Prebiotics, Lutein, And Elderberry,What Other Category Opportunities Are There in the 800 Billion Healthcare Market?

As consumers become more health-conscious, the nutrition and health food industry is entering a “golden” period of development. According to the “Blue Book of China's Nutrition and Health Food Industry,” the scale of China's nutrition and health food industry continues to grow, and is expected to exceed 800 billion yuan by 2027; online sales are experiencing explosive growth. Meanwhile, the deepening of China's aging population has led to the growth of the elderly group, which in turn has driven the development of the nutrition and health food industry. The introduction of the first policy document named after the “silver hair economy” — “Opinions on Developing the Silver Hair Economy and Enhancing the Well-being of the Elderly” — will also drive the development of the nutrition and health food industry from a higher level.

Nutrition and health food mainly includes two categories: health food and functional food. Among them, health food is mainly for the purpose of supplementing dietary nutrition and cannot be used to treat diseases; functional food more reflects the current market demand and the iteration of new products.

The management of domestic health food products is similar to that of drugs in that the efficacy of health food products needs to be verified, and the use of celebrity endorsers is strictly prohibited in advertising. Functional foods, on the other hand, are usually managed as ordinary foods, and their safety in terms of additives and production processes is guaranteed. There are no special regulations, and celebrity endorsers can be used, but without the “Blue Hat” mark, and the promotion of health functions is not allowed. Since food additives can be used, the flavor is better than that of health food products, and the efficacy of the products does not need to be verified, so the threshold for entering the market is lower than that for health food products.

The Blue Book shows that the supply of products in the health food sector is dominated by traditional health product companies and pharmaceutical companies. The participants in the functional food sector are relatively complex. In recent years, new health product companies have emerged frequently, and ordinary food and beverage companies have also entered the market. Fat burning and anti-sugar, fish oil coenzyme, dietary fiber, protein amino acids, probiotics, and blueberry lutein are the hot categories for “Double 11” in 2023, with a year-on-year growth of more than 50%.

Currently, consumers have clear demands for functional foods, such as relieving stress, improving insomnia, regulating the gastrointestinal tract, beautifying and nourishing the skin, and losing weight. They hope to obtain health benefits through “daily supplementation,” which creates more new opportunities for the development of functional foods and more untapped potential for raw materials. At present, the main raw materials for functional products are vitamins, minerals, proteins, collagen, probiotics, prebiotics, etc. Emerging raw materials such as plant-based herbal ingredients, novel food ingredients, and food with medicinal properties will also become new trends in the future.

Prebiotics: A new partner in reducing and controlling sugar

At present, reducing and controlling sugar has risen to the national strategic level. The “Healthy China Action (2019-2030)” released in 2019 pointed out that the production and consumption of low-sugar and sugar-free foods should be encouraged. The “Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022)” released in 2022 mentioned that the recommended daily sugar intake per person should be less than 25 grams. Consumers are gradually aware of the importance of reducing and the importance of sugar reduction and control. According to statistics, 35% of consumers worldwide pay more attention to controlling fat and sugar in their diet, and the proportion of Chinese consumers who pay attention to controlling sugar and fat also reaches 44%. Oligo, as a classic prebiotic and functional oligosaccharide, not only meets consumers' demand for “low sugar and low fat”, but also restores sucrose in terms of flavor, texture and sweetness, and also provides a high content of dietary fiber.

Lutein, the natural eye protection “vision gold”

Currently, more than 90% of the population is plagued by eye diseases and discomfort of varying degrees, such as dryness, pain, fatigue, soreness, photophobia, and vision loss. Lutein is an essential nutrient for the retina, concentrated mainly in the macula of the retina and the lens, and is the core nutrient that dominates vision.

Lutein cannot be synthesized by the body itself and must be supplemented through external intake. It is mainly extracted from various fruits and vegetables as well as marigolds.

Fucoidan: The treasure of algae that protects the stomach

Fucoidan is a substance with great medicinal value in algae. It has biological functions such as anti-tumor, anti-thrombosis, improving the gastrointestinal tract, lowering blood pressure, anti-oxidation, enhancing immunity, lowering blood pressure, and anti-virus. It has an outstanding performance in clearing/inhibiting Helicobacter pylori and repairing/protecting the gastric mucosa.

According to statistics, about 80% of gastric ulcers and 90% of duodenal ulcers are caused by Helicobacter pylori, and the incidence of gastric cancer is also closely related to Helicobacter pylori. Compared with antibiotics, fucoidan has the advantages of targeted removal of Helicobacter pylori, high efficiency and no drug resistance, and can be used for the mild treatment of Helicobacter pylori.

Elderberry: the “king” of immunity

Elderberry is a plant with a long history of use as a medicinal herb, used to treat colds, coughs and flu for over 2,500 years. With consumers' increasing focus on fighting viruses and boosting their immune systems, as well as their pursuit of natural and pure foods, elderberry has become one of the hottest super-star ingredients in recent years.

According to statistics, the market value of elderberry, known as the “European Isatis root,” will grow to 214.88 million U.S. dollars from 2021 to 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.52%. Germany, Austria, Italy, and Denmark are the main consumer markets in Europe. In China, the sales of elderberry still have a large gap compared to categories such as DHA and probiotics. Consumers are still in a relatively early stage of education, and there is still a lot of market potential waiting to be tapped.

Collagen: A new choice for scientific weight loss

Collagen is one of the key ingredients in beauty and skin care products, and also plays an important role in sports nutrition, healthy aging, and bone and joint health. It is speculated that with the increasing application of collagen in foods, beverages, and topical care, the market size is expected to reach 6.5 billion US dollars by 2025. As research continues, collagen can also promote metabolism, accelerate fat burning and excretion, increase satiety, and thus control dietary intake.

Ginseng oligopeptide: Small molecules with big effects

China has a long history of tonic food culture based on the concept of “medicine and food sharing a common origin”. Ginseng's benefits in terms of immunity, cognition, skin health, etc., can largely meet consumers' strong health preservation demands. According to statistics, the sales of food and medicine products containing ginseng ingredients rank first among all products. In December 2023, ginseng, American ginseng, and reishi mushroom were included in the catalog of raw materials for health food product filings, marking that the future health food product categories using ginseng as an ingredient will become even more abundant.

As the ginseng industry continues to develop, research is gradually shifting its focus to the extraction of ingredients such as polypeptides, free amino acids, and simple saponins from ginseng. Ginseng oligopeptides are produced using a complex enzymatic hydrolysis technique that hydrolyzes proteins into small molecular peptides. Not only do they contain small molecule active peptides, but they also retain high-value nutrients such as ginsenosides. Ginseng oligopeptides have excellent performance in immune support, anti-fatigue, liver damage protection, anti-oxidation, and blood glucose lowering, and have a wider range of applications.

The number of approved special medical foods has reached a new high

and the market has broad development potential. Functional foods used for special medical assistance—special medical foods—have developed rapidly in recent years. In 2023, 70 special medical foods were approved, the highest number of special medical foods approved in a single year. As of February 27, 2024, the number of approved special medical foods in China reached 179. With the gradual improvement of the laws and regulations for the production and supervision of special medical foods, the increasing clinical attention and demand for special medical foods, and the increasing support from local government policies, special medical foods will have a broader development space in the future. With the trend of the whole population pursuing health, the health food industry will develop towards diversification of functional needs, snackification of forms, and diversification of raw materials in the future. Consumption scenarios will also gradually extend and be segmented regionally, providing more development opportunities for this track.