While consumer awareness around digestive health is on the rise, postbiotics are considered the most versatile of all digestive aid supplements. Since they are not live microorganisms, they are not susceptible to decreases in their efficacy resulting from poor storage conditions or gastric transit, nor do they present the manufacturing challenges of spore-formers. These characteristics, found in LBiome, open the door wide open to innovations in formulation options.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers are looking for new ways to use food as medicine in a bid to help improve their daily health. As a result, the functional food market is booming.
Given the shift in consumer values, the market for these kinds of foods is expected to see significant growth over the next decade, and is projected to reach $260 billion by 2027—a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.5%.
While there is much debate around the official definition of the term functional food, the most important thing to remember is that functional food is an umbrella term that describes food that has a positive impact on one’s health, beyond its basic nutritional value.
The growing awareness for improved health has been motivating consumers to pay a little extra for better health, which, in turn, is expected to benefit the growth of digestive health products.
The global digestive health products market size was valued at USD 44.4 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow to 71.95 billion in 2027 at a CAGR of 7.9%. Increasing demand for nutritional and fortifying food additives is one of the key factors driving the market.
Heat-treated bacterial strains, such as Lactobacillus LB (like Stratum Nutrition’s LBiome), have been used to treat digestive disorders for over a century but are just now beginning to be well-recognised in the functional food & beverage arena.
Decades of published research on LB have confirmed its efficacy is on par with, if not better than, its living source. LBiome provides the digestive benefits of a probiotic and the formulation flexibility of a spore, with none of the stability or manufacturing concerns. This opens the door for use in both conventional food and expanded supplement formats.
