Brand new: Kao, Bayer Consumer Health, Tummy Buddies in the spotlight

Portfolio revision: Kao transfers functional beverage brand to Kirin to focus on ‘core businesses’​  ​

Kao Corporation is transferring its functional tea-catechin beverage brand Healthya to Kirin Beverage Company, as it seeks to focus its resources on other business areas to achieve its targets for FY2027.

Healthya debuted in 2003 and was approved in Japan as a Food for Specified Health Uses (FOSHU), specifically body fat reduction.

The transfer comprising a total of five sub-brands under Healthya is expected to conclude by August 1. The sub-brands are namely Healthya Green Tea, Healthya Green Tea Umami Taste, Healthya Water (sports beverage), Healthya my rhythm Sparkling (carbonated beverage), and Healthya Tea Catechin Green Tea Taste (powder drink).

Beyond ageing in Japan: Bayer on why market opportunities abound for maternal and infant nutrition - WATCH​  ​

Japan may be an ageing society with a shrinking population, but with preconception care on the rise and a record number of babies born via in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) in recent years, companies such as Bayer Consumer Health are seeing growth opportunities in these sectors.

The country saw a record high of 69,797 babies born via IVF in 2021, and this was 15 per cent higher than that of year 2020, according to data released by the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology last year.

Alongside an increase in fertility treatments is a greater attention on preconception care, Sinan Yuksel, Global Head of Elevit, Bayer Consumer Health, told NutraIngredients-Asia ​in the latest episode of Behind the Big Story.

Buddy up: Synbiotic flavoured water from Aussie start-up seeks to address lack of gut health products for toddlers​​

Tummy Buddies, a start-up from Australia, has created a range of synbiotics flavoured water designed to address what it perceives as a lack of gut health products for toddlers.

Currently consisting of four SKUs, the range is made of berry, tropical, pineapple, and apple-flavoured water that undergoes pasteurisation before synbiotics in the form of powder are added.

Co-founded by George Assaf and skincare expert Rita Sellars, Tummy Buddies was set up to address the lack of digestive health products for young children.

7-Eleven Singapore adds Ocean Health’s gummies, fast melt powder to its supplement offerings​

Convenience chain 7-Eleven Singapore has included local dietary supplement brand Ocean Health’s products, including gummies and fast melt powder, into its offerings.

Examples include Ocean Health’s Joyful Gummies and bestsellers like Probiotic Fastmelt, Omega 3 Fish Oil, and Buffered C.

Ocean Health believes that easy-to-consume, especially gummies and fast melt powder, are “ideal”​ for the health needs of 7-Eleven shoppers, which could range from office executives, neighbourhood dwellers, to fleet-footed tourists. The products are sold in 112 out of 500 7-Eleven outlets in Singapore.

‘Huge consumer segments’: India’s Ishaanav sees nutra opportunities for pre-diabetes, PCOS​  

India’s Ishaanav Nutraceuticals is seeing opportunities for the use of health supplements to manage conditions that currently do not have a specific pharmaceutical intervention, such as pre-diabetes and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

The contract manufacturer, which also produces its own nutraceutical products, says that there is demand coming from doctors for nutraceuticals to alleviate these health conditions.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, stress management, hepatitis A, and viral infections are some of the other conditions where nutraceuticals are sought after due to the lack of pharmaceutical options.