The role of nutraceuticals in healthcare is growing in prominence and R&D is fueling innovation across the sector to enhance the safety and therapeutic value of dietary supplements and nutraceuticals.

These products set themselves apart from prescribed medications because consumption is not compelled by sickness or a physician’s direction.

Consumers are also demanding more from nutraceutical formulations. They want them to deliver real, functional health benefits ranging from nutrition to stress relief and better skin.

This is prompting change and product innovation as nutraceutical and supplement developers and manufacturers seek to increase their products’ relevance in healthcare.

For the sector’s contract manufacturing partners, that means delivering products in ways that people enjoy consuming.

No matter how effective the active ingredient may be, it will never deliver its therapeutic effect if it is not taken as recommended. To attain those mass-market product goals and meet consumer demands, the industry will be increasingly prompted to access more application science from its external pharmaceutical-grade manufacturing partners.

Consumer preferences and science continue to move the industry away from an overreliance on traditional oral solid dose forms that people must swallow, toward forms that people can chew and eat.

That is why one of the most popular confection formats in history, the loveable gummy, is fast gaining ground as a versatile way to deliver a broad range of nutrients, minerals, botanicals, and other plant extracts.

Gummies Offering Something to Chew On

Well-formulated gummies have excellent bioavailability, better taste, and offer a more enjoyable user experience. According to Research and Markets analysis, gummies are one of the fastest-growing trends in dietary supplements; the gummy supplements market is projected to reach $16.5 billion by 2028 growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.3% during the forecast period.

This growth is attracting new players. Research and Markets analysts noted the industry’s contract manufacturers are now receiving orders for products that move beyond conventional ingredients. The change is prompting continual innovation in gummy processing and formulation.¹

Meeting consumers’ expectations for their gummy supplements is increasingly challenging technically. Much of the gummy’s popularity has to do with taste, something the industry used to fix with sugars and fructose syrups. The consumer desire for low-sugar, preferably sugar-free products, means this is no longer an option.

Today’s nutritional and vitality-inducing compounds and extracts need more refined gummy formulation and manufacturing techniques to ensure efficacy and therapeutic performance. The industry’s contract manufacturers are also working on organic claims, and reducing or eliminating animal-derived ingredients.

Manufacturing gummy supplements successfully is commercially challenging and must clear several formulation and manufacturing hurdles, including taste, texture, and structural stability. The gummy supplements market, according to analysts, has prominent players working constantly on product innovation that requires niche expertise, suitable equipment, and production capacity.

Researchers at Sirio, for example, hold five gummy formulation patents and have conducted extensive stability testing for popular formulas at both ambient and accelerated environmental conditions to understand gummy shelf life.

Because of the industry’s consumer focus, the effects of time, temperature, and ultraviolet light on a gummy product’s appearance, texture, and efficacy are extremely important to know before going to market.

Taste & Texture Mean (Almost) Everything

To deliver taste and texture, gummies traditionally contain large amounts of naturally derived sweeteners. For formulators trying to reduce sugar, sucrose used to be more relied upon, but artificial sweeteners have replaced that ingredient because of its high glycemic index.

Artificial sweeteners have few if any calories, but for some, there are safety concerns. Two sweeteners considered viable alternatives for gummies are maltitol and erythritol. The two are considered a better alternative because of their limited hydrolyzation by the human enzyme system and negligible effect on glucose metabolism.

However, what remained unclear was how maltitol and erythritol affected the structural characteristics of gummies and human blood sugar homeostasis.²

A study of low-sugar and sugar-free nutraceutical gummies from a team of Sirio’s researchers demonstrated that not only can gummies deliver taste and texture without sugar, but formulations can also support a better glycemic response in humans. More importantly, these formulations support a more controlled release of nutrients, an effect highly desirable to enhance dose delivery and therapeutic performance.

Food for Thought: Sleep and Immunity

The pandemic and its aftereffects continue to impact consumers’ desire for products that promote health and wellness, and lifestyle pressures are increasing people’s daily stress levels. The human body responds to stress by releasing hormones that increase heart and breathing rates and prepare large skeletal muscles to respond.

Yet, noted Healthline, if the response doesn’t stop firing, and stress levels stay elevated far longer than necessary to survive, it can have a dramatic impact on health and wellbeing.³ Chronic stress can cause a variety of symptoms such as irritability, depression, headaches, and insomnia, and affect overall wellbeing.

Consumers around the world are seeking alternatives to synthetic pharmaceutical compounds to relieve stress and counter the effects of modern life. That is why gummies that support wellness by promoting sleep, immune system health, and stress reduction are increasingly popular.

Mintel researchers noted there has been a marked increase in immunity claims on specialized nutritional products with 14% of recent launches claiming immune system health benefits. Regarding sleep, Nutrition Business Journal explained that during the pandemic, sleep-regulating products were in high demand, and that drove demand for the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin.⁴

Delivering these ingredients and compounds successfully in a gummy format requires the formulation expertise and processing capabilities of experienced, expert providers. Gummy innovation is advancing fast and CDMOs, including Sirio, are introducing new tastes, textures, and formulation techniques.

For example, formulations that can more effectively suspend oils or mask bitter ingredients are coming online, as well as formulations to deliver probiotics. To meet market and retail sales goals, today’s gummy developers are also relying more heavily on reliable global supply chains and capacity that CDMOs can provide.

Consumers look for five characteristics in their gummy nutraceuticals, in order:
• Taste,
• Texture,
• Health benefits,
• No unnecessary additives,
• Non-GMO.

They also want them to be affordable. To attain those product goals and meet consumer demands, the industry will be increasingly prompted to access more application science from their nutraceutical manufacturing partners. 

References
1. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220829005339/en/Global-Gummy-Supplements-Market-AnalysisForecast-Report-2021-2022-2028-Product-Innovations-Influence-of-Social-Media-Surge-in-Demand-for-Plant-Based-Supplements—ResearchAndMarkets.com
2. https://www.nutraingredients.com/Article/2022/11/04/sirio-researchers-say-sugar-alternative-gummies-lower-glycemic-response#
3. https://www.healthline.com/health/stress/effects-on-body#Central-nervous-and-endocrine-systems
4. https://www.nutraingredients.com/News/Manufacturers/Sirio-launches-gummies-for-immunity-sleep-and-stress

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Sara Lesina is General Manager at Sirio Europe, the European branch of Sirio Pharma. SIRIO is a leading global nutraceutical CDMO, specializing in developing and manufacturing best-quality products including softgels, gummies, tablets, probiotic dosage forms, functional beverages and more. With state-of-the-art manufacturing sites in China, the U.S. and Europe, Sirio Pharma offers its patented probiotic softgel formulating and manufacturing services to the world’s leading nutraceutical and supplement developers. For more information: https://sirio-europe.com/