This week’s big news across the global nutrition and supplements industries includes news of President Trump’s global and reciprocal tariffs and the exemptions for the U.S. industry, what the NutraIngredients Awards tell us about emerging trends, and the rise of metabolic health in China.
USA: White House exempts key dietary ingredients like vitamins, amino acids from tariffs
On the same day that President Trump announced a 10% global tariff, with higher reciprocal tariffs imposed on dozens of specific countries, the White House also published a list of exempt products, including vitamins, amino acids, CoQ10, minerals and some other supplement ingredients.
The exclusions were described as “very reassuring for some of our industry’s concerns” by Daniel Fabricant, PhD, president and CEO of the Natural Products Association (NPA), which has had several meetings with senior members of the Trump Administration.
“We called the White House and Trade Representative this afternoon for confirmation,” he said. “While they always reserve the right to make changes, they said they don’t anticipate any added changes for our industry.”
“This is good news as we had repeatedly asked the administration and Congress to continue to treat nutrients as a special class of goods that should not be subject to tariff hikes,” said Loren Israelsen, founder and president of the United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA). “On the other hand, this leaves a large majority of dietary ingredients still subject to the new tariffs.”
Europe: What the NutraIngredients Awards tell us about this year’s key trends
As finalists were announced for the NutraIngredients-Europe Awards, a deeper examination of all the entries highlighted key trends, including defining a healthy microbiome, prioritizing sleep, targeted women’s health solutions and pre-juvenation in beauty.
“This iteration of the awards had the most categories so far, and within that, we can really see some key trends taking shape,” said NutraIngredients-Europe Awards chair Ewa Hudson. “Even within very specific areas, there were some surprising spaces where we get a hint of what the industry will see more of.”
For example, in the microbiome modulation product category, entries represented a multitude of benefits from various bacterial strains, including oral health, liver health, weight loss, maternal and mental health, she said.
For mind and mood ingredient, Hudson noted that sleep health emerged as a dominant trend. According to recent Lumina Intelligence data provided exclusively at the recent IPA World Congress + Probiota, “getting better sleep” is a top priority across European consumers, as is “supporting mood and mental health,” she said.
Another notable area was women’s health, where the judges saw a shift towards specialized, science-driven innovations.
“Instead of broad themes, entries now target specific concerns like PMS, fertility, menopause and iron absorption,” Hudson said. “Menopause-related products, including those with upcycled ingredients, are gaining traction, and even weight management saw a lot of attention within this space.”
The rise of the metabolic health category in China
According to China’s National Health Commission (NHC), over half of the country’s adults are overweight or obese. It warned that if left unchecked, the rate could climb to 70.5% by 2030, which explains why the NHC introduced a three-year plan for weight management starting from last June.
Use of GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs, like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, has rocketed in recent years, with some estimating a 23% annual growth rate between 2023 and 2033.
This presents an opportunity for the supplements and nutrition industry to provide solutions to address the side effects associated with these drugs, notably gastrointestinal distress, poor nutrient absorption, muscle loss and skin issues.
There is also an opportunity for the industry to provide metabolic health solutions.
Dr Susan Jin, head of BU, IFF Health Sciences Greater Asia, told our Asia edition: “The problems faced by the China population were previously around under-nourishment but now, it has evolved into metabolic health issues. Metabolism conditions arising from being overweight or obese is a problem that will develop as society progresses.”
