Spotlight on Immunity: New Product Development Proliferates
29 Jul 2020 | Innova Market Insights
Looking ahead to the years after the COVID-19 outbreak, consumers are expected to show higher levels of interest in their immune health. This could open doors for more products with a specific focus on immune health rather than those with multiple health messages of which immunity is simply one of many.
Thanks again for joining us for Spotlight on Immunity, a webinar that will look at immune health and highlight relevant trends and innovations.
My name is Tom Verheil.
I'm the VP of Strategic Insights North America, and I'll be the host for today's Enova Market Insights webinar.
The agenda for today's webinar is going to really split things up into 3 parts.
The first part of the webinar is going to look at immune health trends, including innovation trends, as as find out how consumers are changing their behavior in this time of COVID-19, especially when it comes to health.
The second part of the webinar is going to focus on the rise of supplements, and supplements are a key category for innovation when it comes to immune health, and we'll review some key new product developments in that area.
Finally, we'll end things with a look at future directions.
Including possibilities for future innovation and some key opportunities for immune health in the future.
So let's take a look at some immune health new product innovation trends.
Worries over COVID-19 are definitely driving interest in immune health products.
If you look at some of the headlines, the news headlines you see here.
The media is making a link between a strengthened or boosted immune system and possibly warding off COVID-19.
Now, there's no natural immunity for COVID-19, so consumers are reaching their own conclusions and are purchasing everything from vitamin C supplements to food products like nato, which has become very popular in Japan.
That fermented soybean dish is believed to offer some immune health benefits.
The good news when it comes to this sort of behavior is that consumers have been seeking out functional benefits even before COVID-19, especially younger consumers.
If you look at the differences in behavior by age, looking at the consumer survey results from 2019, roughly 2/3 of millennial age consumers globally say they've increased their consumption of functional food and drink products.
When it comes to older consumers, baby boomers age 55 and older, only about 1/3 of those consumers say that they've increased.
The consumption of these functional food and drink products.
Looking at a 2020 survey that Enova Market Insights conducted after the onset of COVID-19, we're definitely seeing some changes in consumer behavior.
Almost half of global consumers, for instance, say they're consuming more food and beverage products that boost the immune system.
And those changes in behavior do vary quite a bit from one geography to another.
If you look at Asia, 71% of consumers there say they're consuming more of these food and beverage products that can boost the immune system.
Now, products that are directly targeting immune health are seeing increased innovation levels, and that's kind of portrayed in the slide.
Note that these increases have come before the onset of COVID-19.
You're looking at almost a doubling of new product innovation globally for food and beverage launches that are tracked with an immune health claim.
On an average annual growth basis, you're looking, At about a 15% figure there for compound annual growth for these new product launches over the period from 2015 to 2019, you're also seeing more products directly reference immunity or the immune system right on the front of product packaging.
This can be risky though.
Earlier this month in July, the UK's Advertising Standards Authority issued guidance to companies about making immune-related claims.
Specifically, they asked companies to refrain from referencing COVID-19 or coronavirus in any product packaging or product advertising.
They also asked companies to avoid words like boosting or stimulating the immune system, as those both can be problematic.
And in June, the US Federal Trade Commission contacted over 30 makers of supplement products and other types of products aimed at immune health and warned these companies that they were making unsubstantiated claims related to COVID-19.
So this is something to definitely keep an eye on for the future.
Looking at some of the stronger new product innovation trends related to immunity, we're looking at the product categories that are providing us with the highest level of new product innovation in terms of growth, and a couple of categories here really jump out dairy products, and dairy products are definitely benefiting from the fact that many of those dairy products contain probiotics, especially items like yogurt.
Hot drinks have emerged as another key area of new product innovation, especially tea, and the reason tea is trending there is that many tea products, especially herbal tea products, contain ingredients that may be high in nutrients like vitamin C, things like rosehip, echinacea, maybe orange peel, and other healthful ingredients like ginger, and they're definitely pushing new product innovation along.
Looking at the product example that's featured here, the buttermilk product from Estonia, note the specific product claims the company's making here that this particular product is rich in vitamins B6 and B12, as as selenium, and we'll talk about selenium a little bit later in today's webinar, but clearly this is a mineral that has multiple health benefits, including aiding hair and nail health.
Another facet of the immunity trend that's really taking off is innovation in plant-based immunity products, and you can definitely see it here.
If you look at the difference in innovation between 2015 and 2019, again looking globally at the number of plant-based food and beverage and supplement launches that are tracked with an immune health claim, you're looking at product launches almost tripling between 2015 and 2019.
That's good for a 31% compound annual growth rate, and that's a tremendous growth rate if you think about it.
What's also happening in this in this area is you're seeing companies being more forthcoming about the fact that their products are plant-based.
You're seeing references to plant-based content, plant-based ingredients right on the front of the packaging.
That's certainly the case with the two products that are showcased here.
By product category you're definitely seeing supplements lead the way in plant-based immune products.
They account for almost 50% of the innovation taking place there.
Sports, nutrition, and soft drinks are a couple other, couple of other key categories for new product innovation in plant-based immunity products.
So let's look at the rise of supplements.
Supplements are far and away the leading category for immune health, and that's really brought to life with the graphic that indicates that 44% of new product innovation in 2019 for food and beverage products and supplements tracked with immune health claim came out of the supplements category.
The only category that's even close to that is baby and toddlers product, and that's a category that features infant formula, growing up milk, and products of that nature.
We talked earlier about dairy and hot drinks growing at respective 30% and 22% compound annual growth rates for the 2015 to 2019 period, but collectively, if you add up those two categories, they only account for a relatively small percentage of new product innovation in food, beverage, and supplement areas for products that are geared around immune health.
Taking a deeper dive into the supplement arena, we're identifying the top 5 supplement subcategories for new product innovation when it comes to immune health.
One thing to note here about Enova's coverage of supplement innovation, we have 27 different supplement categories, subcategories here at Enova Market Insights, everything from amino acids.
To weight loss products and you're looking at the top 5 when it comes to innovation for immunity.
Vitamins and minerals is clearly the top category, but also botanical and health supplements and probiotics are very important.
You add those 3 up, and they account for more than 375% of all innovation taking place in the supplement in the supplement arena.
Looking at where the growth is, clearly probiotics are where the growth is.
49% compound annual growth rate is tremendous growth.
To put that into perspective, back in 2015, probiotics accounted for about 6%.
Of the supplement innovation in immune health products, products making an immune health claim, by 2019 that nearly tripled to 17%.
So clearly probiotics have emerged as a major growth sector.
Taking a deeper dive into the landscape of vitamin and mineral type supplements, what's happening here?
Definitely a lot of big footprint here for vitamin C, and that's no surprise.
Very early in COVID-19 here in the United States, we saw, we saw store shelves wiped out for vitamin C supplements as consumers flocked to those.
Also, a lot of Love here for magnesium and zinc, two other minerals and nutrients that are seen to have a positive effect on the immune system.
Finally, vitamin E and selenium also are very tightly associated with immune health and are accounting for a significant amount of new product innovation.
So looking at probiotics and plant-based supplements, definitely a huge amount, a huge growth in innovation here.
That 49% figure is quite, quite stout.
Looking at some actual new product examples, probably the more interesting of the two examples here is the one on the left, the product called Digestive Boost.
This one actually contains a novel ingredient water lentils, and water lentils are also known as duckweed.
And they're renowned for their nutrient content.
They're said to be richer in nutrients than kale or moringa.
Now the functional ingredient for immunity for this product is actually spore-based probiotics that are added to the product.
Also note that this particular product contains 7 functional adaptogens.
Now those adaptogens are all said to be handpicked, and they include things like carrot, beetroot, dandelion root leaf.
And lemongrass We're also seeing quite a bit of support for botanical supplements in the wake of COVID-19.
Now, earlier in 2020, after the onset of COVID-19, we conducted a global consumer survey asking consumers what they're purchasing more or less of, and we're looking at the response here for botanical and herbal supplements.
You can definitely see high levels of growth in the A market in India as as among American and British consumers.
So this is an area that is benefiting from COVID-19.
Looking at a couple of specific kind of supplements that could also benefit from this situation, elderberry is a fruit that has compounds that may strengthen immune response.
It's also something that you tend to see pushed as an anti-flu type ingredient or flu treatment.
And that's something that could benefit from the situation.
Turmeric and curcumin, really turmeric is the active ingredient in curcumin, and turmeric is beginning to kind of break out on its own as a, as an iconic health ingredient, and it's renowned for its anti-inflammatory properties.
We're seeing the fact that roughly 85% of consumers globally have at least heard of cur curcumin or turmeric.
That's a good sign and a good sign for the future for new product innovation levels.
So let's talk about future directions for innovation in immune health.
We're seeing a lot of new opportunities for innovation when it comes to immune health products, and CBD is one area that's beginning to break out a little bit.
CBD was red hot in 2018 and 2019.
It definitely cooled off going into 2020.
Certainly COVID-19 has created some uncertainties in the market, to say the least.
We are beginning to see company innovation here rebound.
A couple of very interesting products.
The first product on the left is a product called Lev, a product out of Canada that features CBD combined with Folvic and humic.
Mineral formulation, a mineral formulation there that is designed to have many different health benefits including aiding immune function.
The product on the right, very interesting product, the first of its kind, it's an immune booster that also features CBD.
The interesting thing about this one is the claim made for this one.
It's said to block pathogens from entering the mucous membrane.
What's interesting about that is we now know a lot more about COVID-19 than we did back in maybe January or February, and certainly mucous membranes are one of the paths of contracting COVID-19, so it sounds like this product could offer some very useful benefits.
One thing to note about this product is it's quite expensive.
If you look at the pricing on, I think Amazon, you're looking at about $85 for a 60 count bottle of this product.
Food service is definitely not the first place you'd look for new product innovation in immune health, but that may be changing in the future if Ky ingredients has anything to do about that.
Cay is markets cannedin BC 30, and that particular ingredient is a spore-based probiotic ingredient that , is especially resistant to extremes in heat, cold, and pressure, and that enables it to be used in a broad range of products, including pizza, coffee, and all kinds of food and beverage products.
The idea here is that it can be used as an ingredient for everyday products that consumers may be purchasing through fast food outlets, white tablecloth restaurants, and more, and research conducted by Carey found that 2/3 of American consumers are already seeking functional benefits from everyday food and beverage products, so that is bullish for this trend.
Kind of a fun innovation here if you think about it.
These chocolate balls kind of remind me of the malted milk balls that a lot of kids enjoyed back in the day, and this is a similar product here.
These chocolate balls are actually functional because they're they're formulated with beta glucan that is derived from 6 different mushroom types including shiitake and maitake mushrooms.
And this particular product does provide some immune health benefits in a way that is especially attractive to kids between the ages of 4 and 12.
The idea here is that the chocolate balls are a new delivery system, a fun delivery system, kind of similar to the gummies, that format that was really caught on in the marketplace.
It's a lot more exciting for kids than pills or capsules, so keep an eye on this sort of delivery system because this could really be one to watch for the future.
Finally, personalized nutrition is an area we're seeing some very interesting innovation take place.
First off, the product on the left, Veho.
This is claimed to be the world's first smart portable blender system.
It looks like a water bottle, but this is much more sophisticated than this.
You plug it into a USB port.
It has an LED light.
It actually has blades at the bottom of the package.
You peel off the top and you insert the pod into the product.
By the way, it's a biodegradable pod, no solid waste there, and you mix it with water or other functional liquids and you mix that and you have a nice drink that may aid with immunity.
One of the more popular varieties in this line is immunity Fuel, a variant that includes beta glucans, zinc, vitamin C, D, and B6, and mushrooms.
This product will set you back $130.
The starter kit that you see here is kind of pricey, so save your money.
The product next to it, another very interesting product from Nestle.
This product is called Neskino.
It was recently introduced in China and it is also kind of a this product is a tabletop type product that you take those two sachets you There's one sachet that contains superfood ingredients like the ingredients kind of highlighted here mango, carrot, and Acerola cherries, and the other sachet contains Base ingredients.
Among the ingredients contained for these sachets are probiotics.
So the tabletop unit has two buttons.
One of the buttons heats the mixture, the other button cools it.
So you have the option of having a cold drink or a hot beverage to create kind of a customized superfood product.
And there's many different formulations that consumers can enjoy with this particular item.
It's one to watch.
So next we're going to talk about some key takeaways from today's Enova Market Insights webinar.
We started things off today with a look at immune health trends, including innovation trends in dairy and plant-based products, two areas you really want to keep an eye on.
We talked a lot about the rise of supplements, especially supplements containing probiotics, as as botanical and herbal supplements, as places we're seeing a lot of growth.
We also talked about specific areas in vitamins and minerals that are growing, including vitamin C and more.
And finally, for future directions, a lot to digest here and unpack.
CBD is re-emerging as an innovation platform.
You're seeing new delivery systems, including the chocolate balls we talked about earlier.
And personalized nutrition is definitely something that is emerging in this space and could be a great innovation platform for the future.
Some good contact information here to reach out to us at Enova Market Insights.
We publish the Enova Database which covers new product innovation in more than 90 countries around the world.
So please feel free to reach out to us.
We also do custom research and research on patent innovation and more here at Enova Market Insights.
Thanks again for attending today's webinar and have a great day.
