Post-pandemic trends in natural products

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July 6, 2022

Thanks to modern fast-paced lifestyles and an increasingly aging population, nutritional deficiencies and health problems are becoming more and more common.

This, coupled with the impact of the pandemic on the physical and mental health of the population, has led to a significant increase in demand for nutritional products that help improve people’s mental health and mood.

Additionally, thanks to the growing purchasing power of some population groups such as generation Z, more and more vitamin supplements and natural products have emerged that seek to combat the negative effects of Covid-19.

The purpose of vitamins and supplements

It is important to understand that a good diet, together with a good physical condition and enough sleep are key to a correct mental and physical state. However, it is also true that not all people can maintain a healthy lifestyle, with a balanced diet, and with the amount and variety of nutrients necessary for their age or stage of life.

This is where nutraceutical products appear, which seek to support people’s nutrition and make up for their deficiencies. The most popular products in this category are vitamins, nutritional supplements and herbal products.

The most popular vitamins in recent years, for their support in the fight against Covid-19 and for their contribution to the immune system are:

Vitamin B1: Also known as thiamine, it is a vitamin that is responsible for converting food into energy. It is also important for the health of muscle tissue and the circulatory system.
Vitamin C: It is an antioxidant that cannot be produced by the organism and which protects cells from the effects of free radicals. Vitamin C also contributes to the proper functioning of the immune system and aids in the body’s natural production of collagen.
Vitamin D: In addition to regulating the production of serotonin, this vitamin assists in the good absorption of calcium at intestinal level and in the production of energy, which provides a better recovery from physical exertion.

Natural products for mental health

Foods rich in eicosatetraenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, better known as Omega-3 fatty acids, are ideal for protecting mental health. In addition, they are essential for the proper production of serotonin. The lack of these acids in the body is associated with all kinds of neurological disorders, including depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Zinc, on the other hand, is a mineral present in all tissues and fluids of the body and its role is essential for the good health of the cognitive and nervous system. It is an antioxidant and, like vitamin C, helps neutralize free radicals. According to several scientific studies, it has been proven that patients with depression have lower levels of this mineral in their blood.

Ginkgo Biloba is a nutritional supplement made from the leaves of the Ginkgo tree. Its benefits are associated with improved circulation, memory and overall good mental health. Due to the fact that it is a powerful antioxidant, it protects the body’s cells from damage caused by aging.

The best format for nutraceutical products

Nutraceuticals encompass the widest variety of dosage forms, due to the diverse ingredients they contain and the advantage that they are not bound by the strict rules of pharmaceutical regulatory agencies.

In this niche market, it is usual to find everything from tablets, powders and suspensions to capsules, soft gels and gummies. However, the latter three are the most popular, due to the attractiveness and practicality they represent for patients, as well as the cost and production efficiency they represent for companies.

Soft gels are very attractive visually to patients and have the advantage of containing the product in a liquid or mixed formulation, which favors its absorption by the body. However, they involve a complex manufacturing process, with specialized machines, which means that they can only be carried out in large production batches and by a few players in the market.

Gummies, like soft gels, are very attractive to consumers, especially because of their palatability and their shapes; many include animal or fruit figures. However, they tend to include a greater amount of extra ingredients that enhance their pleasant taste and may be unhealthy, such as sugar. In addition, because gelatin (the main ingredient in gummies) comes from animal sources, it impedes their consumption by market segments with vegan or vegetarian lifestyles.

Capsules have been a favorite format of nutraceutical companies for years because they are cost-efficient, easy to produce and package, and allow for high customization. In recent years, the variety of liquid-filled hard capsules has been gaining popularity, thanks to their multiple advantages, such as:

Easy to encapsulate formulations with low melting point or susceptible to instability in contact with oxygen or humidity.
Advantages for encapsulating poorly water-soluble substances
Possibility to encapsulate HPAPIs (high potency active ingredients) with fewer excipients and fewer steps in their manufacture
Liquid formulations are more bioavailable, meaning faster absorption into the bloodstream

In addition, liquid-filled hard capsules do not require a shell formulation, as soft gels or gummies do, they come in a wide variety of sizes and can be of animal or vegetable origin, which favors their consumption by different market segments.

This product is one of the most efficient thanks to the advantages of liquid formulations, but also in terms of brand differentiation and product positioning. A liquid-filled capsule can be customized in terms of color (both cap and body), size, color of the sealing band or print.

As an additional advantage, all the vitamins and products mentioned earlier in this article can be formulated in liquid capsule form and, in fact, several of them are already marketed in this format in various markets.

The future of nutraceutical products

The vitamins and nutraceutical supplements industry is positioned as one of the strongest in the market, due to the growing interest it has generated among consumers in recent years, and to recent health circumstances.

As a result, manufacturers are challenged to test new formats and develop more attractive and competitive products, according to market needs. In the face of this, interesting opportunities arise such as liquid-filled hard capsules and their wide range of advantages for the vitamin and supplement industry.