Nomio's pitch sounds absurd on paper, until you hear pros talk about it. This broccoli-sprout shot with eight years of Swedish research behind it is becoming one of the most widely used performance supplements across sport. Here's what the athletes are saying.
Broccoli shots for breakfast sound like a joke until you hear athletes across the world say they take them before a big event. Nomio's active ingredient, isothiocyanates (ITCs), comes from broccoli sprouts — each 60ml shot packs the equivalent of 2.5-3kg of raw broccoli. Research out of the Karolinska Institute and the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences links it to a 12% drop in lactate buildup and measurable oxidative stress reduction during hard efforts.
But the research is one thing. Here's what actually happens when pros put it to the test.
For long aerobic days
Ryan Collins takes Nomio for base-building rides that stretch past three hours, where fatigue compounds over time rather than hitting all at once. For him, it's about the decrease in oxidative stress that occurs with big efforts:
I can't say it's like taking caffeine. I don't feel substantially better. It's just more of a mental perception... but ultimately it comes down to how I feel as I take it, and I feel better. So the next time you're planning a longer ride, efforts three, four, five plus, 12, 24 hours, definitely give Nomio a shot.
He used it heading into a European Championship win and still turns to it before any long session — timing his first shot about three hours out.
For threshold and speed work
Jackson Laundry noticed it first in a bike workout, not on race day:
First time I tried it was in a bike workout and I was just pushing like 15 to 20 watts more for the threshold reps than I was the week before. It just seems like it keeps the heart rate a little bit lower at those really critical power numbers.
Morgan Pearson sees the same pattern in lactate testing — lower readings at the same effort, or the same readings at a higher output:
If I test for lactate, my lactate's a bit lower, and I tend to run just a little bit quicker and push a little bit more power with less effort... I find it allows me to keep that consistent level of high output in training even when I am tired, carrying fatigue from swimming, biking, or running.
For race week
Marc Dubrick keeps his protocol simple: one shot two hours before the gun.
Allie Ostrander has locked in a routine — a shot on waking, three hours before her workout or race and two hours before warm-up. She used it before her last two championship races and placed higher than expected in both.
I've had really good workouts, so I feel like it can't really be a coincidence because that would be 12 to 15 coincidences.
Vivian Tafuto takes it two to three hours before a big race specifically to manage early fatigue, then again as soon as possible after — she's using the same protocol at Worlds across both singles and doubles play.
For recovery and consistency
Chelsea Sodaro takes a shot two to three hours before a hard session and again at the end of her training day, and notices better recovery the next morning.
Patricia Mangan has had zero GI issues across every workout she's used it in — no small thing for a product you're using to support performance.
The honest take
Nobody here is calling this magic. This is not a caffeine-like hit — no immediate jolt, no feeling like Superman. What is consistent across almost every athlete is a delayed, cumulative effect: it shows up when you're hours into an effort, in the form of a slightly lower heart rate at threshold, a slightly lower lactate reading, or just feeling less wrecked on the back half of an effort.
