10 Euro ingredient innovations we found at #Vitafoods 2024

Probiotics are everywhere. But it’s been a long, hard slog to get to this point. Back in 2006, the conservative European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) ruled that the very term “probiotics” was so darn sexy that so much as printing the word on a product label amounted to making a health claim. In 2020, Spain said to heck with EFSA and became the first nation within the 27-nation European Union to pull a state’s rights and allow the use of probiotics on product labels. In January 2023, France became the 11^th member state to allow probiotics on labels. The countries that have allowed such use include Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Malta, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain and France. Other European countries that are considering such an approach include Romania, Sweden, Slovenia and the UK. The floodgates are open, and ingredient suppliers are providing plenty of opportunities for brands to get on the global trend of allowing specific probiotic strains with particular health benefits. This biotic movement also includes prebiotic fibers and postbiotic microbes that have been heat-killed yet still confer a health benefit and of which are of particular value for processing-intensive products such as foods and beverages.  

Research is cutting edge, and the mushroom revolution is on. Lion’s mane is currently the largest beneficiary of such published science. in the UK. Innova Market Insights noted that lion’s mane mushrooms had a 74% CAGR in Europe from 2019-23. In back-to-back issues of the journal Nutrients, November and December 2023, lion’s mane was featured as providing both acute (1-hour) and long-term (28-day) positive effects on cognitive function, stress and mood. Lead researcher Ellen Smith, from Northumbria University in the U.K., spoke at Vitafoods, telling of her research finding that 1.8 grams of lion’s mane on young healthy people led to positive effects on stress and mood. She also described the December study, which used 1 gram of lion’s mane plus 650 mg guayusa extract (AmaTea Max from Applied Food Sciences) and found that, after 1 hour, the combination helped improve working memory, complex attention, and reaction time 2 hours post ingestion and perceptions of happiness over a 2-hour period. “This was in Gen Z women,” said Smith. “They have a high diagnosis rate of mental illness and are looking for alternative solutions in a mental health capacity.” She said additional, larger clinical trials are needed to clairify the mechanisms of action and hone in on specific modulations of cognition and mood.  

Supplements formulations are solid if not quite innovative. We stepped outside the Geneva convention and visited stores selling supplements. We found multivitamins that contained the range of letter vitamins  at a uniform 150% daily value. Compare this to multis in the U.S. market, which routinely will contain, for example, some B vitamins that are thousands of times the daily value.  

Metabolic health is IN. Metabolic syndrome is basically the COVID-19 co-morbidities of blood-sugar issues plus obesity plus cardiovascular conditions. In the US market, you might see the combination of two of these conditions, branded as diabesity. “It’s the leading cause of death when you link them all together — weight, diabetes, cardiovascular,” said Rick Miller, food and drink associated director for specialized nutrition at Mintel. “Sleep is also an area of concern, it’s untapped in terms of innovation in metabolic syndrome.” Weight loss and diabetes, of course, have been massively highlighted in the last year thanks to the introduction and widespread use of Ozempic and Wegovy drugs. (It’s only the start; an estimated 70 million Americans alone are estimated to begin treatment with these.) “It’s sparked massive interest around the world,” said Miller. “Consumers are desperate to get their hands on this to lose weight.” Yet weight-loss pharmaceuticals are also creating opportunities for the supplements industry. From nutrient-dense meal replacements for people using or cycling off the drugs, to supplements ingredients focusing on metabolism and blood-sugar for weight loss, brands are vying for space on pharma’s coattails.  

Top 5 “most interesting” functional ingredients of interest to European consumers are none too esoteric:  

Vitamins. Alcohol-free beer with vitamins “that make you healthier” brings a new take on healthy indulgence — a term that once applied to dark chocolate.  

Protein. According to Innova Market Insights, which always puts on a huge exhibition of global trends at the Vitafoods show, 42% of consumers globally say “protein” is the most important ingredient.  

Fiber is a prosaic ingredient yet is paramount in keeping you regular and increasing satiety. It is also how prebiotics — the lunchboxes for probiotic bacteria — are labeled. Fiber is a simple ingredient, yet it touches on major trends of diabetes, weight management and biotics.  

Omega-3s are popular as ever, with various types of DHA and EPA well represented in the supplements aisle — whether standard fish oil, or phospholipid-dense krill for improved bioavailability, or algae. We didn’t see a lot of high concentrates of DHA and EPA, but consumer uptake on the continent is pretty widely accepted.  

Minerals are another standard, unexciting yet widely accepted nutrient class. The magnesium boom that’s under way has seen brands separating themselves by selecting different magnesium salts for improved bioavailability as well as offering different dosages.  

Emotional health. “How you feel” is important and is driving the mushroom revolution (see #2, "lion's mane," above).  

Magnesium is booming (see #3, above). Mainstream magnesium formulations containing 375 mg magnesium, which is close to the 400 mg level that we like to see in formulations.  

Healthy aging is “extremely or very important” to 55% of Europeans, according to market research from Innova. A longevity panel discussed health span as well as life span — “living a long time in a healthy way,” according to Jorg Hager, from the Nestle Institute of Health Sciences. Said Richard Siow, from Kings College in London, the key to living a long and healthy life boils down to stress and the “vicious cycle of depression.” He also said it’s an opportunity for brands that are conducting lots of this research on the axis of nutrition and optimized living to “work with our industry partners because there’s a lot of innovation not translated back to academics or the clinic.” Michael Sagner, founding director of the European Society of Preventive Medicine and partner of the European innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Aging, gained a following with his 2017 original research paper on the health continuum. In it, he states that while the Western world is proficient at delivering “reactive care” (i.e., surgery and pharmaceuticals to address disease states), the new 21^st century burden of chronic disease is this century’s “major global health problem.” He calls it P4 — predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory. A healthy lifestyle with nutrition at the center is the way forward.  

The value-add is important. These are things like clean label, supply-chain optimization, bioavailability enhancers. Europeans just seem to get climate change on a broader level than your basic ugly American.  

Beer is better on the continent. Heads are bigger but they are none too thick. Different beers are poured into different glasses to maximize taste (not like in America, where you get what you get in a pint glass). And, oh ye gods man, beer just tastes better in a European pub. Who else will drink to that?  

Beer is better on the continent. Heads are bigger but they are none too thick. Different beers are poured into different glasses to maximize taste (not like in America, where you get what you get in a pint glass). And, oh ye gods man, beer just tastes better in a European pub. Who else will drink to that?