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Danone highlights digestive health as potential ‘tipping point’ for food industry

Danone is betting on a food industry “tipping point” that will bloat the market for healthy products, particularly those related to gut health.

“You just have to look at demographics – there are more elderly people not in an amazing state [of health], and you look at the impact of food on health, and look at the science,” chief executive Antoine de Saint-Affrique told the Financial Times in October.

Many diseases are the “consequence of not taking care of the microbiome”, he explained, adding: “It’s too many antibiotics, it’s not the right kind of [dietary] regime.”

The global digestive health products market was estimated at $51.62 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach $68.17 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 8.3% from 2024 to 2030, according to Grand View Research.

“Consumers are increasingly keen to take their health into their own hands and make smarter food and beverage choices that foster good health; notably through the gut,” Karine Dussimon, global insight manager for health and wellness at Euromonitor International, told Ingredients Network.

Dussimon said spending cuts “are made elsewhere” as greater numbers of people are choosing to live healthier for longer, with food and drink playing a central role alongside exercise, sleep, and mindfulness.

Gut health is increasingly understood to be central to this holistic health approach, boosting related health claims such as digestive health as well as immunity, appetite and weight regulation, brain health (including mood and sleep), and more.

“Wellness is no longer elite; it’s for everyone, every day, and it’s perceived more holistically,” Dussimon said.

Ingredient excitement as digestive health claims grow

Excitement is growing in a number of areas, from ingredients and research to product innovation, with a trend towards products offering multiple benefits, like taste, convenience, and sustainability, alongside health and wellbeing.

Take the baobab fruit, which has more fibre than oats and more vitamin C than orange, as just one example of ingredients that are shaking up the prebiotics category.

Inulin leads the category – more specifically, chicory root inulin, along with others such agave and Jerusalem artichoke inulin. However, cassava root (tapioca fibre), acacia gum, and soluble corn fibre are some other noteworthy rising sources of fibre, especially in beverages.

“The soda category has been transformed, with prebiotic drinks and kombucha replacing high sugar with functional ingredients. Companies are also offering products in formats consumers prefer, like gummies and powders,” Michael Hartman, VP of research and development at wellness firm Plexus Worldwide, told Ingredients Network.

McKinsey, a consultancy, has identified wellness as a “resilient category”, where industry players and investors can “insulate themselves from an economic downturn through diversified portfolios with exposure to resilient categories”.

Niveditha Ravishankar, research and development manager at McCain Foods, said the 12% growth in the functional food and beverage industry in the past 12 months was fuelled by demand for gut-friendly products that span pro, pre-, and synbiotics, plus fermented beverages.

Kefir yoghurts, biofortified cereals, fermented drinks – the list of categories benefiting from the trend toward food as a preventive medicine goes on. Digestive health claims (+13% CAGR in food and drinks globally from 2019 to 2024) and those for probiotics (6% CAGR) have increased, according to Euromonitor.

“Gut health isn’t confined to supplements – it’s now in cereals, snacks, and drinks,” said Nathan Clemes, founder of functional drinks brand Unrooted. “Products with ingredients that bring real health benefits are going to be the ones that win big over the next 12 months.”

Weight loss is gut health’s gain

The other current driver for the digestive health market is GLP-1 medications. Users of the weight loss drugs are looking for nutrient-dense foods as their consumption levels fade.

Large companies are investing in and putting real focus into this space, explained Kara Landau, founder of The Prebiotic Dietitian, who cited the example of Danone’s acquisition of The Akkermansia Company, a postbiotic company focused on specific bacteria that has been shown to stimulate GLP-1 release.

Danone also this year opened its OneBiome lab in France with the aim of joining up scientific research and product innovation in the gut health space.

Speaking at the inauguration in September, Isabelle Esser, Danone’s chief research and innovation officer, said: “We believe the future of nutrition lies in understanding and harnessing the power of biotics (prebiotics, probiotics, postbiotics, and synbiotics) for gut health.”

And, as Saint-Affrique told the Financial Times: “The logic that food can have a positive impact on health if properly designed is something that we’ve been advocating for ever.”