Young people are hyping "lazy health" and expect a few sugars to be healthy and nutritious
Is the popular functional gummy reliable?
Following the popularity of "diet coffee" and "enzyme soft drinks", functional gummies have become popular among young people recently.
Two iron-supplement gummies in the morning, one probiotic gummies after meals, and two melatonin gummies before going to bed. Young people who chew gummies while maintaining health can be seen everywhere in life.
As the post-90s generation has become the main group of market consumption, the market space for functional gummies is huge, but at the same time it is also facing a lot of controversy. Does this wave of "sugar-coated cannonballs" really have its effect or is it an IQ tax paid by young people?
Market Watch
Gummy becomes a new fashion for young people's health care
"Use the most expensive skin care products, eat the most expensive skin care products, and stay up late at night", this sarcastic Internet catchphrase describes the daily life of many young people.
More and more young people are beginning to pay attention to health care.
"The pace of work is too fast, the pressure is also high, and the body consumes a lot, so health preservation is necessary." Xiao Liu said, "I don't have time to exercise, and it is troublesome to eat like parents, so nutritional supplements are functional gummies. It's my first choice." There are many young people like Xiao Liu.
Open a certain online social sharing platform, most of young people's flipping videos contain various functional gummies, and the live broadcast anchors are also using Amway's various functional gummies.
Sleep problems, beauty problems, constipation problems, calcium deficiency, iron deficiency... There is nothing that two gummies can't solve.
What attracts young people is not only the functions advertised by the gummies, but this group of young people pay more attention to the appearance and taste.
Xiao Di said: "I eat bear collagen gummy candy, which looks cute. It tastes like the gummy candy I ate when I was a child, it's sour and sweet, and it's especially delicious." Most of the functional gummies are in bright and cute packaging. The gummies have various shapes. Animals and flowers meet the aesthetic needs of young people, and their appearance is amazing.
On the other hand, traditional nutritional supplements are generally tasteless capsules, tablets, or some unpleasant granules, while gummies have obvious advantages in appearance and taste, capturing the hearts of young people, and even eating functional Fudge has become fashionable.
"The various nutritional supplements I bought in the past were too unpalatable, so I seldom remembered to eat them. In the end, they fell into ashes and were thrown away after the expiration date." Xiao Li said, "Now the gummy candies are easy to carry and can be put away every day. I put a few in my schoolbag and eat it like a snack, which is simple and convenient. The mentality of many people around me has changed from 'have to take' to 'actively take' or even 'can't help eating more'."
According to Tmall's official data, the total transaction volume of Tmall's "Double 11" in 2021 will be 540.3 billion.
Among them, the sales of health care products were outstanding.
It is understood that the sales of health care products in my country's e-commerce channels account for more than 40% of the total market sales, leading other marketing channels, and the data is still rising.
Among them, the nutritional gummies are significantly ahead of other e-commerce health care products, and are the most popular category.
In fact, it is not accidental that functional gummies broke out of the circle and became Internet celebrity food. Due to changes in young people's consumption habits and consumption scenarios, snacking of health products and ready-to-eat snacks may become a trend.
In addition, many Chinese people had the habit of eating functional candies such as throat candies as early as a few years ago. Before that, tablet-type health candies such as VC effervescent tablets were very popular. Therefore, functional gummies that combine many advantages are naturally With a market foundation, as long as the taste passes the test, it is easier to obtain the recognition of consumers.
market trend
Gummy creates new market for nutritional supplements
The Beijing Evening News "Food and Beverage Weekly" found that functional gummies may become a hidden outlet under the new wave of consumption.
According to data from the China Business Industry Research Institute, the domestic sales market for functional gummies has grown significantly, and the market for functional gummies is expected to exceed US$8.6 billion in 2022.
Judging from the trend of food investment last year, functional gummies are favored by the capital market, and financing continues.
In January 2021, the functional food brand "BUFFX" received ten million yuan in Series A financing, led by Black Ant, and followed by Sequoia Capital, Plum Capital, and GGV Jiyuan Capital; in March 2021, functional food "minayo" "It has also obtained tens of millions of yuan in pre-A round of financing; in April 2021, Jinduoduo, a candy group that owns brands such as Beobao and Bingkeli, completed its first round of financing of nearly 100 million yuan.
Today, both food companies and health care products companies are targeting this track.
At present, there are gummies supplemented with vitamins and minerals, DHA gummies, yeast zinc gummies, probiotic gummies, melatonin gummies, collagen gummies, hyaluronic acid gummies and other products on the market.
Brands such as Angel Newt, By-Health, English, Amway, and Xianle Health have all begun to deploy this dosage form.
In addition, many emerging brands such as joliyoyo, super zero, and mint health have also launched functional gummies. Although the main functions of the products are different, they all like this category.
According to the data of Tianyancha, there are over 3.62 million health care products-related enterprises in China whose business scope includes "health care products and health food", and the status is active, existing, moving in, or moving out. Among them, 75% of the enterprises were established in Within 5 years, 80% of the enterprises are located in wholesale and retail.
It is worth mentioning that in the first half of 2021, more than 490,000 health care products-related companies have been established.
Market Supervision
Is it really effective to treat health supplements as sugar?
The Beijing Evening News "Food and Beverage Weekly" found that most of the sales channels of functional gummies are online sales platforms, anchors bring goods, and self-media KOLs share and recommend.
For example, the promotion of BUFFX SKIN small molecule collagen peptide gummies mentioned "full of collagen, chewing soft Q bombs", and the promotion of Beopold sleep gummies mentioned that "it is suitable for a variety of people to get rid of insomnia and anxiety" and so on.
This magazine purchased the minaya brand of iron-supplemented gummies, which are marked with maltitol liquid, red jujube juice concentrate, gelatin, erythritol, sorbitol liquid, red granulated sugar, manuka honey, etc. in the ingredient list. Iron only ranks 18th in the ingredient list. It is not difficult to see that most of the top ingredients in this gummy can satisfy the taste of consumers.
While functional gummies have won the attention of the market, they also face many questions: Is functional gummies considered health care products?
Is it effective after taking it?
In terms of efficacy, the most popular hyaluronic acid gummies, carbohydrate blocking tablets and other products on the market have been considered exaggerated by many experts and scholars.
A white kidney bean candy on the Internet wrote on the product promotion: "The savior of a big meal, eat sugar and carbohydrates." It is understood that the core ingredient of the carbohydrate blocking tablet is white kidney bean extract, an alpha-amylase inhibitor.
Gu Zhongyi, director of the Beijing Dietitian Association and nutritionist, once published a popular science article that α-amylase inhibitors can prevent the absorption of starch by inhibiting salivary amylase and pancreatic amylase, but cannot prevent the absorption of sucrose, let alone glucose, Simple sugars such as fructose enter the bloodstream.
And these free sugars are exactly what needs to be guarded against to maintain health.
In addition, alpha-amylase inhibition does not help the fat in foods such as fried chicken.
In February 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Regulations on Available Excipients for Health Food Filing and Their Use (2021 Edition)" and "Health Food Filing Product Formulations and Technical Requirements (2021 Edition)", which were officially included in the health food filing product dosage forms. Incorporates gel candies (jellybeans).
Zhu Danpeng, an analyst in China's food industry, believes that although it has been included in the record, only "health food" with a "blue hat" is certified by the state, and other products cannot be called health products.
At present, there are only a handful of "health snacks" with "blue hats" on the market. Most of the gummies, jelly, and meal replacements with various nutrients can only be regarded as "functional foods", not "health products".
Functional food is currently just a concept.
Text / Li Jia