Vast functional ingredient opportunities

With such a diverse range of categories and clearly rising demand for beverages that deliver health benefits, the role of functional ingredients and healthy ingredients has never been more important .

Global 2021 FMCG Gurus data shows that 34% of those surveyed drank functional juices and waters at least weekly, and 37% drank cola. Twenty-seven percent drank energy drinks and 29% protein drinks. 6

The same survey found that 49% of respondents had improved their diet in the past two years, while 26% had taken food supplements.

Frequently it is the nutrients extracted from the supplement aisles – often with robust science behind them, such as botanical extracts, omega-3s, fibre forms, probiotics, vitamins, and minerals, as well as plant and animal proteins – that formulators use in beverage development.

A more detailed list of nutrients of interest to beverage manufacturers could include panax ginseng, red sage, mushroom extracts, L-theanine, L-tyrosine, prebiotics and probiotics, ginger, caffeine, collagen, cinnamon, barley, almond, oat, quinoa, ashwagandha, kava, yerba mate, grape seed extract, turmeric, schisandra, cactus, kombucha, guarana, coconut, stevia, spirulina, liquorice, elderberry, pea, flax, CBD, chamomile, bilberry, and valerian .

While immunity has taken centre stage, contemporary functional beverage benefits typically lean to more immediate benefits that can be felt and measured. These include:

• cognitive function-focused nootropics (especially popular in the increasingly massive e-sports and office worker worlds); • relaxation; • gut health; • alcoholic beverage substitution/nightlife; • energy; • skin health; • weight management; • sports nutrition .

Probiotics are becoming more and more available to beverages, with Covid-19 advancing development as more people turn to immune function enhancement via such functional ingredients .

“The present world is besieged by the lethal Covid-19 outbreak triggered by a novel coronavirus that puts forth the importance and awareness of ‘immunity-based supplements’, which can boost the proposed functional food-based beverage technology,” wrote researchers in a 2021 paper.7

“Due to such prevalent reasons, there has been more discovery and development in conventional and modern-generation probiotic foods and beverages.”