Nutricosmetics - Sweetening the pill
The nutricosmetics sector has been relatively slow to get going but the desire to look and feel younger is boosting the category
The nutricosmetics sector has been relatively slow to get going but the desire to look and feel younger is boosting the category
The ageing population is driving a number of sectors as people seek to slow the ageing process and maintain a vital, youthful image. Not least among the beneficiaries is the relatively new sector of nutricosmetics, which French exhibition Cos-meeting estimates to be worth around €3.6bn globally and is experiencing 10-15% growth. The category comprises oral products said to enhance skin condition, hair and nails and prepare skin for sun exposure, designed to be consumed in conjunction with topically applied cosmetics. These products are designed to enhance beauty from within and include ingredients such as botanical actives, enzymes, proteins and vitamins offering antioxidant benefits.
Brands such as Ferrosan's Imedeen and Oenobiol have been around for some time but the sector really started being considered a serious prospect when L'Oréal teamed up with Swiss food group Nestlé in 2002 to form Innéov. Procter & Gamble also joined forces with California-based supplements company Pharmavite the following year to develop Olay vitamins.
Other major cosmetics companies are also now starting to get involved. Euromonitor says recent launches it has tracked include Estée Lauder's US launch of Plantidote Mega-Mushroom Supplement and Nite-trition Restful Sleep Supp-lement, Amore Pacific's HUE Beauty Food range and Shiseido's SuppleX a-Lipoic Acid, claimed to offer moisturising and anti-wrinkle benefits. But despite this kind of activity, “it's not the mass that the industry anticipated,” says Claire Briney, senior account manager for C&T at Euromonitor.
“In Japan there are speciality stores and department store counters devoted solely to the sale of beauty supplements from companies like Shiseido, and nutricosmetics are widely available in pharmacies in Western Europe. But in North America, the concept is just gaining ground with newer brands like Borba,” says Carrie Mellage, industry manager of the consumer products practice for Kline's research division. “Consumers are seeking a more holistic approach to beauty and the dominant trend is to combat skin, hair and nail damage from the inside out.” For many people, the fact that nutricosmetics link nutrition with skin and body health offers an attractive alternative to plastic surgery, which although rapidly gaining in popularity still remains a last resort, if that, for many.
But a recent report in the New Scientist challenges the claims of certain oral supplements. “Evidence gathered over the past few years shows that at best, antioxidant supplements do little or nothing to benefit our health,” says the report. “At worst, they may even have the opposite effect, promoting the very problems they are supposed to stamp out.” However, there is still much debate about this and for now nutriceuticals along with other products such as antioxidants, joint supplements and fish oils, where sales are being driven by the ageing population, look set to show solid growth.
Organisers of Beyond Beauty in Paris this month are including a separate ingredients show for the first time. The inspiration behind this was to build a show that would attract raw material exhibitors from the three categories of cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and food; functional foods forming another interesting cross-sector trend. It remains to be seen whether this is the way people want to source for these categories.
Some are looking to move the category a step further. At a recent beauty workshop, beauty expert Gwyn Davies predicted: “Nutrigenomics, whereby treatments are based specifically on a person's genetic make-up, are among the new cosmetic disciplines of the future and could play a crucial part in the development of the industry.” Lars Lindmark, vp scientific affairs for Ferrosan is also keeping an eye on this. “What I can envisage in the future for Imedeen is taking a core formulation such as our exclusive Biomarine Complex, which currently forms the basis of our three anti-ageing tablets, and then having add-on supplements, based on individual skin care needs, diagnosed by at home DNA testing,” he says.