Functional drinks have become an increasingly popular alternative to caffeinated, sugary drinks. From vitamin water and kombucha to protein shakes, functional beverages offer natural solutions that promise everything from weight management and gut health improvement to energy and mood boosting benefits.
Functional beverages have been on a rise as people transition toward healthier lifestyles and diets. Their functional ingredients are designed to meet specific health objectives, such as:
Hydration
As consumers become more health-minded, they’re looking for functional beverages that address specific ailments. Hydration provides many opportunities for functional beverages; Vitaminwater and Hint offer low-cal options that add minerals, electrolytes, herbs, vitamins or antioxidants for enhanced flavor or benefits; fermented beverages may include prebiotics or probiotics for gut health – plus they’re low cal!
Mood enhancement is another expanding field within functional beverages, as calming ingredients like chamomile and valerian are offered for stress relief and sleep support. Also becoming increasingly popular are brain-boosting beverages with adaptogenic ingredients like mushrooms, lion’s mane and L-theanine to improve cognition. Hydration also plays an essential part in cognitive health so many beverages incorporate antioxidants as an additional boost at cellular level.
Energy
Functional drinks offer more than hydration; they also bring with them significant health advantages that may help the body function more optimally. Their effects depend on what ingredients are included – this may include antioxidants, vitamins or minerals; turmeric can reduce cancer risk while other ingredients like ginseng, rooibos tea, lemon balm or valerian may aid sleep.
Functional beverages can help boost immune systems and cognitive performance with adaptogens and nootropics, while simultaneously replenishing electrolytes to the body. Herbs such as turmeric, ginger, chamomile and echinacea can aid digestion while decreasing inflammation.
Drink trends in the US market are seeing significant momentum, with consumers seeking more from their beverage than simply hydration and energy. By combining multiple benefits into on-trend flavors, manufacturers can differentiate themselves in the functional drinks sector while reaching more people with their brand message. Contact MetaBrand’s beverage formulation and manufacturing experts for help creating customized functional drinks to support your brand message.
Nutritional Supplements
Functional drinks are non-alcoholic beverages formulated with ingredients with health benefits, such as herbs, extracts or adaptogenic substances like CBD or mushrooms. Such drinks offer various wellness effects including stress relief, improved mood support and immune support.
Functional beverage market growth is projected to remain robust due to the popularity of products that promote a healthy lifestyle and support specific bodily functions within normal range. It should be noted that drinks sold as functional beverages must only contain ingredients approved by FDA as safe for human consumption or have received approval as conventional food ingredients.
Hydration is one of the primary goals of functional beverages, followed by energy and immune boosting properties. Some functional drinks contain ingredients known for their anti-inflammatory effects like turmeric or ginger; probiotics help improve digestive function; while plant extracts contain natural compounds which enhance cognitive performance and boost mood.
Mood Enhancement
Consumers seeking to improve mood are turning increasingly to mood enhancing functional beverages as an easy and delicious way to help alleviate stress, relax, and promote cognitive health. Common ingredients used include lion’s mane to stimulate cognition, ashwagandha for stress relief, and adaptogens like reishi and schisandra for relaxation purposes.
Other functional drinks designed to enhance mood contain vitamins and nutrients such as natural caffeine, B vitamins, choline, l-theanine, and ginkgo biloba. In addition to these brain boosters, botanicals like chamomile, hibiscus and valerian may provide additional mood support and stress relief.
Functional beverages are an effective way to reach your target audience with targeted health claims that meet their needs and goals. To get started, contact our MetaBrand team for assistance from concept ideation to formulation, production and packaging of functional beverages – our goal being helping you realize your vision for healthy beverages that promote wellbeing.
