Brand new: The latest developments from Danone, Herbalife, VitHit and Nestlé

By Gary Scattergood

- Last updated on GMT

Herbalife will take part at Probiota Asia.
Herbalife will take part at Probiota Asia.
Our monthly review of the latest brand news reveals the big-name firms set to debate Asia's probiotics future, a bumper Australian retail deal for functional beverage firm VitHit, and more.

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The region's leading probiotic and microbiome event — Probiota Asia — will get underway in Singapore this month with a stellar line-up of speakers, including the likes of Blackmores, Danone, Herbalife and Life-Space, set to take to the stage.

Find out how to attend​.

Join Blackmores, Danone, Herbalife, Life-Space and more at Probiota Asia

There is just two weeks to go until the region’s leading probiotic and microbiome event, Probiota Asia​, gets underway in Singapore, with a stellar line-up of speakers from the likes of Blackmores, Danone, Herbalife and Life-Space set to take to the stage.

This year's event​ will take place at the Hilton on Orchard Road from October 17 to 19, featuring a wealth of expert speakers from business, academia and the regulatory sector.

NutraIngredients-Asia​ Editor-in-Chief Gary Scattergood said: "We have a fantastic agenda in place for this year’s event featuring the latest insights and analysis from our expert speakers.

"Probiota has always been about connecting science and business in probiotics and prebiotics — providing that central point of exchange — and this year’s APAC event is no exception.”

 

Functional beverage surge for VitHit in Australia with bumper Coles deal

Irish brand VitHit expects its upcoming APAC debut to open doors​ for further expansion within the region for its sole product: a range of six functional bottled beverages developed as a healthy alternative to sugar-sweetened drinks.

The firm announced its impending launch in Australia in March this year, but has now shared more details of its expansion plans on the back of securing a major deal with retailer Coles.

"We'll be launching​ on November 1 in 600 Coles stores across Australia​. This is our first southern hemisphere launch and we're pretty excited about it. I'm actually going to move there for three months to help with the launch and meet with our distributors in the country."

 

Forgoing key e-commerce platforms: How Singapore supplement start-up woos Chinese consumers

Singapore-based dietary supplement start-up, Innoso, is forgoing the popular e-commerce platforms in China​ and is instead depending on its own WeChat online store to reach consumers in China.

Known as Qing Yang Beauty in Wechat, the online shop is reaping growth slowly but steadily.

Selling at RMB$458 per box, daily sales of its flagship product “InnerPur Skinny 3X” – a weight management and anti-glycation dietary supplement -  has grew from 100 sales to an average of 300 to 500 in the past one month, Rebecca Wang, CEO of Innoso told NutraIngredients-Asia​.

Made in Japan, the supplement made of food grade ingredients claims to block body absorption of sugar and fat by 75% to 80%.

 

Use your head, follow your gut: Bened Biomedical's award-winning probiotic product set for market expansion

The makers of a probiotic product targeting the gut-brain axis​ have highlighted research underlining how it can ease neurological conditions.

Bened Biomedical won the Probiotic Product of the Year award at the recent NutraIngredients-Asia Awards​ for its PsychoBiotic PS128, a novel supplement meant to modulate the microbiota-gut-brain axis.

Daily consumption of the product is supposed to increase dopamine and serotonin concentration in key brain areas such as the hippocampus and frontal cortex, and help to prevent or alleviate mental and motor disorders such as autism, anxiety, depression, Parkinson’s disease, insomnia and IBS.

 

Nestlé, Unilever and Coca-Cola fight it out over GSK’s €3.4bn Horlicks unit

FMCG giants Unilever, Coca-Cola and Nestlé are set to compete for GlaxoSmithKline’s nutrition business​ unit ahead of an auction later this year, reports say.

The bidding war erupted this week after GSK recently put its nutritionals business for sale to help fund a €13 billion buy-out of its joint-venture with Novartis​.

Reports from the Financial Times and Reuters suggest that four bids have already been made, with a $4bn USD (€3.4bn) deal expected to be wrapped up before the end of the year.

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