The newest trends in the antioxidant category ensure that fresh as well as faithful shoppers find something on the shelf.

According to numbers coming out of market researcher Mintel, antioxidants are growing by the day. Mintel’s Global New Products Database showed the antioxidant category in 2009 to be marked at more than $12 billion, with 2,075 antioxi dantlabeled food and drink products launched. Compare that to just 459 products launched in 2005, and it becomes very clear that shoppers are responding to antioxidant claims.

“Since new research links antioxidants with disease prevention, the market is flooded with products and new antioxidant claims. Antioxidants have been heralded as magic health bullets,” said Steve Holtby, president and CEO of Soft Gel Technologies (Los Angeles, CA).

“Foods that have always contained antioxidants are now labeled as being ‘rich in antioxidants.’ The cosmetic industry now boasts antioxidants in its formulas for face, body and hair care products, making anti-wrinkle claims and touting their benefits in fighting sun damage.”

And while the flood of antioxidant claims into the market has caused increased awareness, it has not necessarily produced quality awareness.

Wide but Shallow

Despite the influx of products, promoting antioxidants and convincing consumers of their benefits has not been easy. “Educating consumers about antioxidants requires an understanding of cellular biochemistry and physiology that is extremely complex,” Holtby said.

“Marketers have simply touted that antioxidants help protect the body’s oxidative damage caused by free radicals. Properly promoting these key nutrients requires taking scientific evidence and presenting it to the consumer in a simple, understandable manner.”

Yet this tactic seems to be yielding less educated shoppers in an industry where knowledge is key. According to Dr. Rachel Burke, principal research scientist at Leatherhead Food Research, antioxidant activity in the market is occurring in the absence of clear understanding. “Antioxidant products have the advantage of being natural and consumers have the impression they are good for them even if they don’t exactly know why or how,” she said in a statement, touching on the benefits of big Business support from companies such as Nestlé.

Indeed, Gretchen Reece, president of Scientific Food Solutions, LLC (Fairfield, CA), has noticed that consumers are captured by the exotic ingredients recently saturating the category, and are less seduced by pure chemical antioxidants such as vitamins C and E, lipoic acid or selenium. This shows that while shoppers may be buying in record numbers, it might not be for the right reasons. “[Exotic ingredients have] captured a larger consumer base familiar with the term ‘antioxidant,’ but had previously been only an entry level or ‘novice’ dietary supplement user,” She added. If you ask Udi Alroy, vice president of global marketing and sales at LycoRed (Orange, NJ), despite an increased awareness with regards to the fact that benefits exist, most consumers are still not informed of the different functions antioxidants provide—or that different antioxidants can yield different health benefits.

“Antioxidants have been a tough category in the past because although antioxidants provide significant benefits for the body, it is hard to instantly feel the changes taking place,” said Darren Rude, president of NeoCell (Santa Ana, CA); this only adds to the general state of mystery and confusion surrounding the category.

“Antioxidants, like vitamins, are one of those categories that consumers are expected to consume based on faith,” agreed Emilio Gutierrez, vice president of technical services at BI Nutraceuticals (Long Beach, CA). “There is no immediate short-term benefit. We don’t feel any different after we take it, but we know that over the long term, in combination with a healthy lifestyle, there are numerous benefits in neutralizing the free radicals in our bodies.”

Getting the consumer to understand this has been paramount to antioxidants’ growth, and acclimating newcomers to the category has proven to be as easy as selecting the right delivery.

Drinks in Demand

The right delivery form can be the gateway for a new supplement user, and the hook that keeps a longtime buyer buying.And while one delivery form—beverage— has been dominating the antioxidant market recently, its success can be attributed to the introduction of a certain type of antioxidant: the superfruit.

“The biggest change from our per-Spective as a botanical extract manufacturer is that we’ve seen more focus on the super fruits,” explained Skipp Silverman, sales manager at Jiaherb (Fairfield, NJ). “That’s pretty much the biggest change that the market is experiencing, and a lot of these are applied in beverages.”

“In the past, we would see grape seed extract, or bilberry, or even green tea,” agreed Gutierrez. “Even though we still see plenty of sales for those products, the super fruit berries have the highest demand. They have a high ORAC, they are water soluble and ideal for a beverage, which is one of the fastest growing categories for nutraceuticals. They are also relatively inexpensive as compared to the older antioxidants, so this makes them even more attractive.”

And since, as Dr. Lakshmi Prakash, vice president of innovation and business development at Sabinsa Corporation (East Windsor, NJ), pointed out, fruits and vegetables are naturally associated with antioxidant content, functional beverages featuring these antioxidant ingredients are flying off the shelves at retail.

“Antioxidants make sense in functional beverages because they hook new consumers at the shelf using common sense (fruits and vegetables, as those found in juice, are high in antioxidants), but this has not always been the case— only in the past year have super fruits been so explosive on the scene, and only recently have antioxidants been able to remain stable in drinks. While antioxidants in the past were dependent on specific stability measures such as limited light, oxygen, heat and moisture, new technology has allowed them to extend use into fortified beverages,” said Alroy.

“Antioxidant ingredients are quite appropriate for functional beverages because they remain stable in the right conditions, they actually act as a preservative and could help extend the shelf life of your product,” agreed Gutierrez.“And they are becoming better recognized by consumers.”

“Liquid is definitely a much better, faster delivery system, in the form of beverages. Many extracts can be applied into a liquid form and beverages are everywhere right now,” concurred Silverman. “They’ve been around for years, but not as popular because taste is an issue; but nowadays, there have been more breakthroughs in masking technologies.There are some botanicals that are very hard to mask but there have been breakthroughs on how to get these botanicals into beverages.”

It seems like a classic case of being in the right place at the right time: superfruits take off in popularity, suppliers find ways to keep them shelf stable and the taste barrier is hurdled. But while the benefits seem overwhelming, one challenge manufacturers may need to keep in mind if considering a functional antioxidant beverage is claims.

“An addition of an antioxidant ingredient that alone enjoys an evidence base, say, in a solid dosage form like a tablet, capsule or lozenge, may result in the ‘abandonment’ of the evidence base when existing as part of a composition with a multitude of other ‘active’ ingredients, per FTC advertising guidelines,” advised Reece.

Still, Holtby said, ingredient suppliers are sourcing the globe, including rainforests and other exotic locations, to find the next generation of trendy ingredients. “Exotic fruits such as açai berries, goji berries and pomegranates have all risen in popularity. The up-and-coming super fruits include dragonfruit, cupuacu, rambutan, camucamu and yuzuAnd consumers are seeking functional drinks that are rich in antioxidant phytochemicals and are promoted as able to improve health and/or prevent disease,” he added.

Considering current consumer logic coupling fruits with juice, and therefore with a functional beverage, the juices of these new ‘trendy’ fruits seem to follow this trend going forward.

Antioxidants Plus

Though knowledge may be at a basic level for most shoppers, early supplement adapters have been honing their education on antioxidants for years and are looking for something more than the average superfruit juice. After the new consumers become believers via trendy, functional juices and exotic fruits, they begin to look for something extra.

According to Alroy, that something extra comes in the form of condition specific antioxidant supplements, designed not only to expand the market but also to focus more completely on the traits of antioxidants and, subsequently, expand consumers’ limited ideas of what these supplements can do. “In my view, the category is more focused on specific indication or benefits, much less ‘powerful antioxidants,’ and more media attention as well as customer awareness of the specific benefits of some of the antioxidants,” he expanded. “While we do not see this Antioxidant category. For example, he explained, in laboratory studies, components of vitamin C3 complex have shown promising results in the area of Alzheimer’s disease prevention; likewise, the use of resveratrol has been a category driver when it comes to skin health and appearance.

And while targeting antioxidants to appeal to people with specific needs and health goals is one sure trend, yet another way ingredient suppliers are targeting their supply is through sourcing antioxidants with “multiple personalities,” or plant extracts and conditional nutrients with chemical or biological actions that include antioxidant activity, in addition to others, said Reece. She explained that these multitasking ingredients continue to thrive due to three factors. First, she said, marketing advocacy by finished goods marketers is more focused on nature-derived bioactives; the popularity of the category alone helps it along.

“Second, other actions are more appealing and inspiring to consumers, even experiential; whereas the word ‘antioxidant’ does not typically elicit a consumer experience that can be perceived or readily measured,” she said. “Third, vitamins and minerals are considered a mundane subject,” she explained, as opposed to stating the benefit supplement users can receive directly.

Given the number of trends in the category, it certainly seems that despite the education gap, people are coming back to supplement stores time and time again for their antioxidants, and as long as supplement manufacturers supply them, people will be interested to learn more (and buy more). “The numbers are still out there,” concluded Silverman. “People are still purchasing antioxidants. Our sales have grown since we’ve opened the doors. Antioxidants are a big thing.”