Hydration everywhere
“Hydration has been a leading category for the past few years,” Dicker, senior director of market insights at SPINS, said. “What’s interesting is, for a few years, we saw it really elevated in both the ready to drink format as well as the ready to mix format.
“And now we’ve seen the sports drinks actually flatten out while the ready to mix hydration continues to take off, and that’s actually what’s been leading the growth in active nutrition in general, even though we know one of the big trends is hydration all day. One of the key themes you’re seeing on the show floor is hydration everywhere.”
Active Nutrition
Hydration is just one of the big categories in the active nutrition space, the top growth category for all supplements for the fourth year in a row, Dicker said.
“When I looked at the data about mid-year, I thought maybe there’s a chance that something else would pass it, but nope, active nutrition is still king,” he said. “It was really led by two segments of growth: So, we talked about hydration already. Creatine is really the other one… Creatine continues to really surge [and] checks all the boxes.”
Dicker noted that creatine is attracting new demographics, including women and older generations. It is also finding new use cases, notably cognitive health, and those brain health benefits require higher doses.
“These [factors] are just like endless tailwinds for creatine,” he said.
Weight management
Numerous booths in Anaheim were touting the potential GLP-1-related benefits of their ingredients or products, with brands exploring how to tap into this megatrend.
“There’s two areas where there are pockets of growth, and that is companion products, so things like ready-to-drink protein shakes,” Dicker said. “I think multivitamins are going to have a big year this year where they’ve been kind of flat for the past few years.
“And then there’s also competitor products. Not everyone wants to take these drugs. A lot of people want to try [natural] products first. We’ve seen berberine continue to do well ever since it was dubbed #NaturesOzempic.”
Longevity and healthspan
“I’m seeing first of all that that shift in mindset, from lifespan to healthspan, is really big,” Dicker said. “We know that, for example, a lot of people are now getting their biological age checked. They’re now tracking all their data, and this is kind of goes hand in hand with personalized nutrition.
“Like other health focuses, if [brands] could link [their claims] more towards healthspan, you’ll see a big market uptick, in my opinion,” he added.
Cognitive health
Linked to both healthspan and active nutrition, Dicker said another big trend that was very visible at Expo West was around cognitive health.
“Of the ingredients that we’re tracking for cognitive health, magnesium had one of the best years last year,” he said. “When it comes to functional mushrooms, I’ve actually seen a few less of them on the show this this year than in probably the prior two years. However, lion’s mane continues to do well.
“You still have the older demographics looking for, kind of the traditional cognitive health supplements. All the younger ones, it’s almost like mental performance and performance at work, in the gym and the classroom, and so you see some of these ingredients added to energy for focused products as well.”
Women’s health
One surprise from the show was that women’s health was not more prominent on the floor, with so much focus on the category over the past couple of years.
“This year, it seems to be tapered down a little bit,” Dicker said. “I still think that the long-term future for that segment is bright, but it was maybe a little too soon.”
Watch the video for the full interview.