Personalised Nutrition trends to watch
No one would argue that 2022 has not been a challenging and testing year. Despite difficult economic times, consumer interest in prioritizing their health and wellbeing remains high.?
For the Personalised nutrition industry, events this year has meant that the market has shifted in unpredictable but positive ways.?
In this short report, we outline the trends that will shape and impact the industry in 2023.
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# 1 A focus on chronic disease management and rising reimbursement for nutritional digital health
It comes as no surprise that?investment?dollars are down with even the big players laying off staff in droves. In the industry we are seeing retail as a popular channel. New company launches are down?
With startups such as Telehealth companies Healthie and Wellory receiving healthy investment rounds of?$16.5m?and $4.5m, we see this as a both a move to the?reimbursement?of personalised nutrition services. Even in Europe gut health startup?Cara care?who raised $7m was the first digital therapeutic approved by the DiGA.
Furthermore retailers are playing and increasingly important role in delivering Personalised Nutrition programs to consumers in-store and online. For example this year we have seen personalised nutritional supplement company Persona launch in Target, smart shopping app?Sifter?partner with Walmart and CVS providing access to retail dietitians online.
The Qina take:?
There is certainly a shift in mindset and behaviour of payers, which we predict will only increase as the benefit and health impact of personalised nutrition is realised.?From NFT′s to rewards and experts on tap, we expect more efforts to be made to make healthy living easy at the tap of the smartphone.
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# 2 Affordability and Quality of Life as big consumer concerns
The cost of living crisis around the globe is impacting how?consumers?choose to stay healthy. Skipping meals, choosing less healthier options, ditching fresh produce and meat as well as shopping for bargains are a few trends (check out our latest article). This has meant that consumers have ditched luxury items such as digital tools, and preferred to be more concerned with issues around sustainability and affordability. If Maslow′s hierarchy is a theory to go by, just being able to keep their homes, food on the table and put fuel in their cars is going to top all priorities.?
The Qina take:?
The next two quarters will be tough on consumer pockets which will influence consumer eating and shopping behaviours.
We see this as a great opportunity for companies to re-position their solutions to make them more affordable and accessible, by offering flexible payment plans, incentives and access to their experts.?
Based on our QinaVer data, the biggest concerns consumers have is around weight, stress, sleep and glucose. We will see more solutions and programmes aimed at helping consumers with these health concerns.?
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#3??Personalised nutrition technologies enjoy increased adoption
Personalised nutrition technologies are experiencing increased adoption and acceptance because of the COVID pandemic. Companies are understanding the need for more multiple sampling and have subscequently improved the user experience for example the Microbiome wipe by Thorne.?
We also see a rise in the number of startups that are bordering on medical nutrition further blurring the lines between prevention and medical nutrition. For example Zinzino recently launched a DTC HBA1C at-home test, whilst Zizi launched a Cholesterol with psyllium and stanol supplements service powered by healthcare professionals.?
The Qina take:?
Personalised Nutrition sits at the intersection of nutrition, health, technology and society, this means that they lines between medical and wellness/Lifestyle increasingly being blurred.
Whilst we believe that consumers should have access to solutions that encourage knowledge and self-efficacy, we don′t believe that this should be available without the input or explanation by a healthcare professional for context. Moving into 2023, we expect regulators to catch up with this trend to ensure quality without hindering innovation.
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#4?Biomarkers beyond belief with Longevity, Menopause and Metabolism leading the way
With consumers being more comfortable with at home testing and real time results, we are experiencing a boom in metabolite testing from Longevity, to Menopause and individual metabolism.?
Longevity?startups are popping up everywhere. In fact, the Aging Analytics Agency estimates that global investments in longevity-focused startups hit more than $40 billion in 2021, and the market could grow to $600 billion by 2025, according to Bank of America. Companies such as DietID have partnered with BlueZone to nudge users towards healthier dietary patterns for a long Healthspan.
Women′s health is on the main stage, finally.?Menopause?a once niche area seems to have hit the mainstream with new solutions, partners and freshly launched guidelines on providing evidence-based care for the first time in history. Globally, the market size is estimated to be worth $16 billion this year.
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We also note a trend from single biomarker devices such as continuous glucose monitors to devices with micro needles that can measure more than one metabolite
The Qina take
Bioindividuality is becoming a key positioning with companies aiming to provide objective data in order to provide feedback.?
We believe that into next year, more solutions will focus on science-backed markers that can guide consumers towards managing their health and symptoms in a practical way. More consumers will use wearables to get insights into how they are responding on a daily basis.
For example?Ultrahuman?have launched a ring that can apparently measure a user′s metabolism.?
Whilst Lumen, the breathable that measure metabolic flexibibility has partnered with a meal company (Metabolic tracker) based on the results.
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#5?Big tech and big business enter Personalised nutrition at an opportune time
Big tech is making a big splash into health and Personalised nutrition.?Google?has recently partnered with Innit and Spoonguru. This move will help retailers to provide affordable and nutritious meal plans using AI to match users′budgets with their health goals.?
Apple?is not waiting either and it appears they are planning an Instacart service for nutrition tracking, they are entering health insurance and they have recently partnered with Insidetracker for biomarker tracking.
Amway?a global MLM company has launched a microbiome testing kit with personalised probiotics.
The Qina take:?
It is been a long time coming, but it looks like the time has finally come for big tech to make their mark in the PN industry and the industry needs to wake up and get ready for 2023 for some shake-up.?
We predict that this will heighten consumer concerns around privacy with regulators stepping in to protect consumers.?
In addition, with Amway as a global leader, we expect more MLM companies to follow suit with solutions in Personalized nutrition.
#6 Research is moving into the home
We are seeing some exciting trends in the research arena in addition to specific health areas such as the microbiome. A recent trend is to use text analytics to conduct research to understand behaviour. For example Noom recently published a study which correlated the language used in the online notes and communication with the coach with the amount of weight loss. This research used Natural language processing to identify keywords and networks.
Personalised nutrition company Zoe published their study using a real-world evidence approach on women going through menopause and demonstrated that they have altered glucose control.?
In another recent?review?that looked at studies published between 2003 - 2021 found out of the 71 published studies 31% of social media studies were published in the US and only 3% were conducted by nutrition experts.?
The Qina take:?
Next year we will see more studies adopting a decentralized approach to include more consumer groups who have been traditionally hard to reach. In addition, there will be more focus on including women in research. For example a recent study by Globaldata already demonstrated that trials in women′s health are leading the way.?
Next year we will see more companies investing in digital consumer studies to demonstrate effectiveness and impact.
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Conclusions
Despite a drop in funding and lower number of new launches this year, we are optimistic about Personalised nutrition and see this challenging period as one of opportunity and time for introspection. We can look forward to a resilient industry where science-based solutions survive.
This article was originally posted on the Qina blog.
Qina is the hub for data and insights in Personalised nutrition. To keep up with news and developments in Personalised nutrition visit Qina here
Written by Mariette Abrahams - CEO & Founder of Qina