Have you ever wondered if your diet contains all of the nutrients you need? Does the food you choose to eat regularly consist of natural, pure whole foods? Are you experiencing unwanted symptoms such as lack of energy, stress, pain, weak immunity or allergies, digestive challenges, ageing effects, inflammation, and genetic weakness? Well, there is a breather for you – Nutraceuticals, which plays a holistic role in the overall development of your body, by providing health benefits in addition to their basic nutritional value. Not just this, then Nutraceutical market is also making its hold in the industry because of the growing health concerns among the new generation of people.

There are cases of heart diseases which are a cause of several deaths every year. To quote an example, nearly 900 per 100,000 people die yearly in Ukraine due to heart diseases. The most effective nutraceutical considered against hardening of heart arteries is Omega-3 fatty acid leading to a boom in the Omega-3 manufacturing market. Besides the health benefits, Nutraceuticals combined with personal care products are leading their way into the 'Cosmeceutical' market due to their anti-ageing properties. Due to the growth in Nutraceutical market, animal feed producing companies have also started using Nutraceuticals in their products.

The global Nutraceuticals market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7-8% through 2021. The sector is expected to reach from USD 183 billion in 2015 to USD 279 billion within the next three years considering these projections. The diverse nature of Nutraceuticals allows them to be used in numerous industries such as pharmaceutical, food & beverages, probiotics, personal care, and animal feed additives. Latest innovations and findings of task-specific antioxidants are expected to create new opportunities in this thriving sector. The market is graced to observe significant growth during the upcoming period, owing to the increase in consciousness about preventive healthcare and rise in medical treatment costs, which invigorate the demand for Nutraceuticals products. However, huge investment in R&D is a great challenge to the market growth. The natural food and drink market, even though being relatively new, has been growing by leaps and bounds in the recent years. The growth is bolstered by several factors such as the growing awareness of consumers about the benefits of fresh foods, rapidly increasing obesity and several other diseases, a change in lifestyle and food preferences, and growing awareness for fresh foods and their benefits. However, the relatively high cost of natural food and drinks as well as their short storage life, are likely to impede the market growth.

Nutraceutical product demands are significantly increasing in the developing economies because of their orientation towards preventive health care. In near future, the functional food & beverage industry is anticipated to use antioxidants in abundance, which are expected to contribute to the market growth. The Nutraceutical market growth is affected by the implementation of provisions laid down by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which has led to great manufacturing challenges to these companies which can be achieved by the growing market demand in future. With the growing consumer demand for natural and authentic products, and other factors like sustainable packaging, responsibly sourced ingredients and pressures to extend shelf life, Nutraceutical manufacturers would face supply chain challenges. However, these companies can lean on suppliers to guide them in making the right packaging equipment and material selections to satisfy evolving consumer desires and keep their manufacturing operations efficient and profitable. Some food industry leaders like ‘Kay Allison and Mike Senackerib’ launched ‘Farm&Oven Snacks, Inc.’, which produces nutritious snacks.  Among them, bakery products contain about 40% of recommended vegetable intake that contributes to fiber intake of about 36 grams per serving available in distinct flavors. 'Brain Fud', a leading British beverage company launched new low-calorie energy drinks with different exotic flavors to target diabetic and the low sugar-taking customers. ‘Huchdorf’, a Swiss food giant, acquired ‘Zifru Trockenprodukte’ and ‘Snapz’ in November 2017 with an aim to boost its business in cereals and ingredients business especially in the segment of children's nutrition. Several companies in US and Europe like Abbott Nutrition, Archer Daniels Midland Company, BASF SE, Amway, CytoSport, Inc etc. have invested in nutraceutical market mainly for the health-conscious audience.  This definitely gives us an idea of the growth in the worldwide nutraceutical market. Several Indian companies like E.I.D.- Parry, Dabur India, Nicolas Piramal have started investing in the Nutraceutical market due to the greater availability of the raw materials required for its manufacturing.

So far, you would have got an idea about the trends, challenges and growth prospectus of the nutraceutical market. Leading Nutraceutical market players in US, Europe and Japan, which contribute approximately 92% of the global Nutraceutical market, are adopting strategies like ventures, mergers, expansion, investments and various marketing strategies to take a lion's share in this growing industry. They also have to meet the regulations set by the authorities, reduce the long supply-chain process due to long R&D process, create awareness in developing markets and reduce cost to target majority of audience. Hence, the small companies in this market have to go a long way because of the above factors that usually leads to the merging of these companies with big players.  Indian nutraceutical market is emerging very rapidly because of non-stringent regulations and easy availability of raw materials, which has developed the interest of major players to invest in the Indian market for the same reasons. Thus, the increasing demand for natural products is expected to take a rapid pace in coming years, because of the consumers' perception about these products as healthier and beneficial alternatives.

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