Asia’s huge women’s health opportunity: Think holistic and cover all life stages to secure market gains - WATCH

Glanbia Nutritionals pointed out the above in our latest Nutrition Asia video series.

Only about 0.3 per cent of new product launches in the food and beverage market are targeted at women, according to Yiting Xu, marketing executive, AsPAC, at Glanbia Nutritionals.

“Over half of the women are significantly concerned about their own health and are looking for products tailored to women's nutrition specifically​. But we are seeing a gap in the market [supply].​

“In the food and beverage market, only about 0.3 per cent of new launches are targeted at women. Meanwhile in the supplement area, less than four per cent of the products are targeted for women,” ​she said.

The percentage of sports nutrition making a specific female health claim was also low at around four per cent, she said.

The dairy ingredients firm, as well as astaxanthin supplier AstaReal each gave a presentation on APAC’s women’s health industry during last month’s Vitafoods Asia tradeshow held in Bangkok.

AstaReal, on the other hand, noticed that the use of astaxanthin in women’s health products had grown 32 per cent year-on-year between 2018 to 2022.

“The women's health market has grown very rapidly in recent years.​

“Specifically, for AstaReal's astaxanthin, it has grown 32 per cent yearly from 2018 to 2022 and this makes women's health as the fastest-growing segment within the astaxanthin supplement category,” ​said Denny Liauw, sales and marketing manager.

Both companies believe that new product innovation should seek to address women’s health needs holistically, beyond just focusing on alleviating menopausal syndromes and reproductive health problems, such as polycystic ovary syndrome.

Glanbia Nutritionals, for example, is tackling women’s health needs by looking into their concerns throughout the life stages, starting from the adolescent stage to menstruation care, active nutrition, pregnancy, and menopause.

“The way we have broken down our platform is by looking into the five significant life stages of women, starting from the adolescent stage.​

“Because that's the age where a lot of physiological complex processes start happening in the body, which means there's a lot of specific nutritional demands which then evolve as a woman goes through different stages of life,” ​added Bilva Trivedi, product strategy manager, AsPac, Glanbia Nutritionals. 

In the same vein, AstaReal has also studied the effects of astaxanthin beyond fertility and menopause, branching into areas such as skin, eye, and cardiovascular health.

Both companies also believe that the female population is currently underrepresented in clinical trials, which is a shortcoming that needs to be addressed to better cater to women’s health needs.

Watch the video to find out more.