In January, China officially approved that Hyaluronic Acid can be used in daily food, including dairy products, beverages, alcohol, chocolate, and candy. People believe that this could be a new emerging huge market for food and food supplement beauty products in China and are expected to become one of the fastest-growing food sectors.
The food beauty product market first emerged overseas. Close to China, In 1996, Japan officially listed hyaluronic acid as a food additive, and then a variety of related oral beauty products appeared, and they all came from POLA, FANCL, DHC, Shiseido, and other cosmetic manufacturers. After 2000, many other countries also allowed hyaluronic acid to be added to food or dietary supplements. The nutrient food field began to use hyaluronic acid on a large scale and soon surpassed the beauty field. Now, the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, and other countries have a variety of hyaluronic acid-containing health foods on the market. Japan alone has more than 160 types of hyaluronic acid foods. In 2020, the Coca-Cola Company also launched a tea drink containing hyaluronic acid in Japan, with 120mg hyaluronic acid added to each bottle.
However, Hyaluronic acid actually is not the first edible cosmetics ingredient that introduces to the food sector.
In 2004, collagen beverages began to be popular in Japan, and then entered China through “Daigou” channel and thrive. Collagen is a fibrous protein in the human body. Its functions include improving skin and muscle elasticity and protecting bone health. It is currently widely used in clinical medicine, beauty, food, chemical raw materials, and other fields. Most Chinese consumers understand the idea that after the age of 25, the loss of collagen in the human body accelerates, and skin loss of elasticity, wrinkles, and other aging phenomena often occur. Therefore, supplementing collagen is also a major appeal of consumers. Nowadays, among the products that use collagen as a selling point, both external and internal use are still has a high demand.
And now, hyaluronic acid (HA) joined the competition in China markets. Similar to collagen, with aging, the content of hyaluronic acid in the human body will continue to decrease, leading to skin aging and wrinkles.
So far, hyaluronic acid products have been mainly concentrated in the field of skincare. The top skincare and medical beauty field are common uses of hyaluronic acid. However, after researching the cross-border e-commerce market and overseas products on the platforms, we found the following types of Hyaluronic acid could be attractive to consumers.
- Hyaluronic acid supplements
In the field of hyaluronic acid supplements, the tablets/capsule types of products have a good reputation. And chew candy is taking the second chair of the top sale. At the same time, in hyaluronic acid health products, hyaluronic acid often appears together with other ingredients, especially collagen, which appears very frequently. Consumers are not very excited about supplements with hyaluronic acid alone. Strong binding with other ingredients can be more acceptable to consumers. - Hyaluronic acid foods
In February of this year, a hyaluronic acid chew candy launched by the meal replacement brand WonderLab has appeared on the market. One month after listing, WonderLab performed well and immediately took first place on all the online eCommerce platforms. And after the candy, more local and international companies are developing or launching hyaluronic acid food such as beverages, snacks, dairy products, tea, alcohol, and biscuits to fight for the first markets
Who will be the next skincare ingredient to enter the food industry?
The trend of edible beauty food is unstoppable. So who will be the next skincare ingredient to enter the food field? We count the ingredients of existing skincare products on the Chinese market. Hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, and amino acids are among the top three of the most used ingredients. Hyaluronic acid has entered the food field now. Amino acids themselves are a component of protein and are widely found in daily diets. Therefore, could niacinamide be the next inline on the food beauty list？
To the fact, the situation for niacinamide has few different to hyaluronic acid. It is allowed to be used in food supplement products but not daily food products yet. For example, niacinamide also can be frequently found in collagen supplement products and functional beverages. Niacinamide, as a skincare ingredient, has a very comprehensive effect, covering moisturizing, whitening, anti-acne, anti-aging and sun protection, etc., and it is also the most common demand. It could foresee that in the near future, niacinamide will also become a snack.
