CHANGE YOUR FLAVORS
Ascent was created with a vision - to naturally improve your athletic performance using proper nutrition and clean ingredients. But to do that, we skip the gimmicks and quick fixes and do things the right way - without compromise.
Our parent company, Leprino Foods, is a family-owned business with over 30 years of experience making protein. Their robust vision for Global Responsibility focuses on product, supply chain, and environmental responsibility, and many of their efforts translate to Ascent's 100% Whey Protein.
Our 100% Whey Protein is made with a blend of proteins, including native whey. Ascent's native whey is manufactured at our plant in Greeley, Colorado, only an hour from our headquarters in Denver. It is one of the most technologically advanced and environmentally friendly cheese and dairy ingredient manufacturing facilities, achieving the 24-Karat Gold Award in 2019 from Colorado Environmental Leadership Program and the 2020 Outstanding Dairy Processing Sustainability award from the Innovation Center for US Dairy.
Our commitment to responsibility using natural resources runs deep, starting with water. We strive to use water wisely and ensure the quality of the water we return for beneficial reuse.
Milk consists of approximately 87% water, which offers a unique opportunity. A common misconception is that water is lost in the manufacturing process. In actuality, our method results in the water output from the facility exceeding the amount of freshwater we take in from our municipal sources.
This is how it works: after the water is separated from milk during our filtration process, it is reused in our facilities before it goes back into the river to be accessed by farm irrigation systems, or directly onto farms. And instead of using only freshwater from municipal sources to run our facility, we use much of the water captured from the filtration process to help run our plant.
Ascent stays close to the production process by producing our own whey protein vs. buying it from somewhere else. After recycling water from milk, the remaining 13% of solids is never wasted, with Leprino Foods manufacturing cheese and Ascent utilizing the whey.
This water circularity is beneficial to local water users, including for irrigation, recreation, and environmental purposes. We source milk from local dairy farms generally within 50 miles of our plants. Therefore, the water we return back into a river or directly on farms may be used to irrigate crops for local cows, who may be producing milk for Leprino Foods to turn into Ascent protein.
At Ascent, we care about more than just performance. There's no way we can thrive if our communities and planet aren't thriving alongside us. As we continue to grow, we know it's our responsibility to maintain positive and sustainable relationships with our neighbors and environment.
As part of our commitment to sustainability, we have partnered with Greenspark, which was created to tackle the greatest challenges facing the world today with a platform to aid in sustainability efforts, including planting trees. For every order placed on our website, Ascent will plant 1 tree. To date, we have planted over 30,000 trees.
Find out about our other sustainability initiatives & learn more about our initiative to plant a tree with every order here.
