This is according to experts from global consumer intelligence and market research firm NielsenIQ (NIQ), strategic advisory business Nutribloom Consulting and ingestible skincare brand Imaraïs Beauty, who took part in a recent NutraIngredients editorial webinar.
Speaking to Danielle Masterson and Cassandra Stern, editor and deputy editor of NutraIngredients-USA, the panelists emphasized that beauty is increasingly being positioned as an outcome of overall health and well-being, rather than a standalone benefit.
“If you think about wellness, historically, it was really around solving a specific problem, but today’s consumers are thinking more broadly, and we’re increasingly seeing this conversation around integrated health,” said Sherry Frey, vice president of total wellness at NIQ.
“Wellness has really expanded the beauty opportunity, and this is one thing that we’re seeing when consumers are thinking about looking and feeling their best. They’re engaging with wellness rituals, supplements, oral health, sexual wellness products, aromatherapy and self-care rituals. These emotional drivers of beauty are also driving overall well-being.”
Rising stars and fading favorites
As beauty and wellness have begun to blend and converge, Frey said formats have done the same, with an increasing number of food and beverage products now carrying beauty messaging.
Key growing beauty claims linked to functional beverages include ‘nourishing’ (which has grown by 42.8% compared to last year), ‘detoxifying’ (+28.6%), ‘microbiome’ (+8.9%) and ‘hydration health’ (+4.6%).
“Consumers are increasingly wanting health benefits that are delivered through familiar and enjoyable formats, and sometimes maybe it’s less around taking a pill every day, but looking for a functional beverage or a protein product or a beauty gummy,” Frey said.
But while ‘microbiome’ is increasingly being used on functional beverage packaging, NIQ data shows that prebiotic and probiotic claims on beauty supplements are declining.
Paula Simpson, innovation, product development and branding consultant at Nutribloom Consulting, said this may be due to a shift in microbiome language on product packaging.
“There’s a […] re-evaluation of how the microbiome space is formulating for beauty from within,” she said. “You’re seeing more postbiotics and metabolites being combined with probiotics or prebiotics, so kind of a whole foods approach. Or, you’re getting more precision probiotics for specific chronic skin conditions such as eczema or psoriasis.”
Collagen is also declining in beauty supplements, despite growing outside of the category, down by around 5% compared to one year ago. Aaron Hefter, founder and president of start-up Imaraïs Beauty, suggested this may be due to an increasing number of consumers looking for quick fixes—something that has become more prominent since GLP-1 drugs entered the mainstream.
“Consumers are looking for results and they want results as quickly as possible,” he said. “If you look at peptides or GLP-1s, I think that space has really caused issue in the active nutrition space where consumers used to buy thermogenic or fat loss products or appetite suppressants. But now, they have no problem injecting themselves with a needle daily, because they know they’re going to get a faster result.”
Peptides are an area of particular interest in the beauty-from-within market, demonstrating strong multi-year growth, according to NIQ data. Around 82% of peptides are found in the health and beauty market, with one third of these classified as supplements.
The primary reasons for peptide use are metabolic, weight and energy regulation; cognitive, mood and aesthetic health; longevity, growth and performance; and tissue repair and bone/joint health. Frey said each of these areas represents key consumer need states.
“I think this is a really great opportunity for the industry overall to recognize that there are some things that consumers are interested in and looking for, which really represents broader white space needs for consumers,” she said.
Several thousand peptides are currently being studied for therapeutic use, Frey added, with 100 to 200 estimated to be approved for late-stage research.
Consumer learning and shopping habits are changing
While research on new and emerging ingredients continues, the panel highlighted that consumers are more discerning in today’s market and often expect ingredients and formulations to be backed by clinical trials.
“I think consumers are smarter than ever,” Hefter said. “They’re demanding results, and they’re demanding efficacy. They’re not just looking at the ingredient panel; they want to know there’s science behind it.”
This is reflected in claims on supplement packaging. ‘Clinically tested’ is among the fastest growing claims on beauty supplements, up by 12% compared to last year.
Some ingredient-specific claims are also on the rise, including hyaluronic acid (+6%), adaptogens (+13%), ashwagandha (+74%), resveratrol (+614%) and sea moss (+573%). Adaptogens and ashwagandha fit into the rapidly growing ‘neurocosmetics’ trend, which is expected to hit retail soon, according to Hefter.
Hair growth is another claim that has risen significantly since this time last year, up by 21%. Frey said this is likely driven by the GLP-1 boom, with around 15% of GLP-1 users experiencing this side effect.
And as consumers become more discerning about which supplements to take, they are also changing the ways in which they learn and shop. NIQ data shows 28% of consumers have used generative AI to get product recommendations, and 25% have asked AI for recommendations on wellness products, with 18% using it for beauty product recommendations specifically.
Frey said this represents an important step-change in how consumers are finding and receiving information—they have progressed from the retail shelf to the digital shelf and now to the ‘AI shelf’.
“This is really going to change the game,” she said. “When you think about how consumers look for products […] and how brands and products will be found, I think there’s many implications.”
Online purchases are also becoming increasingly common, particularly through warehouse channels such as Amazon. However, social media is also gaining traction rapidly.
According to NIQ data, 55% of consumers now purchase directly via social media or livestream platforms. Of these purchases, around 68% are made on impulse.
“These are great places for consumers to learn about products, hear personal stories and watch demonstrations all within one platform,” Frey said. “TikTok Shop and other social selling environments are great to really show visible results and personal testimonials.”
The future of beauty-from-within
Looking ahead, Hefter predicts the beauty-from-within market will explode as more functional foods and beverages enter the market. Meanwhile, Frey expects metabolic beauty —a shift from surface-level, quick-fix cosmetics to a holistic, health-integrated approach—to become mainstream as the conversation around GLP-1 medications continues to grow.
Simpson anticipates a surge in educational initiatives that break down skin biology, helping consumers better understand how ingredients work systemically. She expects this to fuel a wave of innovative formulations while giving consumers a more sophisticated understanding of how certain ingredients function in the body.
Finally, NutraIngredients’ Cassandra Stern, former editor of Cosmetics Design, said the category is likely to become increasingly diversified in its demographic targeting, with men, teens and older consumers receiving more focus instead of the traditional emphasis on middle-aged women.
“We have an aging population that is exploding right now, and while the longevity conversation is going to continue to dominate, I think beauty is also going to be a part of that,” she said. “Part of aging well is not only feeling your best, but looking your best, and I think that is going to resonate just as strongly with a Gen X or a boomer population as it is with a Gen A population.”
