Photo Gallery: The future of healthy living: 5 brands to watch in 2012

Jan. 12, 2012 12:47pm

Harmless Harvest

Harmless Harvest is worth watching for its innovative approach to a well-established category: coconut water. The company is upping the ante on social responsibility, sustainability, transparency and taste, with the goal to introduce lesser-known sustainable ingredients down the line based on success in the coconut water category. After launching at Natural Products Expo East last year, the Harmless Harvest brand is already the top-selling coconut water in Whole Foods Market’s north east region.

With its 100 percent raw and organic coconut water, Harmless Harvest is also tapping into an increasingly popular trend: raw foods and beverages. “Raw is rad,” writes the company on its website, “because it’s a way for people to revive their connection to the planet in a distinctly intimate way.”
Vega

Everyone wants to play in sports nutrition. It’s a profitable category, and Nutrition Business Journal reports that it grew 9 percent to reach $23 billion in 2010.

Sports nutrition is also a sullied category, thanks to case after case of products being tainted with banned or illegal substances. Specialty retailers such as Bodybuilding.com have been accused of selling adulterated sports nutrition and weight-loss supplements in recent years, and the growing media hype over the potential danger of popular pre-workout products such as Jack3D have many sports nutrition consumers expecting more retail guidance on their sports nutrition purchases.

Enter natural products stores, which are often viewed as being the most trustworthy purveyors of dietary supplement products. In the current environment, natural products retailers have an advantage in the sports nutrition market—which might explain why we’re seeing such a bevy of new “natural” performance products.

Most progressive in this area is the Sequel Natural’s Vega Sport system—the first “all natural” plant-based sport performance suite of athletic fuels. The line consists of seven products divided into three distinct stages: Prepare, Sustain and Recover. Although it features familiar forms of electrolyte-based drinks, energy bars, gels and protein powders (comprised of pea, hemp, brown rice and saviseed), the products have been completely reinvented with no performance compromise. The distinctively powerful, innovative look of this brand new brand made a strong visual splash at its Natural Products Expo East debut. Given the growing popularity of clean and sustainable living, the line’s vegan angle should provide a broad appeal. In addition, although several companies in this space make ‘made with natural ingredients’ claims, none other than Vega have created a comprehensive line that’s truly eliminated multi-syllabic ingredients.

[Editor's note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that GNC had been found to be selling adulterated supplements.]
MegaFood

Thanks to Monsanto and the pharmaceutical giants, a division is forming in the market between science-based approaches to nutrition in the form of bioengineered supplements and the purer, more natural approaches found in organic, whole and raw foods. In addition, consumer fears of engineered food villains such as GMOs and synthetic additives have started to push people away from the supplement world and more toward food.

Naturally, supplement manufacturers don’t want to be left out of the action, so more and more are launching products derived from whole food ingredients that are as far away from synthetic nutrients as organic fruit is from Froot Loops. This trend taps into the back-to-basics mentality we are seeing emerge in the world of health and wellness. You want real nutrition? Eat real food—and, if you need to, reinforce what you do eat with naturally derived, food-based supplements.

MegaFood is a leader in the whole food supplement space and well positioned to benefit from growing consumer interest in whole food nutrition. The brand, which is owned by BioSan Laboratories and recently received a cash infusion from 2x Consumer Products Growth Partners, is making particularly strong headway in the children's supplement category with its Kid's One Daily. The product is a whole food vitamin and mineral tablet that breaks away from the trend of loading children's supplements with sugar.
Algae Biosciences

Omega-3 (and numerous other nutritional products) made from algal oils are expected to emerge in droves this year. Fish oil supplies are limited; but with the right financial backing, omega-3 algal supplies—which hail from giant pools of pond scum—might not be. Martek (now part of DSM) is the supplier of life’sDHA, the most prominent algae-derived omega-3 on the market, and the company has already launched a line of products called BrainStrong through its subsidiary Amerifit Brands. Ovega is another new life’sDHA-containing product that is being heavily marketed in the natural channel as the first “vegetarian fish oil” with EPA and DHA.

But our eyes are on Algae Biosciences, which recently invested $5 million into upgrading its algal production facilities in Arizona and plans to launch an algal DHA product in international markets this year. Lots of people have been asking how we can get adequate omega-3 supplies to people around the globe, and AlgaeBio wants to be the answer to that question.
Youtheory

Nutricosmetic products—supplements and other ingestibles designed to support beauty from the inside out—have been mainstream for years in Japan and Europe. Although still a nascent category within the United States, nutricosmetics could get a boost this year from Youtheory. Launched by nutraceutical distributor Nutrawise last year, Youtheory offers a system of collagen-based supplements for skin, hair and nail health. Products within the brand include an anti-aging collagen protein shake and collagen advanced formula tablets.

Collagen is a mainstay “beauty from within” ingredient in Japan (where one can buy collagen-infused marshmallow treats!), but a lack of consumer knowledge of collagen’s beauty benefits has kept this nutrient—which helps prevent wrinkles, provides skin with elasticity, and helps build stronger and thicker hair—from taking off in America. Youtheory, with its clean branding that conveys both science and beauty, could change that. Although new to the nutricosmetic stage, the Youtheory brand already boasts significant distribution, including at club stores such as Costco.

Product innovation took a beating during the recession, but new ideas are once again flowing within the natural, organic and healthy products market. We're seeing way more than ideas, however. New companies, brands and products are emerging at a faster rate than we've seen in some time. Those that will be most successful tap into powerful consumer shifts currently shaping the healthy living market. Here, we take a look at five brands we believe are well positioned for 2012 and the market trend each represents.

Join in the discussion by telling us in the comment section below what companies and brands you'll be watching this year.