With the increased consumer interest in immune health, product developers are focusing on ingredients for helping to maintain, support, or boost immunity more than ever before. According to a 2020 Probiotic Survey by the FMCG Gurus research arm of M&R Insights Ltd., the number of consumers in North American stating that they purchased probiotic products in the 12-month pre-Pandemic period between 2018 and 2020 rose from 45% to 61%.
Such immune health ingredients generally fall into six main categories: probiotics, protein, botanicals, fungi, pre-and postbiotics, micronutrients and lipid-based nutraceuticals. Of these, the most heavily studied and well-researched are the probiotic bacteria, the prebiotic fibers that feed them, and the new class of digestive health ingredients known as “postbiotics.”