Consumers are taking a more proactive approach to their health and wellness, causing an increased demand for functional foods, beverages and supplements. Immune health benefits are among the strongest growing demands for consumers, who want to support their health through nutrition and the products they consume.

Kerry, the taste and nutrition company, acquired the natural food, beverage and supplement ingredient Wellmune at the end of 2015. Wellmune is a 100% natural food, beverage, and supplement ingredient, that strengthens the immune system, making it easier for consumers to be well and stay well. Backed by more than 12 clinical studies, this has regulatory approval in major markets around the world.

A look at Innova Market Insights data found that Wellmune has been widely applied in many new product launches worldwide, including toddler formula/milk, a range of supplements, juice & juice drinks and sports powders. Recent product examples utilizing Wellmune include Optimum Nutrition’s Gold Standard BCAA Train + Recover, a line of intra-workout drink mixes. Launched in the UK, Nurture Fruity Water+ was created for children and is enriched with vitamins, minerals, zinc and Wellmune to support children’s immunity.

Market insights have shown immune health benefits are a popular and growing health platform for supplements, which continues to grow in the food and beverage space.

Speaking during a webinar broadcast yesterday and leading the marketing strategies for Kerry’s branded immune health ingredients, Kelly Blaszczak, Strategic Marketing Director at Kerry discussed how nutrition can play a key role in immune health and how Wellmune, can help create innovative products that meet consumers’ nutrition expectations. “We can use Wellmune in many different product applications, it is helpful if used on a daily basis and it has that healthy and convenient format,” she says.

“We have products that have been launched in over 60 countries; we have seen a lot of launches particularly in the past 5 years, so there is a clear demand in this area.”

“Functional foods are becoming more open to this type of ingredient, the growth has been significant, we have seen from data from Innova Market Insights, some of the top categories being powder formula, dairy drinks, sports nutrition and bars - we are seeing a lot of growth which is great for us,” Blaszczak explains. “This growth is because manufacturers are looking to innovate with ingredients that deliver health benefits and therefore addressing the consumers’ desire for safe, natural and clinical ingredients.”

Don Cox, who leads Kerry’s technical efforts for the Wellmune ingredient discussed some positive findings whilst testing on Wellmune. “We have focused on a wide range of population groups so starting from the very young and we’ve also done average college student 18-22 age, marathon studies that includes people from age 18 - 40-50s, healthy eating studies, we have done a wide range of studies over the years but many of the studies are also intended for a lower age demographic.”

“Consumers are taking a more proactive approach to their health and well using food, beverages and supplements to maintain their health, immune health is a foundation of good nutrition which is essential to health and maintaining a strong inner system,” he notes.

According to Cox, there is a global need in the market for these products. “Products with Wellmune have a good opportunity to aid in supporting the immune system,” he continues, “Ingredients that are safe, natural and clinical seem to resonate well with consumers and Wellmune is certainly one of these ingredients.”

“At Kerry we formulate with the addition of a commodity ingredient in order to be able to make immune health related claims, we make the Wellmune brand accessible to our consumers, through our logo and website and provide avenues for consumer education and help communicate the benefits of Wellmune,” Blaszczak adds