“Snackable skin care”: Holistic health, scientific support and innovation key in ingestible beauty

14 Dec 2023 --- The nutricosmetics market enters the mainstream market as consumers continue to link nutrition with beauty and health. Industry experts highlight a demand for preventative healthcare targeting skin, hair and healthy aging while stressing the need for clinically studied ingredients and innovative product formats.

Nutrition Insight discusses developments in the beauty-from-within market with Lubrizol Life Science and Health Ingredients, Rousselot, Monteloeder, Bioiberica, Gencor and ADM.  

“An essential part of the well-being of consumers is ensuring healthy-looking skin. Mirroring the nutraceuticals industry, beauty is now seeing a shift toward health-enhancing ingredients as consumers look to protect themselves against future outbreaks,” says Isabel Gómez, global marketing manager of nutraceutical ingredients at Lubrizol Life Science and Health Ingredients. 

“This has moved consumers’ focus on products offering other benefits such as gut health, sleep, stress (reduction) and immunity support while improving skin appearance.” 

As an essential growing area, she highlights the development of products that prevent signs of inflammation — immuno-cosmetics. “This translates into beauty products evolving into immunity-supporting wellness products that factor skin, mind and body as one holistic entity.” 

Florencia Moreno Torres, health and nutrition global business development manager at Rousselot, adds that nutricosmetics brands need complete-package solutions to compete in an increasingly competitive market, products that combine taste with tangible benefits in an attractive delivery form. 

“Formats, capsules, powders or beverages top the charts, but novel delivery forms like gummies, gels, concentrated shots and bars are rising as consumers search for more exciting options. In this area, versatile active ingredients like collagen peptides offer a real advantage since they can be easily incorporated into various product formats without impacting their effectiveness.” 

“You are what you eat” 
Mariana Ortega, product manager in the Nutra Division of Monteloeder, explains that ingestible beauty supplements target specific nutritional deficiencies, adhering to the “you are what you eat” philosophy by emphasizing precise nutrient intake, including vitamins, minerals, proteins and botanicals, to improve skin health and overall appearance. 

“These supplements address issues such as acne and aging, promoting well-being for the skin, hair, nails and overall health. Customization options cater to individual lifestyles and fitness goals.”

Beauty and food are merging in the minds of consumers, enhancing their appearance through dietary choices.She underscores that beauty is becoming a focal point in the food industry, driven by consumers seeking to enhance their appearance through dietary choices. “The trend involves a holistic approach, emphasizing internal solutions with functional ingredients and external options like skin care products.”

“The future lies in consumers’ growing interest in achieving beauty through food and drinks, alongside traditional supplements,” Ortega predicts. “Health and wellness products are gaining traction as proactive solutions.”

Antonio Vendrell, marketing director at Bioiberica, observes a growing demand for personalization, sustainability and “snackable skin care” — functional snacks that support skin, beauty or other wellness needs. 

He adds that self-care is gaining momentum. “Once considered a luxury, there is a renewed appreciation for self-care practices because they’re viewed as essential for quality of life, healthy aging, and increased resilience to any challenges that may arise.” 

“With this in mind, individuals are investing more time and money in personal wellness and aging in more healthy and natural ways — and because beauty and skin care is viewed as part of this, the uptake of beauty-from-within products is rising,” asserts Vendrell. 

Preventative, holistic healthcare  
Lubrizol Life Science’s Gómez notes that increasingly health-conscious consumers take preventative healthcare measures by proactively managing health and seeking products that support healthy aging.

“We expect to see new multi-functional products addressing consumers’ well-being concerns with a focus on nourishing skin from the inside out coupled with other health benefits such as immune or sleep support or that are microbiome friendly.”

Gómez adds that emerging probiotic beauty supplements tap into an increasing understanding of the importance of healthy gut microbiota and its impact on digestive and skin health. 

“As wellness and skin care are converging, new hybrid concepts such as the immune-cosmetics or skin-gut axis have emerged, showing real promise in the marketplace as a novel area of prevention.”

Health-conscious consumers take preventative healthcare measures to manage health (Image credit: Lubrizol Life Science & Health Ingredients).“To continue developing this growing market, we expect to see more companies pairing topical products and launching them with nutricosmetics that provide science-backed solutions to consumers seeking skin benefits from the inside out.” 

Moreno Torres observes that consumer’s focus shifts to a holistic approach to self-care. In response to this development, active nutrition products increasingly highlight the importance of sleep to physical health and vitality. “Sleep is essential for overnight bone, muscle and skin regeneration.”

She explains that in a recent study, researchers demonstrated that daily supplementation with 15 g of Rousselot’s Peptan collagen peptides 60 minutes before bedtime for one week enhanced the sleep quality of 13 active participants (18-35 years old) with sleep complaints.

Scientific support for natural ingredients 
Maggie McNamara, marketing director at Gencor, tells us that new trends are emerging around specific areas of skin health. She emphasizes that consumers want to see improvements in the vital beauty areas — hair and skin. “Providing clinically studied, bioavailable ingredients in the proper dosage will grow this category and improve consumer outcomes and trust.”

“Consumers start using a product based on the science and claims and are willing to try new beauty products when backed by gold standard double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled human clinical trials. Once they start using the product, the efficacy influences their repeat purchase decisions.” 

“Natural products have been shown to impact the beauty sector positively,” highlights McNamara. “However, if the ingredients are ineffective, the consumer will not see the expected results and will move on to the next product.” 

Monteloeder’s Ortega adds that with a growing demand for botanical ingredients, companies are increasingly looking for “scientifically-backed botanicals to complement well-known ingredients, aligning with consumer demand for holistic and effective formulations.”

She explains that Monteloeder measures the impact of its skin care ingredients on skin health, using “in silico techniques for ingredient selection, in vitro studies on various skin cell types and ex vivo studies using skin explants for real skin conditions.”

Clinically studied, bioavailable ingredients in the proper dosage are key to improve consumer outcomes and trust.The company’s ingredients undergo clinical validation through double-blind placebo-controlled trials, combining quantitative measurements and qualitative perception questionnaires. 

“This approach assesses not only physiological improvements like hydration and elasticity but also meaningful enhancements in customers’ quality of life, including self-perception, satisfaction and confidence.” 

Innovating through technology 
The experts assert that technology is essential in ingestible beauty products and ingredients. 

“There’s no shying away from the fact that technology serves as a catalyst for innovation and is set to play a major role in shaping the future of the nutricosmetics sector,” says Bioiberica’s Vendrell. “It’s critical in making product development more personalized, for instance. Personalized nutrition apps that provide tailored recommendations for ingestible beauty products based on individual needs use technology to collect and analyze data linked to demographics, lifestyle habits and health goals.”  

He also sees a rise in data-driven formulations — containing specific ingredients and dosages that align with consumer preferences and requirements. 

“Looking at supply chains, technologies like blockchain are becoming more prevalent to enhance transparency and quality of ingredients — and ultimately optimize logistics. This visibility aligns with growing demand for clear labeling and traceable sourcing.” 

Additionally, Vendrell notes that technological advancements are pushing the boundaries of format innovation by “making the creation of unique formats possible — from gummies and liquids to powders, melts, dairy products and shakes.”

McNamara adds that delivery technology is crucial, especially regarding an efficacious and bioavailable dosage. 

“Gencor’s Levagen+ and Pharmako Biotechnologies HydroCurc utilize the cold water dispersion technology LipiSperse, developed by Pharmako. LipiSperse allows lipophilic active ingredients, with otherwise relatively low bioavailability and poor solubility, to be easily dissolved in cold water, thereby increasing their bioavailability and uptake in the body,” she explains.  

The experts expect beauty-from-within products to move to new formats such as drinks, gummies, concentrated shots and bars.New microbiome formats 
Paula Limena, VP of global marketing, health and wellness at ADM, expects a greater focus on the skin microbiome. 

“Microbiome-supporting solutions will be critical to meeting the evolving demands from consumers for innovative and ingestible skin care solutions. As more prebiotic, probiotic, postbiotic and enzyme solutions are developed, we’ll see expanded offerings that provide a personalized approach to meet consumers’ unique skin care needs.” 

In addition, she foresees the category expanding beyond traditional formats, adding that this opens the door for brands across categories to bring forward innovative solutions that support modern consumer demands.

“Bottled water and juices/smoothies are the top two categories where consumers would like to see claims for skin care support, followed closely by dietary supplements. This indicates that consumers recognize that hydration is crucial to their skin care routines.”

“As consumers focus on attaining their skin care goals, emerging research demonstrates how probiotic strains can support skin health concerns and demands. Manufacturers have a vast opportunity to create ingestible beauty formats with microbiome-supporting solutions.” 

Limena notes that ready-to-drink (RTD) teas and juice-based drinks, carbonated beverages, gummies, stick packs and bars show promise for their convenience and help to create a more enjoyable skin care routine. “Consider a hydrating lavender RTD tea or a citrus carbonated soft drink with probiotics.”

She emphasizes that consumers look for multi-functional formats, which support the demand for beauty-from-within products that can address various health and wellness concerns across all demographics.

“This enables manufacturers to bring multi-functional skin care solutions to market. Offerings that taste great and require minimal preparation effort are essential for adherence, which can ultimately help people achieve their skin care targets.”

By Jolanda van Hal