Speaking with NutraIngredients-USA during our recent Sports & Active Nutrition Summit in San Diego, Dicker said: “[Active Nutrition] is really an exciting category because the demographic is expanding. This is a category that has traditionally been young male focused, gym focused, and we’re seeing it leave the gym and expand to all demographics. There are very few categories that have that kind of potential.
“It was already a fairly large category just with the limited demographic, so as we see this expansion the opportunity is really golden right now for a renewed surge,” he added. “You see this in both the incorporation of sports nutrition attributes into every aisle and still the core categories are seeing a lot of growth.”
Dicker said that the performance supplement space has been the number one category in all supplements for growth over the past two years. He also said that the pandemic, while chilling the category as gyms closed, also acted as an opportunity for new consumers to explore the category as these new people transitioned from immune products to other supplement spaces.
Creatine
In addition to his bullishness about the overall category, Dicker is also very excited about Creatine, an ingredient most associated with muscle health that has been around for decades. So why now?
“When we look for what the hottest ingredient is, it’s not always a new ingredient,” he said. “When it comes to creatine, there really wasn’t an ingredient that was more specific on its demographic than creatine. It was young men, gym-goers, bodybuilders. A very niche market. As we’ve heard the research come in, about how they’re studying women, on cognition, both for athletes recovering from concussion but also older individuals, so all the ingredients are there for it to have an Ashwagandha-like surge in the coming year.
“We’re already seeing it: It grew at almost 100% last year in cross-channel sales. I think the acceleration is just beginning…”
Dicker also looks ahead to the next 12 months or more. Watch the video for more insights…
