Hongo Inc. (Headquarters: Tokyo) will exhibit at "SPORTEC 2026," to be held at Tokyo Big Sight from July 8 (Wed) to 10 (Fri), 2026, where they will unveil a new flavor of protein for junior athletes and a new supplement product for competitive athletes. This announcement aims to break away from the conventional, singular concepts of "protein = muscle supplement" and "supplements = nutritional support," and propose a "sports nutrition design that consistently supports growth, competition, and continuation." 👉 Sports nutrition moves from an "era of supplementation" to an "era of design." 👉 A "life stage design" that does not divide juniors and competitors. Anti-doping action (Informed Choice certified) 👉 Towards a new model integrating absorption, safety, and continuity. ■ Why Should Sports Nutrition Be Re-examined Now? From junior athletes to competitive athletes, the common issue lies not in "quantity" but in "quality." Junior generations who are not growing despite eating. Competitors who cannot recover despite training. Those in the field who do not feel results despite taking supplements. The background to this is the common challenge of "lack of absorption efficiency, design philosophy, and continuity." ■ New Proposal for Juniors | NEXT-18 PROTEIN (Junior Protein) A protein designed for absorption that changes "drinking it but not gaining anything." NEXT-18 PROTEIN does not use any SOY (soy-based) protein ingredients. NEXT-18 PROTEIN is a junior-exclusive protein that uses WPH (whey protein hydrolysate), which has excellent digestive absorption efficiency among whey proteins. It is further broken down from WPC etc., and unlike other whey proteins, it is already in a broken-down state, so its absorption speed is faster than WPI and WPC, increasing the efficiency of nutritional replenishment after training. Junior generations (boys and girls) who work twice as hard in both sports and studies require twice the energy and nutrition. For such junior generations, D