Vitafoods Asia 2019 delights with the latest global nutraceutical developments to Asia, growing 24% year-on-year

22 October 2019, SINGAPORE – In 2019, Vitafoods Asia, Asia’s number one nutraceutical event, saw its attendance grow by 24% year-on-year as the event attracted 7,060 industry experts from 78 countries, confirming the international nature of the show. The exhibition floor space increased by 31% and hosted 380 global suppliers.

Many of the visitors returned for a second day, impressed with the international nature of the exhibition, the diversity of suppliers with whom they could create business opportunities, and the variety of new key ingredients that could be sourced at this year’s edition of Vitafoods Asia.

“This year, we saw special interest in the New Products Zone and the newly introduced Market Entry Hub, which saw packed theatres,” said Chris Lee, Managing Director, Global Health & Nutrition Network Europe, Informa Markets. “Nutraceuticals is a thriving industry in Asia and Informa Markets aims to help support the industry by providing a knowledge base and platform to support the growth of nutraceuticals in the region.”

Vitafoods Asia is a showcase of the latest ingredients, product developments and technology to shape the industry through science and innovation. Held in conjunction with the exhibition, the Vitafoods Asia Conference was led by industry experts across 2 days, presenting on the most topical aspects of nutraceuticals today. These include personalised nutrition, mental wellbeing, nutricosmetics, sports and fitness nutrition, and digestive health.

How the industry is evolving in terms of new products and ingredients is what captivated visitors, exhibitors and conference delegates alike in 2019. A first-time conference delegate and visitor to the show, Rikhia Mazumdar, Global Senior Brand Manager for Reckitt Benckiser said that she would certainly return next year. “I've learned about new emerging trends in microbiome technology and also probiotics - that is something that you don't get sitting out of a desk job. This was very enlightening for me.”

In terms of trends, Jeff Klien, R&D Scientist for Pharmatech said “Probiotics and Collagen have been huge. And they are definitely big presences in the US market as well, but it is interesting to see how overwhelmingly present they are in Asia.”

Aoife Marie Murphy, a Nutrition Scientist for exhibitor Kerry, said, "There's lots of different concepts, lots of new ingredients emerging. Protein is still a key trend and there's a move towards plant-based protein with the sustainability trends that are coming out. But we also see really novel innovation of ingredients with a lot of science behind them that have health benefits for the consumer. For example, there are a lot of different probiotics in terms of the need states, like healthy ageing. Sports nutrition probiotics are becoming really popular at the moment.” She added, “At Kerry, we've lots of different ingredients - we are working in the protein space, gluten, fibres, and probiotics. We have seen a lot of interest at Vitafoods Asia in these concepts."

The diversity in ingredients and suppliers held visitors at the show. Krishna Mohan Suri, Vice President Global Innovations & Chief R&D Officer for Universal Robina Corporation in the Philippines agreed. He said, “We got to know of a few unique ingredients and the opportunities they offer for us in terms of concepts. We also had the opportunity to meet suppliers with whom we could build new relationships.”

Another trend is the use of collagen not just for beauty, but for healthy ageing and sports science. Josh Hemelaar, Vice President Sales - China/APA for GELITA, a Vitafoods Asia 2019 sponsor, said, “Sports nutrition is being reinvented with science… and collagen is becoming a huge trend.”

The 10^th edition of Vitafoods Asia will return to the Marina Bay Sands Exhibition and Convention Centre in Singapore from 23-24 September 2020.