Biotics propel the rise of immunity ingredients in the post-pandemic space

22 Sep 2022 --- Immunity has been a concern for consumers and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated anxieties, pushing the nutrition space forward. Innova Market Insights has reported that, globally, one in four people has become more concerned about their immune health since before the pandemic.

NutritionInsight speaks to Gnosis by Lesaffre, NutriLeads, Stratum Nutrition, Gencor and Gencor Pacific about the latest trends regarding immunity ingredients, what they are and what is driving innovations within the space.

Industry experts agree that immunity ingredients encompass an immense space. Traditionally, immunity ingredients are nutrients that boost the immune system, such as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and antimicrobials, to name a few. However, with the rise of nutraceuticals, probiotics and targeted and immunity modulating ingredients, the space is increasingly expanding.

“In the field of Immunity, both minerals and vitamins keep the first position in the consumer mind, essentially due to their antioxidant effects,” says Julie Lemahieu, global market manager at Gnosis by Lesaffre. “The family of Biotics can be considered as the second big category of ingredients positively impacting the Immune System.”

“Probiotics coming from yeast or bacteria are historically used in numerous products dedicated to Immune health. Recent developments often associate probiotics and prebiotics with interacting at different levels of the digestive tract, where 80% of immune cells take place. The gut microbiome especially has a significant impact on one’s health, and scientists are just now beginning to understand all its complexities,” she continues.

Industry experts maintain that, in the post-pandemic era, immunity ingredients represents a boundless market.Ever evolving ingredients
Maggie McNamara, marketing director at Gencor, explains that as knowledge of the science of immunity increases, so do the ways in which companies and their products can address consumer needs. Moreover, the market can change as consumer needs change.

“Trends in the immunity ingredients shifted pre-covid, during the pandemic, and in the ‘post-covid’ era,” Kenny Suazo, marketing associate at Gencor, elaborates. 

“For example, pre-covid immunity health products were seasonal purchases for consumers yearly due to the flu season. On the other hand, the industry saw a disruption in the wake of the pandemic, and immune health products skyrocketed as consumers sought-after vitamins and supplements to combat the virus that was ramped around the world.”

“We see two major categories of ingredients targeted at immunity,” explains Joana Carneiro, CEO at NutriLeads. 

“The first are micronutrients, such as vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc; the second, which we are focused on developing at NutriLeads, are advanced ingredients which help to further optimize immune function, for instance by training the immune system to be more effective.”

“Within the last three years, the category has blossomed tremendously,” affirms Nena Dockery, scientific affairs manager at Stratum Nutrition. 

“There is now a full range of immune support products that contain just probiotics. Vitamin D has also come into the spotlight for its potential benefits in mitigating the risks associated with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and the popularity of elderberry, astragalus, green tea and other immune-supporting botanicals has risen sharply.”

What’s in demand?
Since individual consumers have individual immunity needs, industry professionals agree that these needs help to drive and shape innovation. Currently, many are seeing an increase in demand for biotics of every sort (pre, pro and postbiotics), as well as ingredients that are scientifically tested and proven to target specific areas of immunity.

“There is a tremendous focus right now on the importance of specific microbial strains in protecting the body from disease and injury,” stresses Dockery. 

“As more information is gained about the bacteria, fungi and even some viruses that naturally reside on and in a healthy human body, there will be an increased demand for microbial strains that have unique attributes that make them particularly beneficial to human health.”

AI and personalized nutrition are just some of the drivers of innovation in the immunity ingredients space.

“Lynside Immunity Prebiotic is a patented yeast from a specific strain of saccharomyces cerevisiae,” explains Lemahieu. “It supports the development of different families of bacteria depending on enterotypes.”

Meanwhile, Kenny Suazo, marketing associate at Gencor, holds that ingredients like palmitoylethanolamide (PEA), a fatty acid produced in the body during injury or in times of stress, are able to provide relief of flu symptoms. 

“PEA, like that present in Gencor’s Levagen+, is a more desired option and a naturally occurring dietary supplement that offers an excellent alternative to traditional drugs that can boost immunity in the body,” affirms Suazo.

“Consumers are also looking for multifunctional ingredients that offer multiple benefits, especially in a cost-conscious marketplace,” states Carneiro. “Immunity ingredients should be natural, sustainable, and complement a more holistic, healthy lifestyle.

A personalized response
According to Lemahieu, the pandemic further exposed the need for personalized nutrition. 

Since all immune systems are not the same and individual immune systems have individual requirements, the industry has to find new ways to meet consumers’ personal needs.

“The global trend of personalized nutrition is on the rise,” Lemahieu underscores. “The pandemic showed us that we’re not all equal in front of a pathogen agent.”

She further elaborates, saying: “One of the megatrends of research and development is how an individual, or a group of individuals, can benefit from an ingredient, or an ingredient combination, acting on the immune system. If we think that we can have as many different immune responses as we have people on earth, this is a challenge for the short term, but it designs the future of dietary supplements.”Pre, pro, and postbiotics are all in high demand, as are ingredients that target specific areas of immunity.

Rajwant Kaur Gill, marketing executive at Gencor Pacific, believes that artificial intelligence (AI) may help the industry to meet consumers’ individual nutraceutical needs as well. 

“With AI expected to have more presence in the next few years, we can expect to see the nutraceutical industry adopting a personalized approach when providing health solutions to individuals.”

“AI allows nutrition businesses to think outside the box and evolves to stay ahead of the curve while providing better health solutions to individuals,” says Gill.

A boundless market
According to industry professionals, another aspect of immunity ingredients is that they cross all boundaries in terms of demographics. 

“All areas and generations are concerned with maintaining a healthy immune system,” affirms Lemahieu. “In the last two years, we even see an increasing interest in probiotics dedicated to immune health in Generation X and Baby Boomers.”

“As the number of health-conscious consumers increased exponentially over the last few years, the nutraceutical space has expanded to meet the demands of the broader demographics,” says Gill. 

Gill explains that as consumption patterns evolve, more time-pressed customers are expected to proactively look for new products with multifunctional benefits for holistic health with a view of prevention over cure. 

“Especially the younger and middle-aged generations who are ready to get back to their normal routine post-pandemic and would appreciate one-stop solutions that can aid multiple health concerns and have a positive impact on their immunity,” she continues.

“Consumers of health and wellness products are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and their demands are higher for immunity products,” continues Carneiro. “The experience of the pandemic has given consumers a greater understanding of how the immune system functions and consumers are also looking for solutions for gut health which they recognize is linked to immune function.”

“NutriLeads will be diving into the trends around immunity with a webinar on September 29,” she concludes.

By William Bradford Nichols