This year, there has been a shift towards more targeted child supplements designed to meet specific health needs, such as immunity, gut health, and metabolic health, while being carefully tailored to age-appropriate requirements.
Data from Mintel Reports China, Purchasing Food and Drink for Children, 2025 showed that 57% of Chinese parents are most concerned about their children’s weight, signaling broader concerns around their kids’ metabolic health.
Yunn Lim, senior analyst of food science at Mintel, told NI that upcoming shifts in childhood nutrition could surround snackified products, such as jellies, candies, and chocolates.
Longevity is attracting the attention of not only nutraceutical companies but companies traditionally in the food sector as well.
Cargill, for instance, is looking at how it can support healthy longevity by exploring food solutions that benefit metabolic health, as well as immune health through its postbiotic offering.
Charoen Pokphand Foods (CP Foods), on the other hand, is embarking on a “food as medicine” strategy, where it has identified four pillars to drive the plan forward, the companies said in a panel discussion during the Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit 2025 held in Singapore.
For years, Australia has been China’s second largest nutraceutical exporter, behind only the US, but is overtaken by Germany of late – a trend that started last year and has continued into the first half of this year.
This is according to a report released by China Chamber of Commerce for Import & Export of Medicines & Health Products (CCCMHPIE) on the country’s nutraceuticals import and export in the first half of 2025.
The US has maintained its leading position as the largest nutraceutical exporter to China, followed by Germany, Australia, Hong Kong, and The Netherlands as the top five exporters.
China’s health foods exports to the US had fallen 12.2% year-on-year in the first half of 2025 – possibly a result of US tariffs policy – says a report by the CCCMHPIE.
The US is traditionally the largest export destination of China’s health foods products but slipped to the second place, behind Hong Kong.
“America, as the second largest export market, saw export value down by 12.2% in the first half of 2025. As compared to the same period in 2024, which saw a y-o-y [year-on-year] increase of 44.1%, the value of exports to the US saw a visible decline, based on analysis, this could be an impact of tariffs related policy in the first half of the year,” said the report.
Multi-benefits immune care which goes beyond the use of only vitamin C and D is now the trend, says the winner of NutraIngredients-Asia Awards 2025’s Immune Support Product of the Year.
