Nutraceutical Trend #6 - Adaptogens light up nutricosmetics premium surge

SUMMARY

1.????Introduction

2.????Nutricosmetic premium positioning

3.????Pandemic effects

4.????The holistic way: Wellness, beauty and you (and your mind)

5.????On-shelf learnings: Nutricosmetic retail offerings

6. ????All in on nutricosmetics

7. ????Addressing modern diet fails

8. ????Retail curation to build consumer confidence

9. ????Emerging adaptogens research

10. ???References

1. INTRODUCTION

Driven by increasing consumer preferences for natural nutrients and holistic solutions that blur concepts of beauty and wellness, nutricosmetics are bigger than ever and breaking into the mainstream.

Global Market Insights (GMI) valued the worldwide nutricosmetics market at around $6.9bn in 2021 and set to grow 8.1% a year to almost double in size at $13.77bn in 2030 [1].

While $7bn only accounts for a small share of a global beauty and personal care market that is worth something north of $530 billion according to market analyst Statista [2], nutricosmetics are growing more than 2% faster per annum than the entire beauty sector.

The fact nutricosmetics, beauty-from-within products, cosmeceuticals – edible beauty products fall under many monikers – often possess natural ingredients like botanical extracts, adaptogens, probiotics or omega-3s is a compelling advantage in a world turning sharply away from the drivers of traditional beauty which are often synthetic, chemical-driven cosmetic products.

2. NUTRICOSMETIC PREMIUM POSITIONING

The use of these kinds of ingredients has leant the nutricosmetics sector a natural premiumization, with a scan of on-market nutricosmetic pricing clearly demonstrating consumers in many countries are willing to pay healthy premiums for efficacious and convenient nutricosmetics.

With a stronger scientific grounding and broader interest, an emerging natural halo around nutricosmetics means these kinds of premiums are becoming the norm for products containing high-quality (and frequently costly) bioactives.?

“Consumers are also growing more inclined toward high-quality nutritious or natural products for preventive action against diseases,” wrote GMI in its sector analysis. “The acceptance of preventive health management practices will provide lucrative growth opportunities for the nutricosmetics market.”

3. PANDEMIC EFFECTS

COVID-19 has also intensified people’s interest in health and beauty, amplified by the ‘Zoom effect’ of so many of us spending so long in front of screens and having ample time to zoom in on each other’s perfections and imperfections alike.

At the same time the psychological strains of the pandemic and lockdowns have raised people’s interest in wellness and nutrition and self-care and how these can be linked and manifested in both body and mind.

In this way customized beauty regimes have played their part in increasing demand for nutricosmetics.

Mask-wearing itself had unexpected beauty consequences, beyond the fact many people covered their faces in public for around two years.

“Unhealthy skin due to constantly wearing face masks and increased demand for skin health supplements due to health consciousness attracted new consumers to opt for beauty supplements,” concluded Mordor Intelligence in a 2022 nutricosmetics report [3].

Mordor noted European cosmetics sector demand for natural ingredients was, “visibly increasing due to the growing consumer awareness of natural cosmetics and the initiative of cosmetic companies to replace synthetic ingredients with natural variants.”

4. THE HOLISTIC WAY: WELNESS, BEAUTY AND YOU (AND YOUR MIND)

Much of the nutricosmetics growth is being driven by a broader shift across the nutraceutical and nutricosmetic space from medicalized/specialist endpoints like cognitive function, heart health or gut health to more holistic solutions centered around notions of wellbeing and inner and outer beauty.

Both Mordor and GMI noted a generational shift in that Millennials and Generation Alpha were taking to nutricosmetics in greater numbers than older generations, and were more interested in inner and outer beauty manifestations and using nutrition to influence how they felt and looked.

On the supply side, such shifts can be observed not only in formulation changes but branding and marketing language. So sleep aids or anxiolytics (anti-anxiety pharmaceuticals or supplements) may for instance be referred to as ‘happiness’, ‘mood’ or ‘sleep & glow’ aids, be they pharmaceutical or nutraceutical.

The broader trend is toward self-optimization in a broad sense and away from niche health issues and product positionings.

“It is not a surprise that there is rising interest in holistic wellbeing,” said market analyst Kantar in a recent report on beauty trends [4].

“Within the context of beauty this is linked to physical and mental health but also to the way we look and our environment. Over the last couple of years, we saw the rise of cosmetic procedures and beauty products that overlooked consumers' long-term health (e.g., peels, acids) and their environment (plastic pollution).

“Today, as we have established, the shift to skin care (protecting) means that consumers want to enable not only mental but also physical health through the beauty category.”

Holistic positioning is accentuated and even encouraged in many jurisdictions because of strict regulations which prohibit or restrict many specific beauty claims such as is the case in the European Union, Australia and New Zealand and many parts of Asia.

Format diversification is also occurring to make it easier for people to consume nutricosmetics from stress-free candy to beauty gummies, bars, powders, liquid supplements and more.

Companies like ARAGAN , Laboratorios YSONUT , Laboratoire NHCO Nutrition , GROUPE D-LAB , NUTRI & CO , Moon Juice , WelleCo , The Beauty Chef and HOLIDERMIE are playing in these nutricosmetic spaces.

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5. ON-SHELF LEARNINGS: NUTRICOSMETIC RETAIL OFFERINGS

As some of the product examples below illustrate, there is a vast list of nutrients from botanicals and adaptogens to omega-3s to collagen, gelatin, hyaluronic acid, probiotics, prebiotics, postbiotics, CBD, carotenoids, proanthocyanidins and more that are all going into the nutricosmetic melting pot.

The Super Elixir from Australian firm WelleCo is a green powder that is firmly centered on the holistic beauty nexus, claiming to “support real beauty-through-wellness.”

Product literature highlights Super Elixir’s ability to support no less than 11 bodily systems:

“from the immune and digestive systems to hair, skin and nail health.”

The rather extensive 40-ingredient offering includes a wide variety of botanical extracts (maca, ginger root, green tea, ginseng, psyllium, papaya, pomegranate, spirulina, beetroot, turmeric, aloe vera, to name a few), mushroom extracts, prebiotics and probiotics as well as minerals and antioxidants.

A 30-capsule bottle sells for $64.

WelleCo has added another green powder nutricosmetic called The Skin Elixir that contains a 530mg proprietary blend consisting of barley, pomegranate, papaya, turmeric, green tea, acai, broccoli, spinach, aloe vera and black pepper.

The formulation was, “chosen to encourage skin healing and regeneration, support collagen formation, and help to maintain skin firmness and elasticity.”

It sells for $44 for 60 capsules.

French player HOLIDERMIE is another beauty firm where holistic approaches are dominant, especially for its range of about 15 nutricosmetics including anti-aging, radiance and firming, soothing and anti-spot offerings that price from $39-$80+.

A menopause-focused product features cimicifuga root extract, sage leaf extract and ginseng root extract to, “support women and boost their comfort during this transitional period.”

Ginseng is defined as an adaptogen that, “helps the body resist stress and helps maintain good sexual relations”.

The Beauty Chef in Australia places its adaptogen leanings up front and center with Adaptogen: Inner Beauty Boost, a “bio-fermented elixir” containing probiotics and botanicals like papaya and tulsi (holy basil).

It retails for $49.

6. ALL IN ON NUTRICOSMETICS

Other firms have made nutricosmetics their commercial raison d'être, like Moon Juice , a Californian wellness firm that brings, “adaptogens, mushrooms, and clinical-level actives into supplements and skin care, with clinically studied, 100% traceable, bioavailable, and potently dosed ingredients.”

Moon Juice has a 4-strong range of ‘Super’ supplements targeting inner and outer health: SuperYou to, “help alleviate the emotional, mental, hormonal, and physical manifestations of stress”; SuperPower for immune function; plus the devoted nutricosmetics, SuperHair and SuperBeauty.

SuperHair features botanical extracts and adaptogens including Panax ginseng, ashwagandha, saw palmetto as well as vitamins and minerals like biotin (B7), vitamin E and zinc to, “address the nutritional deficiencies that inhibit the growth of healthy hair.”

SuperBeauty contains the likes of schisandra, astaxanthin, glutathione, N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC) and vitamins C, D3 and E to, “help protect from accelerated aging while promoting collagen production, elasticity, and cell vitality.”

30-capsule bottles of SuperHair and SuperBeauty retail for $60.

Moon Juice publishes a 15-strong Adaptogen Glossary that includes ginseng, which is described for its ability to promote, “calm focus and energy” not to mention “sex and power”. Other featured adaptogens include astralagus, cordyceps, eleuthero, licorice, reishi, rhodiola, schisandra, shatavari and tulsi.

Moon Juice manufactures supplements based on these adaptogens, with a red ginseng powder marketed as “Energy Root” selling for $30 for a 45g jar.

7. ADDRESSING MODERN DIET FAILS

Paris-based GROUPE D-LAB is another specialist with a range of cosmeceuticals targeting skin, hair, weight management and wellness.

The firm cites poor agricultural and food processing practices for provoking a situation where, “the modern diet no longer meets the nutritional needs of the body.” It notes 50% of the French population are using supplements to bridge such nutritional gaps and calls out “nine levers” of optimal bodily functioning:

• “the health of the microbiota
• cellular ageing, nutrition
• depollution
• stimulation of the metabolism
• hormonal and nervous balance
• acid-base balance
• blood circulation
• thermogenesis.”

Skin-focused products target ‘Youth & Nutrition’, ‘Imperfections’, ‘Radiance & Solar’ in the fight against skin aging and collagen and elastin degradation in the body.

A wide range of botanicals is present in these products from grape seed extracts (resveratrol) to apricot, pomegranate, ginseng, astaxanthin, melon pulp, hemp oil, turmeric, acerola, chamomile, stinging nettle, spirulina, lodhra and purslane.

A Skin Detox offering ($24) includes chaste tree, turmeric, quackgrass, probiotics and vitamins and minerals to, “purify the subcutaneous tissues, regulate hormonal activity and calm the skin.”

GROUPE D-LAB describes ginseng as a powerful antioxidant that can “combat cellular aging” as well as aiding in blood sugar regulation.

8. RETAIL CURATION TO BUILD CONSUMER CONFIDENCE

Of course not all claims and products deliver on their efficacious promise, a problem highlighted by GMI in its nutricosmetics report.

“Despite the burgeoning popularity, several nutricosmetic products lack credibility,” it wrote. “Concerns regarding the authenticity of product claims may thus create a hindrance to nutricosmetics industry expansion.” [1].

E-tailer The Nutricosmetic Company promotes its tight portfolio curation to overcome such issues it says lead to people, “being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of products available and underwhelmed by reviews and targeted support.”

The UK-based firm says it only stocks ‘authoritative’ nutricosmetic products, “you can trust”, and regularly posts original content around nutricosmetic issues.

“We intend to reinvent how people discover and shop beauty and wellness by connecting shoppers with the world’s most sought-after brands through our curated online marketplace, personal shopping technology, and inspiring content,” the e-tailer states.

9. EMERGING ADAPTOGEN RESEARCH

Adaptogens like Panax ginseng are playing an increasingly important role in the ongoing evolution of the nutricosmetics category, as evidenced by some of the product examples above.

The scientific literature includes human studies where red and enzyme-modified ginseng showed reduced skin roughness and wrinkles and improved skin moisture and elasticity [5-6].

Other studies have shown ginseng extracts enriched with ginsenosides like Rg3 deliver anti-photoaging effects on human dermal fibroblasts after exposure to ultraviolet light and irradiation [7].

A 2019 Rg3-focused study found the ginsenoside remedied ATP mitochondrial dysfunction in skin cells damaged by UV irradiation, and benefitted antioxidant protein expression [8].

Emerging science is also showing how adaptogens can exert pleiotropic (gene expression) effects including around skin aging.

How big can adaptogens become in the nutricosmetics space with this kind of game-changing research work going on with multiple endpoints?

Watch this space…

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10. REFERENCES

[1] Global Market Insights - Nutricosmetics Market Report (ID: GMI4040), Aug 2022.

[2] Statista - Beauty & Personal Care - Worldwide, 2022.

[3] Mordor Intelligence - Nutricosmetic Market Industry Report, 2021.

[4] Kantar - Finding the Future: Beauty and cosmetics trends, 2021.

[5] Hwang, E., Park, S. Y., Jo, H., Lee, D. G., Kim, H. T., Kim, Y. M., ... & Yi, T. H. (2015) - "Efficacy and safety of enzyme-modified Panax ginseng for anti-wrinkle therapy in healthy skin: a single-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study."?Rejuvenation Research,?18(5), 449-457.

[6] Hong, Y. H., Kim, D., Nam, G., Yoo, S., Han, S. Y., Jeong, S. G., ... & Cho, J. Y. (2018) - "Photoaging protective effects of BIOGF1K, a compound-K-rich fraction prepared from Panax ginseng."?Journal of Ginseng Research,?42(1), 81-89.

[7] Wan, S., Liu, Y., Shi, J., Fan, D., & Li, B. (2021) - "Anti-photoaging and anti-inflammatory effects of ginsenoside Rk3 during exposure to UV irradiation."?Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2461.

[8] Lee, H., Hong, Y., Tran, Q., Cho, H., Kim, M., Kim, C., ... & Park, J. (2019) - "A new role for the ginsenoside RG3 in antiaging via mitochondria function in ultraviolet-irradiated human dermal fibroblasts."?Journal of ginseng research,?43(3), 431-441.

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