In recent years, the integration of functional, health-promoting, ingredients into everyday foods and beverages has surged. In Asia-Pacific, 10% of all food and drink launches carried a functional claim, in Australia and New Zealand, an impressive 44% of all beverage launches carried a functional health claim in the year to July 2023, and in the US, the share of fruit snack launches featuring functional claims doubled, with immunity and brain health claims seeing notably increases.

The 2022 study “Investigating the Effect of Consumers’ Knowledge on Their Acceptance of Functional Foods”, which examined data from over 13,000 consumers across different geographical regions, found that “consumers’ knowledge of functional foods is limited”. However, consumer understanding and adoption of this category has surged since. Notably Olipop, the functional soda startup (prebiotic fizzy canned drinks), was featured in the top 100 most influential companies of 2024, according to Time magazine.