Anti-Energy Trend Emerging in Drinks Market – Innova Market Insights

While the Innova Database records that over 450 new energy drinks were launched globally in the first 9 months of 2009, it also reports a growing, if much more limited, interest in caffeine-free drinks based on natural, often herbal, energy ingredients.

23 Oct 2009 --- While considerable publicity has focused on the recent activity in the energy drinks market, notably the rising importance of energy “shots,” a counter trend has quietly started to emerge focusing on natural energy, anti-stress and relaxation drinks. While the Innova Database records that over 450 new energy drinks were launched globally in the first 9 months of 2009, it also reports a growing, if much more limited, interest in caffeine-free drinks based on natural, often herbal, energy ingredients to provide a more balanced energy lift, and the emergence of products designed more for relaxation and marketed under titles such as “anti energy drinks” and “relaxation shots.”

As with so many novel product concepts, the move of relaxation products from the supplements to the mainstream market has been led by Japan, which has a range of drinks and foods based on botanical ingredients and with new-style ingredients such as GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) and L-theanine,

The use of GABA as an aid to relaxation has featured particularly in soft drinks launches, although it is complicated by the fact that GABA has a number of other health benefits, particularly in terms of blood pressure control. Yakult was one of the first to launch a relaxation soft drink with theanine, when it introduced Lemorea in 2002. The lemon beverage contained 100 mg of L-theanine, said to induce alpha waves in the brain (the brain produces alpha waves when people concentrate or fall asleep) and theanine is now a popular ingredient for drinks for mental acuity/relaxation.

The use of these types of ingredients has started to move out of Japan and into western markets, particularly the US. The first launches were in 2007, but interest levels have only really started to rise more recently with Innova Market Insights recording higher levels of product activity. Jones Soda launched one of the first ranges of GABA-fortified drinks in the US under the Jones GABA Focus+Clarity name in early 2009, with a range claiming to help improve mental focus, balance and clarity, while reducing stress.

A range of other ingredients have been used, including melatonin and the Polynesian herb kava. Melatonin, a natural hormone used to treat insomnia and jet-lag, along with valerian root and rosehip, features in the Drank relaxation drink, designed specifically ‘to aid relaxation of body and mind’. The Polynesian herb kava, said to relieve stress, treat PMS, reduce blood pressure and help with memory and focus, was also used in the 2009 launch of Malava Novocaine canned drink, marketed as an ‘anti-energy’ drink, which joined Malava’s existing Malava Relax drink, launched in 2008.

Lu Ann Williams, Innova Market Insight’s Head of Research, believes that high growth rates in anti-energy drinks are likely over the next few years, largely reflecting the very small base. “The sector is likely to remain fairly niche and perhaps unlikely to ever reach the starry heights of energy drinks, where few expected the market to expand as quickly or develop as far as it has,” she concludes.

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