Functional Beverage Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 - 2026)

The progressive inclination of consumers toward health-oriented products has involved probiotic food products as a requisite in the list. In addition, the sale promoting tag lines, such as “ready to drink”, “on the go” and other convenience factors, such as favorable packaging altogether served by beverages, further augments the demand for probiotic drinks, including kombucha. Consumers have started to prefer functional drinks over fruit juices and carbonated drinks. 

With consumers now increasingly aware of the health implications associated with soft drinks categories, concerned drinkers are frequently shunning vilified categories, like carbonates and juices, in favor of ‘healthier’ choices, such as soymilk, probiotics, and other functional drinks. Consumer education has been the key factor behind the rising demand for hydration drinks. The trend of healthy hydration owes its success to the growing awareness toward fermented drinks with natural ingredients and the increasing acceptance of consuming probiotics.

The high incidence of cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and arthritis coupled with the growing demand for convenience beverages and the changing lifestyle among Asian consumers are the major drivers for the growth of functional energy drinks, fortified/functional plant-based and malt-based hot drinks sales in the market.

 Further, due to the high prevalence of diabetes in the countries like India and China, consumers are becoming more aware of the importance of a healthy diet and active lifestyle promoting the consumers to prefer natural sweeteners, such as stevia, in their beverages. According to the International Diabetes Federation, India was home to 77 million diabetes patients in 2019, the second-largest in the world. By 2030, the number is predicted to reach 101 million. Thus, companies like PepsiCo Inc. and Coca-Cola, are committed to remove artificial ingredients and reduce the sugar content in their products