Has Covid focused your mind on nutrition? These companies are here to help

Angus Brown’s natural health drink for improving brain function, Ārepa, has seen a surge in sales since covid-19 as the virus increased people’s focus on their health and wellness, and it’s not the only product who is benefiting.

Ārepa had a 250% increase in sales in the month after the lockdown and has continued to grow ever since, becoming the fastest-selling healthy drink in supermarkets.

“We have been doubling revenue year over year since Covid started,” says Brown, co-founder and CEO of Ārepa. “Everyone seems to want it more and more now. With the rates of people with cognitive problems along with immunity problems related to Covid, we got a double benefit.”

Brown’s drink, made from black currants, pine bark extract and L-theanine, an amino acid found in green tea, benefits from an accelerating global trend toward natural, convenient foods with health benefits by Covid.

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Ārepa expanded into Australia last year and is fielding inquiries from other places, including Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the United States. It raised $2.5m last year to fund its expansion into Australia and is eyeing further raising within the next year to fund a push into the US.

The company has bought some heavyweights to help out, including former Zespri boss Lain Jager, who has turned investor and joined the board, and Allbirds brand guru Simon Endres, who is updating the brand for global expansion.

Other nutritional brands have also seen increased sales since Covid.

nutrient rescue, that produces fruits and vegetables powder sachet “shots”doubled its average daily new customers in the last quarter of 2021 from the pre-Covid equivalent period in 2019, and the growth has continued this year.

Chief Executive Andrew Simcock says the surge in new customers shows the impact of Covid as the pandemic has highlighted the importance of being healthy and having good immunity.

A survey prepared by NZ Trade and Enterprise, Te Taurapa Tūhono, for the company’s expansion into Australia showed that following the Covid-19 outbreak, an additional 8% of Australians planned to prioritize healthy food and drink in May 2020 compared to The last month. , and there was also an increase in the number of people who preferred products with properties to stimulate immunity.

The trends were also seen in other markets, including Singapore, the UK and the US, suggesting a global trend of health-conscious consumers, according to the report.

“People are much more aware of the importance of their general health,” says Simcock. “We are a young company that is in growth mode, but we are definitely seeing an uptick.”

While the company’s products were initially sought after by people with specific health concerns, Simcock says the demand is now coming from people in general who are seeking better nutrition from natural products and moving away from supplements and energy drinks.

He says it can be difficult to eat properly with enough diversity in your diet for good nutrition, and Nutrient Rescue makes it easier by providing a daily dose of eight types of fruits and vegetables.

“We have a number of these wonderful, nutrient-dense superfoods that we can produce and take overseas, as well as meet our own needs,” says Simcock.

The director of the University of Lincoln’s food and agribusiness marketing program, Dr. Nic Lees, says companies are responding to consumers’ desire for products that are perceived as healthier, a trend that has accelerated since Covid. .

“In today’s environment, things are changing very quickly,” he says. “These things have been simmering, but suddenly there’s a real focus around foods that provide health benefits.”

Still, Lees says that while people want their food to be healthy, they don’t want to go to great lengths. And they are increasingly aware that taking supplements in capsule form does not necessarily provide the same benefit as nutrients found in food.

Lees is following the trend in her own life, bringing a box of vegetarian snacks to work every day to ensure she gets her daily dose of healthy fruits and vegetables.

He notes that Asian cultures are more attuned to the impact of food on health, but says it’s a growing trend among European New Zealanders, given the added boost from Covid.

Major companies are also jumping on the bandwagon, with niche peanut butter brand Nut Brothers recently adding a new range of probiotics and blueberries.

“You have to always be innovating and coming up with new things,” says co-founder Jono Wood. “If you look at what’s happening around the world, you’ll see that companies in the United States have done it, and we think that’s smart, we’ll try.”

He says it’s a good way for families to add healthy foods to their children’s diets.

“Probiotics are a good thing and it’s an easy way to introduce them to your family,” he says. “You are what you eat, so everyone should complement all the good things in some way.”

Lees, of the University of Lincoln, says that people increasingly want their food products to be healthy and feel like they’re giving them some benefit.

“What’s always quite interesting is how much is a real benefit versus a perceived benefit,” he says.

While there is good evidence for the use of manuka honey for wound care, there is no evidence that consuming manuka honey has any health benefits, he says.

Very few consumers actually go to see the evidence of a product and they don’t always behave rationally, he says.

Most products have some degree of scientific support linking them to health benefits, and that’s enough for most consumers, he says.

“As long as you have enough evidence that that’s the case, people will perceive it as being healthier and better for you and a bunch of things that there probably isn’t a lot of evidence for, whether they are or not,” he says.

Still, some companies are spending heavily on science to back up their nutritional claims.

New Zealand’s largest food company, dairy giant Fonterra, is increasing its spending on innovation by 50% to around $160 million a year by 2030 as it digs deeper into the properties of milk. so you can produce high value nutritional products.

Fonterra discovered and marketed two of the world’s leading probiotic strainsthat addresses digestive and immune issues, and has more than 40,000 dairy culture strains at its Palmerston North R&D center, one of the world’s largest dairy culture libraries. METERmost have yet to be proven for their potential as probiotics and may have previously unseen health benefits.

In December of last year, Fonterra partnered with world-renowned scientist Dr. Robert Langer co-founder of vaccine manufacturer Moderna, and his US biotech company VitaKey, which specializes in the precise delivery of nutrition.

Langer says that people may not realize that many nutrients are destroyed before they are consumed, and his company has developed technology to stabilize nutrients and ensure they survive and are bioavailable to the consumer.

The first stage of the collaboration focused on stabilizing Fonterra’s two probiotics for digestive and immune issues to allow them to be delivered to the parts of the body where they are needed most for optimal nutrition. Since then, the company has expanded to include other micronutrients such as vitamin D.

Langer is hopeful that VitaKey will be revolutionary for the US$8 billion (NZ$12t) a year global food industry.

“Nutrition is very important,” he says. “I just try to do what I can with science to make the world a happier and healthier place. Our goal is to benefit as many people around the world as possible.”