Personalized Nutrition is an innovation in the manufacture and delivery of any type of nutritional product and not a category in itself. So it stands to reason that he may be poised to benefit from almost any trend, said Marc Brush, director of consulting firm Bend LLC.

Personal experience of the pandemic

“You had plenty of time to sit at home, browse the websites of personalized nutrition companies and find out what it’s all about,” Brush told NutraIngredients-USA.

“For Personas and Care / ofs of the world, I think it would be the wind in its sails” he said.

A recent market study confirms the idea. According to Arizton Advisory and Intelligence, the global personalized nutrition market is expected to reach $ 16.7 billion by 2026, growing 16.5% CAGR during the period. The company claims that the trend of companies to add new steps to their value chains, such as direct-to-customer delivery, data collection and data analysis, is driving the growth of the market.

Painting with a brush that is too large

Brush said a caveat to that pink image would be if too many players jump on the bandwagon and dilute the message to the point where it loses all meaning.

“The risk is that it has become a buzzword now” Brush says.

“If someone has some kind of angle for their product, they can call it personalized. Let’s say you have a product that is great for building muscle mass in the elderly, and you would say it is “personalized” for the elderly ” Brush says.

That’s not to say that legitimate development of custom options within categories can’t happen, Brush. It is happening now.

For example, Big Bold Health, one of Brush’s clients and the brainchild of industry-leading Dr Jeffrey Bland, is customizing its immune health options. A quiz on the brand’s website claims to provide something called “personal immuno-identity” to consumers.

Keep the cost under control

Another obstacle to achieving the limitless market projections has been the high price of some offers. Some companies that have taken a high-end approach, collecting a lot of expensive biometric data from consumers, have struggled to sell enough on the idea that any improved outcome to their health will be worth the cost.

Overly complex products without a clear enough value proposition have failed to progress sufficiently, according to market research firm Lux Research. The category is potentially sensitive to pricing issues as most of the personalized nutrition options are personal expenses not covered by insurance.

“One of the biggest obstacles to success with personalized food has been in pricing and aligning product value with user needs ”, said Thomas Hayes, analyst at Lux.

Consultant Steve Hanson, CEO of Nutrasocial, agreed that keeping complexity to a minimum is essential in helping consumers understand the value proposition.

“When looking at custom products, there are usually two components involved. One is some type of assessment, whether it’s a questionnaire or a diagnostic test, and the other is being able to produce and deliver a personalized product. Being able to do both of the things simple to understand and to implement are essential to achieve wider use and acceptance of personalized supplements ”,said Hanson.

“With the pandemic, we have certainly seen an acceleration of the shift from retail to online sales. This online shift makes the logistics easier for personalization because the review part is easier to administer and products can respond to those reviews. and be more targeted It may not always be personalized, but it’s definitely a shift towards more personalization ”, he added.

Succeed with a clean approach

The Care / of supplement maker is a company that has taken the cheapest route and has seen significant success. The company, which was acquired by Bayer last year in an estimated deal worth $ 225 million, uses online questionnaires to customize vitamin packs and other supplements for consumers. Custom packs can contain as few as two supplements or as many as 14.

“People lead very different lives today than before the pandemic. They have different eating habits or different sleep patterns. The pandemic was and continues to be very stressful ”,said Diana Morgan.

“Depending on the person, you might react by becoming very lethargic. In this case, we could recommend rhodiola, which will give you energy during these stressful times ”, she says.

“Or you could be a person who gets overstimulated. Then we could recommend an adaptogenic herb like ashwagandha ”,Morgan added.

Simple and reliable approach

The questionnaire takes about five minutes to complete, Morgan said. She said the company has worked hard to make it simple enough for consumers to understand and easily complete but detailed enough to provide valuable answers.

One key, she said, is trust in this relationship. Trust that the products delivered are truly the right one for each individual and that they are made with quality ingredients. It became more difficult during the pandemic, as the prices of raw materials increased and the problems of economic falsification increased as well.

“Especially in herbal medicine and in sports nutrition, we really need to look at the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and identification and purity. You really have to test the products and be transparent about the tests ”,she says.