AI platform reveals vitamin C’s popularity growth is driving innovation opportunities in global snacks, beverages, and baby care markets in 2025

Vitamin C is a unique, flavourful, and tasty ingredient found naturally in fruits and vegetables, with essential health-boosting properties.

The growth in popularity of vitamin C stems from the ingredient’s versatility across categories where it adds functional health benefits to snacks, energy and vitality to beverages, and natural everyday support for baby care products, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin essential for various bodily functions, including collagen synthesis, immune function, and antioxidant protection. It is commonly found in citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, and grapefruits.

The ingredient is the subject of GlobalData’s latest report: “Ingredients Insights: Vitamin C”, which combines findings from the company’s Ai Palette innovation and consumer insights platform with GlobalData’s consumer intelligence center insights to provide a deep dive understanding of why vitamin C enjoys such positive consumer sentiment and how it is being used as a beneficial ingredient in various markets and categories. The research report also identifies the consumer trends that are driving Vitamin C’s popularity, provides suggestions for other compatible ingredients and reviews how manufacturers can use vitamin C in their products.

Leveraging the world’s largest consumer data lake, with a staggering 61 billion global data points collected in real-time from social media, e-commerce, and foodservice menus, GlobalData’s Ai Palette platform has conducted a thorough analysis of Vitamin C’s ‘engagement score’ and data point growth rates over the latest two-year period. This analysis has pinpointed key innovation opportunities for Vitamin C across key categories. In the food and beverage sector, the primary focus areas are snacks and beverages, while in the beauty and personal care sector, the baby care category stands out.

Beverages

South Korea, the UK, and the US are the top three beverage markets for vitamin C. The natural presence of vitamin C in fruit-based drinks, such as orange and citrus juices, and its increasing inclusion in functional beverages and mocktails have boosted the ingredients’ popularity in these markets.

Vitamin C in non-alcoholic beverages aligns with the vitality and balance trend, which emphasises health, well-being, and maintaining an active lifestyle. This trend is particularly appealing to older demographics, who prioritise ingredients like vitamin C for its role in skin health and joint support.

Olivier Fevre, Associate Consumer Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Consumers and brands associate vitamin C with a healthy lifestyle. Tapping into the health & wellness trend is crucial for brands using vitamin C, as consumers increasingly value ingredients that support overall wellbeing. Vitamin C is strongly associated with skin care and nourishing benefits, making it a natural fit for products positioned around gentle care or daily wellness routines. By delivering added nutrition or nourishing properties, such as natural energy or supporting skin health, products containing vitamin C are a simple, everyday way for families to boost their health and wellness from the snacks, beverages, and baby care categories.”