AI to Play a Role in Nutraceuticals Industry; India to be a Leading Player

A global industry survey conducted by Nutrify Today, a nutraceuticals i2c (ideas to commercialization) platform, has found that there is growing optimism around the food and nutrition industry globally and technologies like artificial intelligence will further drive the market growth. The study also sees India as a leading player in the industry that will harness the value of the market.

Nutraceutical industry leaders from the USA, Israel, Switzerland, Singapore, India, Hong Kong and Japan were engaged in the survey. Nutraceuticals is a broad umbrella term that is used to describe any product derived from food sources with extra health benefits in addition to the basic nutritional value found in foods

The technological advancements in the Nutra industry will enable a more personalized approach towards nutrition over the next three years with accurate sensors possible via collaborations with expertise in the MedTech industry stated 26% of the respondents.

On the other hand, 12% of the respondents also believe that profiling individuals and providing specific dosages and ingredients as per their requirements will be a possibility too. The food can be prepared by a convergence of robotics and 3D printer using lab-grown ingredients as per the biochemistry and need of the body at that particular time.

Artificial Intelligence is going to play a pivotal role in the Nutra industry too as the food matrix will be designed as per individual needs using data and algorithm, opine 15% of the industry leaders.

Amit Srivastava, Chief Catalyst and Founder of Nutrify Today, believes that the future of Nutra is going to be different from how it is today. Nutrify Today has been working towards shaping the growth of the Nutraceuticals industry by empowering responsible nutrition businesses.

“Automated personalized nutrition where artificial intelligence will manage the nutrient needs and the source of ingredients will evolve into sustainable methodologies using biotech,” he says.

“There are already early-stage entrants who are working on the Nutra-tech. Nutraceuticals of the future will be a multi-disciplinary function of the science which will drive personalized precision nutrition into habits of individuals rather than individuals changing habits to adopt something new,” adds Srivastava.

The survey also discovered optimism about India’s role in the forward movement of Nutra-tech and Nutraceuticals industry in the future. Around 24% of the respondents believe that India will be a leading innovator second only to the United States. With the emergence of fingerprinting of Phyto ingredients from 52 agro-climatic zones, strengths of Indian IT industry coupled with convergence hub of MedTech like Biovalley Incubation Council and AMTZ in India will drive convergence innovation in Nutra-tech.

The majority of the industry leaders already believe that the existing early versions of technutra products in the market have done well in the US. Precision nutrition using technutra is going to gain global significance in the future. With the growing adoption of fingerprinting of Phyto ingredients, deployment of blockchain technologies, it will also change the agricultural sector with an increased demand for nutrition-rich.

The industry leaders, on the other hand, also identified certain challenges like lack of skilled workforce and global regulatory framework, data privacy, high cost, etc. In a complex environment with opportunity and challenges, it’s often the new generation start-ups that drive innovation and the same is evident from all emerging success stories across the world.

Another report points out that the nutraceuticals market in India is expected to grow from an estimated $4 billion to $18 billion by the end of 2025. The Dietary supplements segment constitutes over 65 percent of the nutraceutical market and is growing at a rate of 17 percent and is likely to be at 22 percent per year. This growth can largely be attributed to the renewed focus on preventive healthcare due to the pandemic.

The technutra will be hence an innovation-driven by start-up and eventually, there will be large nutrition conglomerates that would enter this segment by way of M&A, the survey concludes.