Ahead of her on-stage appearance at Probiota Dublin next month, Ewa Hudson, Director of Insights at Lumina Intelligence, provided a sneak peak into some of the platform’s hot-off-the-press data related to consumers aged 18-30.
The provider’s newest dataset comes from an online consumer survey carried out in January 2026 for NutraIngredients+, with a sample size of 3,000 respondents from across the UK, US and China.
The data reveals the wellness priorities, purchase habits, and supplement decisions of consumers, with one headline discovery being that the top two health priorities for this audience are mental health and sleep.
The two were followed by energy, healthspan, weight, gut health, hormonal balance, and muscle fitness.
“Mental health will be a very important challenge to tackle overall for that generation. This generation of consumers are suffering more than they should,” Hudson said.
Zooming in on specific health targets, the data reveals stress and anxiety were chosen as key mind health priorities by 51% and 48% of respondents, respectively.
These were closely followed by sleeping difficulty (36%), depression (34%) and ‘feeling overwhelmed (29%).
In fact, 85% of the those surveyed said they felt ‘almost always’, ‘often’, or ‘sometimes’ stressed out or anxious.
The data covers highly actionable insights with questions the industry needs to know, including: ‘Where do you get your supplement information?’, ’What would make you more likely to try a new supplement?’, and ‘Which supplement format do you prefer?’
When asked what wellness habits they practice, 45% listed ‘daily walks’ as something embedded into their habits, while 39% chose gaming and e-sports as a daily wellness activity.
However, a notable 81% of respondents said they took at least one functional food, drink or supplement for stress, mood or cognitive support.
“The reliance of young consumers on functional foods, beverages and supplements to boost mood, enhance cognition or reduce stress is striking — especially for an age group that typically has limited disposable income,” said Hudson.
“Usage rises even further, reaching 88% among those who are financially independent.”
She further noted a strong uptake of B vitamins and rapidly growing interest in botanicals and mushrooms as consumers get older.
The platform unpacks what specific functional ingredients the participants took in order to support their cognitive health, mood, sleep, stress and anxiety.
Vitamin D was the supplement of choice for 55% of respondents prioritising mood support, followed by probiotics (33%), omega-3 and magnesium (24% and 23%, respectively).
Overall, probiotics were ranked as the third supplement of choice to tackle the whole spectrum of mood, cognitive, sleep and stress concerns, behind vitamin D and caffeine, in front of more well-known cognitive health bioactives such as B-complex, magnesium, melatonin and omega-3.
Lumina’s actional data insights further unveil consumers’ main hormonal and gut health challenges and concerns, and the lifestyle changes and supplements they choose to support these.
What’s more, it reveals the popularity of GLP-1 medications and associated GI-related side effects, revealing how many consumers have used these and their struggles on the journey, with these insights broken down by age group and geography.
“There is no doubt that Gen Z is re‑writing the wellness rulebook. Whether diagnosed or undiagnosed, they report and tackle numerous mental‑health, hormonal and weight‑related challenges — and Lumina’s data shows that gut health sits right at the centre of it,” Hudson said.
Hudson will unveil these insights during NI’s unmissable Probiota conference, taking place in Dubmin from Feb. 11-13. For more information, and to buy tickets, visit the Probiota website.
