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Rediscovering health: Consumers in Asia Pacific are looking to boost their immune system through functional products

Over the last twelve months, there has been a decline in confidence towards immune health in Asia Pacific. This decline in confidence and increased consciousness is something that is not just restricted to consumers associated with more vulnerable demographic groups – such as senior citizens and those with underlying health problems – but instead, society overall. This has been driven, in part, by consumers being concerned that current diets and lifestyles are not as healthy as they should be, something that increases the risk of health problems later in life

As a result of this, consumers are taking active steps to try and improve their immune systems. Consumers are doing this even if they are not suffering from any specific health problems, highlighting how consumers are taking a prevention-over-cure approach to health. One of the reasons for this is that consumers are making the link between good immune health and good health and wellbeing overall. When looking to improve their immune system, consumers are looking to improve their diets. This is resulting in consumers taking a greater interest in different ingredients and seeking out functional and fortified products that are associated with offering a health boost beyond basic nutrition.

When seeking out functional products and ingredients, consumers in Asia Pacific are more likely to turn to food and drink products compared to nutritional supplements. This is because food and drink are associated with being tastier and easier to incorporate into daily diets. In comparison, consumers can often have a variety of concerns over nutritional supplements, such as ease of digestion, risk of side-effects, ingredients used in formulation, and risk of addiction. This means that the nutritional supplement market needs to do more to reassure consumers about the safety of products.

In addition, it is also important that any functional claims made by brands in relation to immune health are seen to be transparent and credible, and not exaggerated in order to capitalise on consumers becoming more worried about their immunity.

Proportion of consumers who say that they have become more conscious about their immune health as a result of COVID-19 (February 2021)

55% 64% 80%

61% 66% 61%

Australia China Indonesia Japan South Korea Vietnam

Source: COVID-19 survey, Q1 2021 (9,000 respondents)

51% Proportion of consumers who say that they have become more conscious about the importance of trying to prevent health problems occurring as a result of COVID-19 (February 2021)

69% 74%

58% 72%

68%

Australia China Indonesia Japan South Korea Vietnam

Source: COVID-19 survey, Q1 2021 (9,000 respondents)