Nutricosmetics ingredients players need to communicate product benefits

Leonidas Dokos, global programme manager for Chemicals & Materials at Frost & Sullivan told CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com that effectively communicating product benefits can help ingredients manufacturers gain a competitive advantage in the nutricosmetics market by strengthening its image.

“Until now, the onus was not on the ingredients manufacturers to market the product to the consumer and create awareness, but rather on the formulator or the marketer of the finished product. However, things are changing as the market is evolving,” he said.

Frost &Sullivan put the total market for nutricosmetics in 2009 at a value of $2.10 billion, which is predicted to grow to $5.62 billion in 2015.

The nutricosmetics segments are growing at a faster rate than nutraceuticals and the overall cosmetics and personal care market, which according to Frost & Sullivan suggests an increasing overlap between the two primary market sectors.

Scientific evidence drives the market

According to Dokos, supplying scientific evidence to support product claims is vital for market growth.

“Scientific evidence in the form of clinical trials and scientific analysis has played a very important role in the establishment of this market, and is expected to play a crucial role in developing it further,” he said.

Dokos noted that as increasing scientific information pertaining to an ingredient is communicated to customers, the market growth also increases.

“For example, the scientific result produced by aloeride, which is made from aloe vera, has substantially increased the attention of the manufacturers. The omega-3 fatty acids market has also benefited from the high level of marketing activities from manufacturers such as Cognis, Denomega and Martek,” he said.

However, he stated that in order for certain ingredients to become mainstream in nutricosmetics products, more scientific evidence demonstrating their benefits is necessary.

Using CoQ10 as an example, he said that while a sizeable amount of evidence exists for its benefits, it is not at the same level of awareness or acceptance as vitamins or ingredients such as lutein and probiotics.

Regulatory hurdles

However, this market sector could be affected by the more stringent European regulations on health claims. As of yet, it us unclear whether EFSA’s health claims regulation will include claims relating to skin health and cosmetics benefits.

Dokos said that while it remains to be seen how this will pan out, steps could be taken to clear up the confusion surrounding this issue.

“A possibility is for the European authorities to push for a clarification and definition of clear boundaries with respect to hybrid markets such as nutricosmetics" he said.