How CORIAL's Zero Pills movement was born, the science of food commitment, and why a food eaten daily beats any supplement that is abandoned after 3 months.
Approximately 50% of supplement users stop taking them within 3 months. Not because supplements don't work — but because they don't fit into real life. Capsules are inconvenient. Powders require a shaker. Consistency is difficult. CORIAL was born from a simple question: what if everything people take in supplements could be transformed into food they already want to eat anyway?
1. The problem nobody wants to admit
The supplement industry has an uncomfortable secret. Capsules gather dust in the drawer. The protein powder enthusiastically bought in January is forgotten by March. The intentions are real — it's the product that doesn't fit the routine.
There's a fascinating paradox: the more "concentrated" a supplement is, the less sustainable its intake. A protein powder offers 30g in one scoop — it seems efficient. But it requires a shaker, cleaning, time. The person who buys it abandons it in 2 months.
2. How CORIAL was born — Esposende, 2023
In 2022, Guilherme was in his garage in Esposende, analyzing this problem. He had a chocolate bar, a coffee, and a jar of collagen powder. He thought: "What if I could dissolve this powder in coffee? It wouldn't be a supplement. It would just be an improved coffee."
That simple insight turned into an obsession. Guilherme and Sara (co-founder) started obsessively: how to make a pancake with 39g of protein? How to dissolve collagen in coffee without affecting the taste? How to create a creatine bar that wasn't just compacted powder?
CORIAL was born from that question. Not improved supplements. Replaced supplements — with food people already wanted to eat.
3. The science behind Zero Pills
The food matrix effect
A fundamental concept in nutrition is the food matrix effect: nutrients are absorbed better and have more effect when integrated into a complex food matrix, rather than isolated.[2]
Concrete example: isolated collagen in a capsule is absorbed at ~90%. Collagen in a coffee drink, where there are bioactive compounds (polyphenols, chlorogenic acids), may have superior bioavailability.[3] It's not just "more practical" — it's biologically more effective.
Commitment is nutrition
The central problem is this: a nutrient that is not consistently ingested has no nutritional effect. If the collagen recommendation is 10g/day, but the person only takes 10g/week due to forgetting the capsules, the actual "effective dose" is 1.4g/day — less than 15% of the recommendation.
If the same person drinks Coffee with Collagen every day (because it's coffee, a consolidated habit), they consistently take 8.5g/day. The equation is simple: Effectiveness = Efficacy × Commitment. CORIAL dramatically increases Commitment — the final result is superior even if the individual Efficacy is slightly lower on paper.
4. Product by product — how each one replaces a supplement
5. The vision — eliminate supplements completely
CORIAL's vision is radical but clear: eliminate the need for traditional supplements through well-formulated functional foods. Not improved supplements. Obsolete supplements.
Within 5–10 years, CORIAL envisions a scenario where: those who want protein don't buy powder — they eat a pancake. Those who want collagen don't buy capsules — they drink coffee. Those who want creatine don't buy powder — they eat a bar. Those who want fiber don't take isolated powder — they eat oats. A healthier population because commitment is dramatically superior.
6. The challenges of Zero Pills
Most people grew up with the notion that "capsule supplements = nutrition." Communicating that "better functional food = nutrition" requires time, content, and message consistency. It's a long-term investment — and that's why CORIAL invests in educational content like this.
A creatine bar is more expensive per gram than creatine powder — because the bar requires more processes (mixing, molding, packaging). But adherence justifies the investment. CORIAL believes that consumers will pay a premium for something they actually use consistently.
Functional foods cannot make certain claims that supplements can. A capsule can theoretically promise "radiant skin" (without EFSA approval). CORIAL cannot — it must say "contains collagen, the main structural protein of the skin," which is factually more correct and honest. CORIAL sees regulation as an advantage: its claims are more honest than those of competitors.
Functional nutrition that's already part of your life
Every CORIAL product replaces a supplement category — with better commitment, better taste, and the same (or superior) nutritional benefits.
Explore the CORIAL rangeConclusion: nutrition that fits into life
Zero Pills is not a slogan. It's a shift in how we think about functional nutrition. For decades, the industry grew with the efficiency of powder — but efficiency is not the same as effectiveness. CORIAL is making functional nutrition more aligned with real human behavior. It doesn't want you to change. It wants nutrition to fit into your life.
Bibliographical References
- Sperling RA et al. (2019). "Dietary Supplement Use in the United States, 2017–2018." CDC/NCHS Data Brief, No. 359. DOI: 10.15620/cdc/82116
- EFSA (2011). "Scientific Opinion on collagen peptides and maintenance of bone mass." EFSA Journal, 9(7):2291. DOI: 10.2903/j.efsa.2011.2291
- Meinert M et al. (2007). "Bioavailability of collagen peptides from food supplements." Current Medicinal Chemistry, 14(23):2409–2417. DOI: 10.2174/092986707782023955
- Leidy HJ et al. (2015). "The Role of Protein in Weight Loss and Maintenance." AJCN, 101(6):1320S–1329S. DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.114.084038
- MarketsandMarkets Research (2025). "Functional Foods Market — Global Forecast to 2030." marketsandmarkets.com
- Regulation (EU) No 432/2012. Official Journal of the European Union, L 136, 25.5.2012. EUR-Lex
