The team here at Pharmatech had the pleasure of attending Natural Products Expo West 2022. Natural Products Expo West puts together this conference to connect independent retailers and introduce new products to the natural products market. Natural Products Expo West is the leading trading show in the natural, organic, and healthy products industry.
Today’s blog is all about what we learned from attending the Expo West 2022 conference. Let’s dive in!
Trends We Saw
First of all, we saw a lot of emerging trends. Sustainable packaging was a huge part of the expo, and we saw tons of products packaged in sustainable materials. We saw canned water and mocktails. We also noticed canning and pouching liquids and vitamins.
But it wasn’t just packaging. There are new flavors and ingredients on the market that we can use in natural products. There was an abundance of new flavors to try for mocktails, such as black cherry pomegranate, matcha yuzu, ginger peach, and watermelon jalapeno.
Some of the new ingredients we saw included Maizinol, Attenutin, Chiber, water-soluble oil powders, acai oil for liquids projects, and probiotics. These products have health benefits like improved immunity, sleep aid, and mood lifts.
Repeat Ingredients
While there were new ingredients at the expo, we also saw ingredients that have been around for a while. The most popular ingredients on display included collagen, new cannabinoids, nootropics, adaptogens, prebiotics, and probiotics.
Nootropics are supplements designed to improve cognitive functions like attention, memory, and creativity. Adaptogens are found in herbal medicines and help with physical and emotional stress. Prebiotics and probiotics help us maintain a healthy gut.
Collagen was available in various flavors in ready-to-drink gummies, bars, and baked goods. The cannabinoids, which are compounds of the cannabis plant, were available in CBD, CBG, CBN, and CBC compound forms.
Products We Saw
Protein Substitutes
Protein substitutes were a huge trend that we saw at Expo West 2022. Vendors displayed vegan and plant-based options like peas, rice, sunflowers, algae, chickpeas, and plant-based meats. We noticed the variety of applications shown, too–ready-to-drink, bars, drink mixes, gummies, snack foods, and more.
Alcohol-Free Beverages
Mocktails are on the rise. The flavors for non-alcoholic beverages are getting more sophisticated, too. We sampled flavors like juniper and mimosa. There were also functionalized alcohol-free spirits and beers. Functional beverages are essentially liquid foods that boast certain health benefits.
Products for Gut Health
No one will say no to a healthy gut, but it’s hard to figure out how to achieve one. Probiotics, prebiotic drinks, and unique kombucha brews and tepache are all supposed to help gut health.
Kombucha is made from black or green tea and is rich in probiotics and antioxidants—it’s also rumored to help fight cancer and manage Type 2 diabetes.
Tepache is a fermented drink made from pineapple rinds and peel seasoned with brown sugar and cinnamon. It’s considered a non-alcoholic beverage unless you add beer to it.
Whole Foods Products
Everyone is trying to eat healthier these days, and the people at Expo West caught onto that. We saw many snacks like dried fruit jerky, puffed chickpeas, sacha inchi bites, and veggie chips made from ingredients like plantains and beets.
Cauliflower has become a major trend for pizza crusts, breading, and faux meat. A cauliflower crust pizza can imitate the real thing when cooked the right way. When roasted, cauliflower can replace the meat we eat in tacos and burritos.
Water
While there’s still debate over how much water we should drink daily, there’s no question that it’s essential for our health. We saw water in sustainable packagings like cans and cartons.
Alkaline and functionalized water also made appearances. Alkaline water has a higher pH level than regular water, contains alkaline minerals, has negative oxidation-reduction potential, which acts as an antioxidant.
There were also some add-ins like flavors, nootropics, adaptogens, hops, and caffeine. Most of the water at Expo West was sourced from locations like the Swiss Alps and Fiji Islands.
Pharmatech Labs
Going to Expo West 2022 opened our minds to new possibilities. Pharmatech Labs is a nutritional contract manufacturer specializing in liquid and powder supplements. From concept to fulfillment, we keep our customers at the forefront of everything we do to ensure the highest satisfaction levels.
Do you make liquid and powder supplements? Are you looking for a contract manufacturer to package what you make? Look no further. Pharmatech is here to help. You can contact us today for a free quote or get more information. We’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have and help you get started!
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