Timm, as a former professional athlete – how has your perspective on nutrition changed throughout your football career?
Timm:
As a young player, I honestly paid little attention to it. Nutrition was something the club handled – you just ate what was served to you.
That changed over time, especially during my years in the Bundesliga and even more so in the Premier League. The higher the level, the more important it became for me what I put into my body – not just food, but also supplements.
I started questioning ingredients, researching scientifically sound solutions, and becoming interested in innovations beyond the mainstream.
This curiosity ultimately led me to co-found NooQ Nutrition – and our first product line focused on dietary nucleotides / nutritional nucleotides was born.
Dr. Köppel, what exactly are nutritional nucleotides – and why have most people never heard of them?
Dr. Köppel:
Nucleotides are best known as the building blocks of DNA and RNA, but they play many other essential roles in the body.They are involved in energy production (ATP), immune defense, gut regeneration, and cellular communication. While nucleotides are found in certain foods, our modern diet contains very little of them – especially because we hardly consume nutrient-rich foods like organ meats or fermented products anymore. Under stress, illness, or during regeneration, the body also cannot produce enough nucleotides itself. Then they become "conditionally essential" – meaning you need additional intake through diet or supplements.
Timm, what role did nucleotides play in your own health journey?
Timm:
Towards the end of my career, I realized that our modern diet no longer provides everything the body truly needs. It's not just about vitamins and minerals – there are other key molecules like nucleotides that are crucial for cell function. When I started supplementing with nucleotides, I noticed I felt more balanced – as if my internal battery, my cellular "power bank system," was finally properly charged. It wasn't about short-term energy, but deeper regeneration and long-term resilience. This is exactly what I want to convey with NooQ. And we are already working on further innovative ingredients that go far beyond what is currently on the market.
Why do modern diets contain so few nucleotides?
Dr. Köppel:
This is mainly due to modern food processing, the avoidance of traditional, nutrient-rich foods such as liver or fermented fish – and our generally highly processed, convenient diet. Even "clean eating" often provides too little variety of nucleotide sources. At the same time, the body's demand increases under stress, but the supply does not.
Which foods are particularly rich in dietary nucleotides?
What scientifically proven benefits does nucleotide supplementation offer?
Dr. Köppel:
There is growing evidence that dietary nucleotides:
- strengthen the immune response and accelerate recovery,
- promote gut health and reduce inflammation,
- lower cortisol levels during physical or mental stress,
- support ATP production and thus stable energy,
- slow down telomere shortening and positively influence biological age markers.
So, these are rare molecules that simultaneously support performance, resilience, and longevity – because they act directly at the cellular level.
Timm, how do you explain NooQ to someone who has never heard of nucleotides?
Timm:
I simply say: "Imagine you're not fueling your body with sugar or caffeine, but with what your cells truly need to regenerate and function."
That's exactly what we mean by "Power your cells."
It's about making the body stronger from within.
Dr. Köppel, are nucleotide supplements safe and well-tolerated?
Dr. Köppel:
Absolutely. Nucleotides have been safely used for decades in infant formula, clinical nutrition, and veterinary medicine. The nucleotides in NooQ are yeast-derived, highly purified, and produced to the highest quality standards.
Our Nucleotide Matrix is particularly special – a precisely balanced combination of pyrimidine and purine nucleotides that reflects the body's physiological needs under stress and regeneration. Safe, effective, and well-tolerated for daily use.
What distinguishes NooQ from conventional food supplements?
Timm:
Traditional supplements focus on vitamins and minerals – that's important, but they don't address cellular bottlenecks. NooQ provides the body with the building blocks it needs to generate energy, repair itself, and regenerate.
We don't sell trends – we provide scientifically backed solutions for real needs.
What's next in nucleotide research – and for NooQ?
Dr. Köppel:
We actively support research on topics such as sleep regulation, bone healing, and longevity – areas where cellular health has often been overlooked, but where nucleotides show enormous potential.
Timm:
And we are already working on a new generation of formulas that combine nucleotides with other innovative bioactive substances. We are thinking beyond typical wellness trends – we are building the future of nutrition based on what the body truly needs at a cellular level.
