How AI shape the future of nutraceutical industry

Nutraceuticals are fast growing into a top consumer spending avenue worldwide. With events like the COVID 19 pandemic creating a consensus for improved self-immunity, more people are focusing on their wellbeing. A crucial part of the transition is the change in dietary styles and the increased consumption of Nutraceuticals. These are medical food supplements derived from traditional food sources that aid in improving the human body’s nutritional balance which regular foods do not sufficiently cover. The use of AI in nutraceutical industry can deliver us a wide range of growth and development prospects.

In fact, research and studies show that the global market size for nutraceuticals is forecasted to reach a staggering USD 722.5 billion by the year 2027.

As consumer demands pick up, the nutraceutical industry needs more efficient and fast product development lifecycles to ensure that newer and better dietary supplements are made available to consumers at the earliest. A critical element in facilitating this pace and efficiency is the use of technology to unravel new formulations. Nutra tech or the science behind innovating nutraceutical formulations to suit the needs of consumers at a personalized level will drive the need for widespread adoption of data-driven technology solutions that will help in growth. A lot of innovations in the nutraceuticals will soon be credited to an emerging trend of leveraging AI in the development of nutraceuticals.

Can AI enable a better future for the nutraceutical industry?

There are a few ways that an AI can help uplift the industry to new heights. Let’s see what they are:

Ingredient Discovery

A nutritional food element or supplement gains significance when it caters to the right imbalance that a potential customer is looking to address in his or her body. Through years of medical research, it is possible to identify the exact component missing in the vital food chain that causes deficiencies or improper metabolism in a consumer. This data can be matched against a supportive nutraceutical and evaluated for results. With AI, this data matching is made seamless. In other words, businesses engaged in nutraceuticals can leverage AI to quickly pick ingredients by matching millions of data points related to food nutritional studies. For example, AI can pick out the best nutrients comprising elements that aid in cell health and growth which will ultimately combat cellular senescence or the process of cell death as part of aging. 

Related article on the possibilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in drug discovery.

Self-Service Nutritional Consulting & Sales

For nutraceutical businesses, AI considerably helps in their research and development process, as illustrated in the previous point. However, it also enables the development of self-service sales channels that can directly be deployed to customers digitally. These self-service channels can allow consumers to interact with an AI-powered engine that recommends the most personalized nutrient formulations depending on the dietary and health data offered by the consumer.

In other words, consumers can answer questionnaires by the system about their habits, age, demographic information, food choices, goals in dietary plans, and much more and then have the system build a custom nutritional supplement that will address their specific health conditions. It is also a great example of how personalization is facilitated in the nutraceutical industry by AI.

Related article on automating customer service using hybrid AI chatbots and conversational tools

Faster Time to Market

Ingredient discovery, formulations, and combinations for nutritional supplements require extensive data processing and cross-verification before being verified for production. Lengthy and manual efforts involved often push development timelines for supplements into months or years. With AI systems, however, the road to building efficient nutritional formulations can be shortened considerably. We have seen how it helps in ingredient discovery for nutraceuticals.

Similarly, AI-enabled quality assurance tools can ensure faster verification of how the ingredients and formulations used to comply with proven standards and regulations in the industry. This will also ensure that faster production and delivery doesn’t compromise on regulatory compliance, leading to severe consequences if violated.

Related article on Responsible AI: Why is it important?

Predictive Demand Forecasting

Apart from being the brains behind the scenes in nutritional formulations, AI can also empower businesses to forecast demand for nutritional goods as well as elements in the supply chain. Just as it enables industries like retail to predict demand, AI can help nutraceutical companies know beforehand what customers from specific markets are likely to buy from them. This allows them to flexibly plan for accommodating demand spikes and prepare for new product launches based on demand from the market.

This forecasting efficiency translates into high levels of customer satisfaction as consumers are not left to wait to get their hands on the products they love from nutraceutical companies. It also helps businesses manage their inventory and supply chain in the most optimal configurations and considerably reduce the cost of operations.

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Bottom line

The nutraceutical industry is on a very rapid growth trajectory and as more people become health-conscious, the future looks pretty exciting for the sector as well. As time progresses, there will be even more data about consumers that brands in the nutraceutical sector can harness to study even more personal preferences for dietary supplements and food nutrients. This will help them bring better products into the market and we have seen how AI helps in every step of this journey from ingredient discovery to setting up a flexible supply chain to cater to demands. Get in touch with us to see how your nutraceutical business can elevate growth prospects by implementing custom AI solutions.