Premix solutions for holistic “Beauty From Within”

Men or women, Gen Z, Millennials or Baby Boomers, everybody wants to look good, regardless of gender and age. According to a worldwide survey by Euromonitor International, more than half of respondents see beauty primarily in a healthy appearance. And this comes mostly from within. More and more consumers are becoming aware of how important nutrition is for healthy skin, hair, and nails. They understand that a healthy, balanced lifestyle has an effect on their appearance, and so they look for foods, beverages, and nutritional supplements that support holistic beauty. To meet this demand, SternVitamin has developed the new “Beauty From Within” premix line.

Holistic beauty combines wellness, health, and beauty

For many years wellness, health, and beauty were separate categories, but now they are increasingly merging into one another. Holistic beauty has established itself as a long-term trend. Consumers are looking for beauty products that alleviate stress, boost wellbeing, help with sleep issues and thus support a healthy appearance. With SternHolisticBeauty, SternVitamin has developed a unique premix that follows this holistic approach.

This premix for instant drink powders is specially tailored for holistic beauty. Its micronutrients and other functional ingredients support the gut immune system and the microbiota that work through the gut-skin-brain axis to strengthen the skin barrier and improve skin health. The lavender extract it contains helps with relaxation and stress reduction, while its pantothenic acid supports mental performance.

The skin as a calling-card

SternVitamin’s new premix line is centred on solutions for various skin needs. After all, glowing skin is the very essence of a healthy appearance. But unfortunately, the process of skin ageing starts as early as at age 25. External influences like environmental pollution and sunshine, as well as individual factors like stress, lack of sleep, and unbalanced nutrition, further exacerbate the natural ageing of the skin. It is no wonder that dark eye circles, lines, and wrinkles are among the most frequently mentioned skin problems. With combinations of selected vitamins, minerals, and functional ingredients, SternVitamin’s premix solutions support the natural beauty of the skin. A key factor, for example, is optimal moisturisation. This is exactly what SternHydroSkin helps with. The premix for capsules contains vitamins C and D that help maintain the skin barrier and counteract skin dryness. Vitamin B3 has a stimulating effect on ceramide synthesis, which is important for a healthy skin barrier. Moreover, hyaluronic acid and pomegranate extract have positive effects on skin elasticity, hydration and wrinkles.

SternSolarGuard protects against the skin’s worst external enemy – the sun. UVA radiation is a major cause of skin ageing, wrinkling, and roughness. This is due to oxidative stress and the damaging effects of free radicals. The vitamins C and E and trace elements zinc and selenium in the premix protect the skin from UV-induced oxidative stress. Vitamins C and E have also been demonstrated to counteract UV damage and skin ageing. The combination of citrus flavonoids and rosemary extract in the premix can provide additional protection against the sun’s harmful radiation. This premix was designed for capsules, and like SternHydroSkin, it is suitable for products targeting men and women in all age groups.

“Beauty sleep” is not just an expression – the skin regenerates during sleep. SternBeautySleep supports restful sleep and skin renewal. This premix for capsules contains the minerals zinc, magnesium, calcium, and selenium, which boost sleep duration. Beyond that calcium is involved in the skin’s cell cycle. Like zinc, the vitamins C and E in the premix reduce UV-induced skin ageing. Valerian, hops, and passionflower reduce the time it takes to fall asleep and improve sleep duration. SternBeautySleep is ideal for women and men under stress.

For beautiful skin, hair, and nails

The Beauty From Within range is completed by SternGlow and SternBeautyGummy. Both premixes contain micronutrients and functional ingredients that provide for beautiful skin, hair, and nails. SternBeautyGummy is specially intended for the trendy gummy application. All SternVitamin premixes can be incorporated into different applications. SternVitamin tailors each premix to customer order. The micronutrient specialist also develops customised concepts for individual foods and food supplements in close cooperation with the customer.

Consumers’ health status, personal interests and life priorities continuously change with age. Demanding lifestyles of Thai consumer combined with early signs of ageing often trigger middle-aged consumers to become more concerned about their health, nutrition and resulting in increased interest in using functional food/drinks.

Latest research from Mintel, the world’s leading market intelligence agency, highlights that for 84 % of Thai consumer health is a top priority, and even more so for consumers aged between 25-44. Among millennials aged between 25-34, over a  quarter (28 %) of consumers rely on products with added nutritional benefits to balance out their indulgence intake and 34 % of consumers in the same cohort seek out the latest information on health and nutrition information.

Pimwadee Aguilar, Associate Director for Food & Drink, at Mintel said:

“The degree to which consumers choose to engage with functional food and drink products varies depending on life stage and lifestyles. The increase in health awareness often takes place after the first signs of health decline. As simple signs such as facial fine lines usually appear at around the age of 25, it is at this stage when consumers are really motivated to review their diet and attempt to improve it either through conventional foods, supplementation or medicine.”

“With consumers seeking convenient ways to make up for their imbalanced lifestyle, brands in the food and drink space have an opportunity to tap into this need state to help consumers feel at their best despite their busy schedule. To find success in functional food and drink business, brands need to develop products that provide customised benefits to fulfill the needs of different demographic groups.”

Performance enhancement is the key target benefit

Thai consumers are looking for ways to improve performance and delay the degeneration of health. Mintel research highlights that the top three benefits consumer look for in functional food and drink products include brain health (62 %), eye health (55 %) and skin health (53 %)and that boost energy. However, 53 % of consumers prefer getting nutrients through regular food and drink rather than through those with fortifications and this increases to 66 %, among consumers aged 45+.

“Despite the significant demands for functional food and drinks with benefits for brain/eye health and energy, within the last three years the Thai market has experienced very stable growth in product launches that cater to these needs. With new ingredients and product varieties that can deliver these benefits, there is still a large opportunity for business growth. In Thailand, ‘naturally functional’ ingredients or products are perceived to be better than ‘added nutrition’ among consumers. Brands can appeal to consumers, especially adults with food and drink products with functional benefits from natural sources as they convey ‘healthiness’ more strongly than those with synthetic ingredients. Product formats such as beverage powders and yogurts which can easily fit into many meal occasions, and presents an opportunity to penetrate exceptionally well with consumers as they contain ‘familiar, real-food’ qualities. Energy drinks and those with electrolytes, on the other hand, are consumed less, mostly due to their ‘overly processed’ image. To win consumer acceptance, manufacturers need to develop products which provide functional benefits, yet maintain ‘real food’ look and taste,” said Pimwadee.

Beauty inside out

Consumers want to look their best, even amidst busy lifestyles, as Mintel research reveals that over half of consumers look for skin health (51 %) and over a third of consumers seek products that aid weight loss (37 %). The interest is high, especially among female consumers, in functional food and drinks products that offer for skin health (63 %) and weight loss benefits (45 %). Finally, Thai consumers say they are aware and have consumed collagen (73 %) and antioxidants (72 %).

“Urbanisation has resulted in consumers leading hectic lifestyles which often increases their chances of physical and mental burnout and premature ageing. As a result, early signs of ageing on the face and body are triggering consumers, especially females, to seek solutions to delay the decline. Collagen and antioxidants are the most popular functional ingredients among consumers as they seek ‘quick fixes’ to improve physical appearance and delay ageing. Food and drink can play an important role in beauty as ingredients for healthy skin such as collagen are seeing high awareness and usage. It is essentials for brands to lead in educating consumers about ingredients and benefits the product delivers and offer convenient, effective and tasty beauty and weight management solutions to consumers,” concluded Pimwadee.