Winter is Close: Help your customers protect their house

We are all the Lords of our own North so preparing for harsh winters is commonplace. Right now, we bask in the heat of summer, but just as quickly as summer arrived, it will leave again. The Fall, evening breeze will blow across our masked faces, whispering a reminder of the inevitable that is to come. 

Not a reminder to provoke fear, but a reminder to motivate as your customers prepare their stock for what will hit the Lords the hardest – Winter.

In this industry — and during these unprecedented times — we know with certainty winter is coming and the need to add a proprietary immune-support probiotic product to help your customers protect their house is more imminent now than ever before.

A New Season of Winter is Close​

For hundreds of years, humans have suffered from influenza and we can expect the new reality of COVID-19 will only complicate the upcoming influenza season.

In an editorial published on May 29, 2020 in the journal Science Advances, ​Dr. Benjamin Singer, a Northwestern Medicine pulmonologist who treats COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit, examines the epidemiology and biology of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza to help with preparation strategies for the upcoming flu season.

“Even in non-pandemic years, the flu and other causes of pneumonia represent the eighth-leading cause of death in the United States, and respiratory viruses are the most commonly identified pathogens among hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia,” Singer said.

Efforts to reduce the overall burden of respiratory viral infections have already been taken - including social distancing, increased vaccination rates, mask requirements and immune health awareness.  

Immune Awareness for Winter Protection​

According to the June 2020 issue of Nutrition Business Journal​, the nutraceutical industry is experiencing a 25% increase in immune health sales. As winter continues to get closer, this number is expected to jump as families look for ways to ward off the cold from burdening their family.

The International Probiotics Association noted that, in the United States, nearly 75% of parents reported interest in, or active purchasing of probiotics for themselves or a member of their family. As schools begin preparations to open back up and traveling begins to increase, families and those who travel for work are becoming more aware of the importance of immune health defense.

According to The Kerry Global Consumer Survey on Immune Health, one in five consumers (19.5%) listed immune system support as their number one reason for purchasing healthy lifestyle products, ahead of healthy bones and joint, heart health, digestive health and energy levels.

Diana Morgan, Head of Scientific & Regulatory Affairs of Care/of, said, “Mainstream consumers think about immune support as a seasonal concern. We have to get out of that state of mind. Immunity builds on a daily basis.”

Shield Immune Health with Probiotics​

Probiotics comprise one of the most popular yet least understood ingredient categories in the dietary supplement industry. When it comes to immunity, scientific research continues to expand consumer knowledge of the bacteria that inhabit our intestinal tract and the substantial benefits from probiotic supplementation.

As more consumers are now beginning to gain an understanding of the importance of the bacteria that reside in other parts of their bodies, such as the oral cavity, they are learning how probiotic supplementation targeted to these areas can play a crucial role in supporting overall health.

Defend the Gateway to the Body​

It is known that oral and overall health are connected. Notably, explains Nena Dockery, Science and Regulatory Manager at Stratum Nutrition, “the oral cavity has become a focus of study within the last decade or so, resulting in the development of probiotics designed to work in the mouth and regions of the upper respiratory tract. We now recognize that the oral cavity is home to some 700 species of bacteria and maintaining a healthy environment of bacterial species in the mouth is crucial to overall health. In addition to probiotics designed to support dental health, oral cavity probiotics can also be extremely beneficial to immune health, particularly in the upper respiratory tract.”

Dockery continues, “Ideally these probiotics are derived from species that are indigenous to the human oral cavity. Most function predominantly through competitive inhibition, crowding out detrimental species that enter the body through the nose and mouth. Others produce protective substances, called bacteriocin-like inhibitory substances (BLIS) that target unfavorable strains and limit their entry into the body.

Streptococcus salivarius ​is one of the most common species of bacteria in the oral cavity of healthy individuals and several strains do produce favorable BLIS. There is extensive background research establishing the safety and efficacy of these strains.  One particularly beneficial S. salivarius ​strain is the K12 strain.  This is a rare human-derived strain that is particularly beneficial in inhibiting such species as S. pyogenes ​and Moraxella catarrhalis.​ The breadth of human studies in young children make it a particularly desirable probiotic for supporting immune health in the very young.” 

The Time is Now​

As we look ahead with uncertainty, there is a sense of longing to return to “a time for warm embraces, for smiles, for toasts and reconciliations, for renewing old friendships and making new ones, for laughter and kisses.” -George R.R. Martin, Fire & Blood​

As Winter approaches, now is the time to formulate a probiotic product to help consumers of all ages ward off unprecedented winter forces. Help your customers protect their house.