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Beyond 'nice-to-have': A spotlight on US functional beverages

Functional beverage interest in the US is gaining important ground as consumers now expect function rather than see it as a nice-to-have, and there are clear market gaps for growth, according to Spate.

US trend tracking specialist Spate works with a proprietary popularity index, combining data from Google, TikTok, and Instagram to show how popular a category or trend is.

At a glance:

• Functional beverages are growing in popularity in the US.
• Ingredient-led formats are rising fast, with demand for creatine and chlorophyll.
• Innovation gaps remain and success is not just about legacy, says trend tracker Spate.

Its results show that functional beverages amongst US consumers are accelerating in popularity. Online interest related to functional beverages was up 28.5% on TikTok; up 16.8% on Google; and up 6.6% on Instagram, representing an overall rise in popularity of 23.3% between June 2025-May 2026 versus June 2024-May 2025, according to Spate.

Functional beverage as a term across these three platforms was also up 491.8% for the same time period; a signal that consumers are adopting the category's own vocabulary at scale, the company said.

“Functional beverages have moved from a nice-to-have to an expectation,” said Alyssa Williams Atkinson, food and beverage category insights manager at Spate. “Consumers want their drinks to do something, whether that's hydration, energy, or a sugar-free swap, and our data shows that shift accelerating,” Atkinson told Ingredients Network.

US consumers today, she said, are choosing drinks based on what they deliver; not just what they taste like, and the brands winning attention are those anchoring on function first – especially trending functions.

“In a category this crowded, being first doesn't matter nearly as much as noticing where attention is shifting before your competitors do. The right ingredient story, format, and platform strategy all start with reading those signals early.”

So, what exactly are the signals? And what type of functional beverages are gaining in popularity?

Ingredient focus: THC, chlorophyll, protein horchata, and creatine

Overall, Spate data shows that energy drinks and coconut waters hold strongest in popularity terms across Google, TikTok and Instagram in the US functional beverages category, with the total popularity index up 129.7 million (+40.3%) for energy drinks and up 20.9 million (+30.4%) for coconut water.

More specific ingredient-led beverages are trending too, with more significant year-over-year increases, albeit lower volumes. Popularity of THC drinks, for example, is up 69.7% (3.2 million) on the previous year; chlorophyll water is up 115.8% (8.1 million); protein horchata up 1,200% (3.8 million); and creatine coffee up 216.6% (863,000).

Rising popularity is clearly not concentrated on one or two products, said Atkinson. “Fast risers like creatine and chlorophyll are pulling in new audiences, while staples like coconut water and electrolyte drinks keep expanding from an already massive base.”

Importantly, “supplement-grade ingredients” like creatine and chlorophyll are finally going mainstream, she said. Marketing such products, therefore, now needs focus on flavour and accessibility, not just efficacy.

Spate data shows, for example, that brands treating creatine as a lifestyle ingredient rather than a supplement are the ones pulling views. Similarly, most content on chlorophyll focuses on the simplicity of the product; adding just a few drops to water for a multitude of benefits, including skin health and energy.

Innovation focus: Legacy versus challenger brands

Looking ahead, Atkinson said there is real opportunity for growth in the US functional beverages market, largely because of the current brand landscape.

Whilst brands like Ryze, Bloom, Red Bull, Liquid I.V and LMNT hold strong in popularity across Google, TikTok and Instagram, she said “no single brand owns the full functional beverage conversation”.

According to Spate, legacy names and social-first challengers are growing side by side–proof that category heritage is no longer a moat and that consumers are rewarding “whoever shows up with a clear function and a strong platform presence”.

“That white space is real,” she said, “and it's sitting in the unbranded, emerging benefit searches that the category leaders haven't claimed yet.”

For brands looking to tap into opportune areas, Atkinson said it will be key to act on trends that are still in the early stage; those that have strong predicted growth but a popularity that hasn't broken out yet.

“That's the closest match to a full runway. If a trend has already entered the growth stage, where popularity is visibly rising alongside strong predicted growth, teams are working with a shorter window and need to move fast. By the time a trend hits mainstream, the opportunity for a truly differentiated launch has largely passed,” she said.