Unigen Announces the Peer-Reviewed Publication of Maizinol® Sleep Study, Measured by Actigraphy and EEG Device
[TACOMA, WASHINGTON, January 6, 2026] Unigen Inc., a natural product R&D and proprietary ingredient supplier announced today that Food Science and Nutrition has published clinical trial results of a second study for Maizinol® supplementation on important parameters of sleep. The study conducted by KGK Science Inc. (“KGK”), London, Canada, was a randomized, triple‑blind, placebo‑controlled, parallel design clinical trial (RCT).
Unigen’s Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Qi Jia, stated “The peer reviewed publication of this sleep study demonstrated the quality of the trial, a critical step toward providing consumers with strong scientific validation of the sleep benefits from Maizinol®. With the objective measurement of sleep quality by actigraphy and Electroencephalogram (EEG) device, the study also establishes a high standard for the nutritional industry in assessing the overcrowded and self‑acclaimed sleep support actives currently on the market.”
In this second clinical study of Maizinol®, a total of 80 healthy adult participants, ages 18–65 years, with difficulty in falling asleep or staying asleep, were randomized to either 500 mg daily Maizinol® or placebo (40 adults per group; 28‑day study). Objective sleep measures (sleep times in different sleep stages, sleep efficiency, sleep latency, number of awakenings, number of awakenings >3 minutes) were assessed by an actigraphy and EEG device at baseline, day 14 and day 28. The study yielded statistically‑significant results against placebo on sleep quality, including reduction in sleep latency, reduction in the number of nighttime awakenings, reduction in awake duration after sleep onset, improvements in sleep efficiency, increases in REM and NREM sleep, increases in total sleep time, and optimization of sleep structure without inducing a change in circadian rhythm. The fully published Maizinol® study is available at A Randomized, Triple‑Blind, Placebo‑Controlled, Parallel Clinical Trial Investigating Safety and Efficacy of Corn Leaf Extract on Sleep Quality in a Healthy Population With Difficulty Falling or Staying Asleep – Doma – 2026 – Food Science & Nutrition – Wiley Online Library.
“Conducting gold‑standard clinical studies with objective tools like EEG to investigate sleep quality is critical to further our understanding of the complex interactions between natural health products and improvements in sleep” said Dr. Erin D. Lewis, Scientific Director at KGK Science. KGK is a leading full‑service premium contract research organization (CRO) and regulatory consulting firm, specializing in custom‑designed clinical trials and expert regulatory support for the nutraceutical, cannabis, hemp, and psychedelic industries.
Maizinol® is an extract derived from the leaves of Zea mays L. (commonly known as corn) and contains a naturally occurring compound structurally similar to melatonin, with an affinity to melatonin receptors, stimulating melatonin synthesis and improving melatonin sensitivity. In a double blind, placebo‑controlled sleep study published in Journal of Medicinal Food in 2023, Maizinol® was found to increase total sleep time and deep sleep time as measured by a fitness activity tracker, to improve sleep quality and efficiency as measured by Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) with no serious adverse events or clinically relevant changes in vital signs. https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/jmf.2021.0197
Maizinol® supplementation was found to be safe and well tolerated, an important finding given the safety concerns over prescription sleep aids. Taken together, findings from both clinical studies suggest Maizinol® may play a role in improving objective and subjective measures of sleep which is relevant for the maintenance of physical and mental health.
For further information about Maizinol® and the recently published KGK clinical study, please contact:
Kathy Markham
Marketing Manager,
Unigen, Inc.
Email: kmarkham@unigen.net
Website: unigen.net
Anusri Nair
Marketing Manager
KGK Science Inc.
Email: anair@kgkscience.com
Website: www.kgkscience.com
About Unigen, Inc.
Unigen discovers, develops, and manufactures proprietary natural-product active ingredients for dietary supplements, cosmetic and personal care products, prescription medical food and botanical drug products. The Company discovers its ingredients through its high throughput screening PhytoLogix® approach applied to a proprietary well-annotated collection of botanicals and a legacy mining approach applied to botanicals having known medicinal benefits.
About KGK Science
KGK is a leading North American contract research organization based in London, Ontario that primarily provides high-quality clinical research trials with a focus on nutraceutical and emerging health care products. Founded in 1997, the business has successfully helped hundreds of companies with custom designed clinical trials and claim substantiation strategies to move products into global markets. KGK’s other existing service lines include expert regulatory support and compliance solutions, participant recruitment, research support services and consulting services. Furthermore, the company has produced over 150 publications, executed over 400 clinical trials across more than 40 indications, amassed 40,000 participants in its database and collected 10 million data points. For additional information, please visit kgkscience.com.
Mechanism of action, safety and efficacy are documented with extensive preclinical in vitro and in vivo testing and by human clinical studies. Unigen protects its discoveries with issued patents and patent filings in all major territories and manufactures its products to GMP standards. Unigen commercializes its proprietary ingredients through licensing and ingredient supply alliances with commercial partners engaged in the manufacture, distribution, and marketing of end-products in each of Unigen’s target markets.