps cold-chain logistics that have historically complicated supplement retail placements.
For broader context on postbiotic and functional ingredient trends shaping the category, see F&B Industry News coverage of emerging ingredient platforms.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
