Citing data from Euromonitor Consumer Health 2026, Dr Shanlu Liang, senior ingredient innovation scientist at Sirio Pharma, said during the recent Growth Asia Summit 2026 that beauty-from-within was only behind general health in APAC’s vitamin and dietary supplement sector.
This places the sector in a crucial position in driving industry growth, with the company seeing strong consumer demand in markets such as Australia and New Zealand, Thailand and Indonesia.
While collagen and hyaluronic acid are staple ingredients, benefits of vitamin A and C, as well as traditional herbs, are increasingly explored, said Dr Liang.
At the same time, the sector is facing obstacles such as homogeneous competition and the absence of a gold standard when it comes to ingredients such as collagen peptides.
For instance, the belief that small molecular collagen peptides are more easily absorbed is not necessarily true, he pointed out, arguing the need for effective peptides, stating that “accurate separation brings more effectiveness“.
Cutting peptides in the “right” way
Speaking to NutraIngredients at the summit, Even Zhang, head of product and solution at Sirio APAC, said that cutting peptides correctly was crucial in ensuring their functionality.
“We’ve looked into a lot of peptide ingredients in the market which have made claims on peptides and their Dalton size. What we’ve found is that having a smaller molecular size does not necessarily always translate to a good beauty result,” she said. “This is because if you cut peptide pieces in the wrong way, you might have small-molecule peptides, but each peptide might not function in the most bioactive format.”
In this case, the company has developed a methodology for cutting and producing small-molecule collagen peptides. Commercially available as the ingredient PEPTIVATOR, the peptides were derived from the skin or scales of the Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus).
With a molecular weight of less than 1000 daltons, the ingredient contains five characteristic peptides, including dipeptides prolyl-hydroxyproline (Pro-Hyp) and hydroxyprolyl-glycine (Hyp-Gly), tripeptides glycyl-prolyl-alanine (Gly-Pro-Ala) and glycyl-prolyl-hydroxyproline (Gly-Pro-Hyp) and tetrapeptide glycyl-prolyl-hydroxyprolyl-glycine (Gly-Pro-Hyp-Gly).
Current research indicates that peptides in the range of 2000 to 3500 daltons show superior absorption and effectiveness compared to those with a molecular weight of around 5000 daltons.
Clinical findings published in the Journal of Food and Nutrition Research in 2025 reported that PEPTIVATOR, when used alongside sodium hyaluronate and Phyllanthus Emblica extract, could improve skin elasticity, with significant improvements seen during weeks six and eight of the intervention as compared to baseline.
Skin wrinkles, as measured by the area, depth, or volume had also significantly improved throughout the experiment period with the intervention.
In addition, the transport rate of PEPTIVATOR was about 1.54 to 2.87 times higher when compared to six other commercial collagen peptides in the Caco-2 cell line and the differences were statistically significant.
Format and loading crucial as well
Aside from ingredients, Sirio Pharma is also focusing on incorporating its functional ingredients into different formats at an optimal dosage to stand out in APAC’s beauty-from-within market.
Gummies are one trending format that the company is working on.
So far, the company has developed a technology that allows a single gummy to contain 1,500mg of collagen, which Zhang said was between two and five times bigger than the typical loading amounts.
Watch the video to find out more.
