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The Analyst's Take: Probiotics set to dominate women's health supplements
They’re today’s “it” ingredient, showing up in products addressing vaginal health, menopause and mood, and skin, hair and nail health.
If you’re looking to make inroads within the exploding women’s health category, formulating with probiotics would be a great place to start. Showing up in supplements addressing everything from vaginal health to menopause and mood to hair, skin and nail health, probiotics are showing the highest growth projections of any ingredient within the women’s health category, according to NBJ market-sizing analysis published in the recently released Women's Health Report.
Women instinctively understood the efficacy of probiotics for vaginal health long before supplement brands began incorporating them into their products. In the 1970s, desperately seeking relief from UTIs at a time when “drink cranberry juice” seemed to be the only advice they could find, women would soak tampons in plain yogurt and insert them into their vaginas to deliver probiotic healing. Thankfully, we now have a much cleaner and convenient solution as probiotics have become a staple in vaginal health products—and influencers are spreading the word.
Kourtney Kardashian’s supplement brand Lemme includes Purr vaginal health gummies containing probiotics “to support freshness,” and Dr. Josh Axe’s Ancient Nutrition Women’s Vitality supplements contain 2 billion CFU of the probiotic strain Bacillus coagulans. With its Private Party supplement, Hum Nutrition is educating female consumers about the importance of probiotics in maintaining a healthy vaginal microbiome.
Meanwhile, Dr. William Davis, author of the bestselling Wheat Belly book series, is busy educating the female-dominated customer base for his Gut to Glow oral skincare supplements about using probiotics to maintain a healthy microbiome, which can contribute to healthier skin. Nutrition and formulation consultant Paula Simpson, author of Good Bacteria for Healthy Skin: Nurture Your Skin Microbiome with Pre- and probiotics for Clear and Luminous Skin (Ulysses Press, 2019), says her book is getting more attention now than when it was first published and predicts the market for gut-skin axis products is about to explode.
About a third of women across all generations except Gen Z are already using probiotics, according to an NBJ survey conducted late last year. (Full results of this wide-ranging consumer survey are available in the Women's Health Report.) Gen Z women present a big opportunity within this space, as more than three-quarters of them are not yet incorporating probiotics into their health regimens—and all it takes is one viral TikTok campaign.
Get full insights in the Women's Health Report, available here.
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| | Robyn Lawrence
The author of four books, Robyn Lawrence has written in the natural lifestyle, food and wellness space since she helped launch Natural Home magazine in 1999. She was Natural Home’s editor-in-chief for 11 years and has been an editor for several national magazines, including Mother Earth News and Herb Companion. As senior editor for NBJ, she writes articles and contributes to report content. |
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| | | Tap into the overlooked market of women's health |
| | In addition to NBJ's market sizing, the 2023 Women's Health Report includes 15 data charts illustrating survey results of +1,000 women ages 21 to 75 years old. Analyzing the responses by generation can highlight key beliefs and behaviors to give a better understanding of your target audience. For example, Gen Zers rank mood and mental health as a top health indicator. Not so for Baby Boomers. What health conditions are top priority for each generation? Where do women get their health information? Find the answers here. |
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