Volac Vow To Redefine Sports Nutrition Category

30 Nov 2016 --- Whey protein business Volac, a leader in sports nutrition in Europe, has embarked on a journey with Sports Integrated to redefine the sports nutrition category and set it on its next growth curve. The company claims that as sports nutrition evolves, two markets have emerged to better reflect the goals of the wider consumer landscape, but there is a need to broaden its appeal beyond muscle recovery and growth to realise its full potential. 

The company suggests that that there are two different markets, ‘performance nutrition’ and ‘active nutrition’, with fundamentally different drivers.

Despite strong growth, ‘sports nutrition’ has become a capture-all term that has led to a blur between markets, a confusing co-existence of products and a failure to focus on the retention of consumers as they age and their goals evolve.

The emergence of active nutrition provides the platform to resonate with this wider consumer group.

Building on the strength of “performance nutrition”, “active nutrition” represents the growing number of people interested in the social, physical and health benefits of exercise and nutrition.

They are characterised by a desire to be ageless, and often represent the generational shift of the current sports nutrition consumer to whom training has moved from a focus on muscle performance and size, to maintaining weight-wellness and enjoying activity.

The company claim to recognize that there is a need to better reflect the differences between performance and active nutrition consumers.

Nick Morgan from Sports Integrated, explains, “Whilst exercise is the common denominator, consumers are less defined by ‘what’ they do, but more so ‘why’ they do it.”

Speaking with NutritionInsight yesterday at HiE Frankfurt, Suzane Leser, Head of Nutrition for Volac said, “We believe we have two distinctive markets: Sports nutrition and active nutrition. In active nutrition the values are slightly different and we need to offer different solutions.”

“We are evolving the message of whey protein for muscle growth to muscle health. Muscles today are the biomarkers for longevity - we all want to be ageless and exercise is the common denominator, where protein potentiates the effects of exercise on muscles.”

“If you look after muscle health with the right diet and exercise, you will be able to maintain muscle. We see active nutrition is a generational shift of the current sports nutrition market and we don’t want to lose these consumers as their values change. We need to evolve the message that maintaining muscle is important and that the qualities of whey protein remain relevant to them.”

Leser also believes the food industry has seen the opportunity for muscle health, but have not yet realised its full potential.

”There is a wave of mass market products now associating ‘high protein’ with ‘muscle maintenance’, simply because this is the approved health claim,” she says.

“At best, what active consumers are gaining is a vague awareness of the relationship between protein and muscle recovery, but they don’t quite yet understand what the real benefits of building and maintaining muscles really mean to ‘why’ they exercise, when they are not looking to win a 10K race or to prepare for their first Figure competition,” says Leser.

Morgan thinks the perception of muscle is about to completely shift, along with the perception of whey protein.

“Whilst consumers have been desensitised to the benefits of whey protein because of its association with muscle building, all information points to a successful repositioning.”

“As knowledge of its wide health properties and proven benefits to ageing muscles is fast expanding, the important message of protein efficacy will start to resonate on both a functional and emotional level with all consumers wanting to get more for their health.”