This was my first time attending Vitafoods Europe in Barcelona. And honestly, for the first hour, I felt slightly out of place.

I wasn’t there to source ingredients. I wasn’t launching a supplement brand. I wasn’t looking for a manufacturer for the next gummy, powder or protein bar.

As the founder of a branding agency, I had that strange feeling of being at a party without quite having the invite.

But that distance turned out to be useful.

Because without the pressure of needing to “find something”, I could observe the room objectively. I could move between ingredient suppliers, trend presentations, consumer insight sessions and product launches seeing the areas and themes that connect them. .

Like many trade shows and expos, they act as a concentrated snapshot, in this case of where health, wellness, beauty, food, technology and consumer behaviour are all heading next.

A few themes stood out.

GLP-1 was everywhere. Not always explicitly, but strategically.

Protein.
Fibre.
Hydration.
Gut health.
Muscle maintenance.
Smaller portions.
Satiety.
Mindful consumption.

Almost every major conversation was being reframed through the lens of the GLP-1 consumer.

What’s interesting is that GLP-1 isn’t necessarily creating entirely new trends, it’s accelerating existing ones.

Protein was already booming.
Gut health was already mainstreaming.
Consumers were already becoming more health-conscious.

GLP-1 has simply created a new urgency around them.Euromonitor described it perfectly: “The GLP-1 revolution accelerates existing trends.”

The opportunity here is enormous, but so is the risk.

Because “GLP-1 friendly” could quickly become the next meaningless marketing phrase unless brands can clearly explain:
• what role the product plays
• who it’s for
• what outcome it supports
• and why it genuinely matters

For years, protein dominated functional nutrition – now fibre is catching up fast.
One of the strongest signals at Vitafoods was how often fibre appeared alongside protein rather than beneath it.

Bars.
Beverages.
Meal replacements.
Gut health concepts.
Functional snacks.
Even beauty-positioned products.

According to Euromonitor, “high/source of fibre” became one of the leading claims in packaged food launches in 2025, alongside high protein.
And it makes sense.
Protein speaks to strength, energy and performance.
Fibre speaks to digestion, balance, satiety and metabolic health.
Together they create a much more holistic wellness proposition.
“Protein + fibre” increasingly feels like the new baseline.

Longevity was another dominant conversation, but what felt different this year was the shift in language.

The industry seems to be moving away from vague anti-ageing promises and toward something more grounded: healthspan.

Not simply living longer but living better for longer and that shift matters. Because longevity as a category risks becoming another meaningless buzzword if it tries to encompass everything.

The more compelling brands were the ones translating complex science into tangible consumer outcomes such as:
• better recovery
• stronger skin
• improved mobility
• metabolic resilience
• sharper cognition
• emotional balance

One Euromonitor framework particularly stood out to me because it separated longevity products into four filters:
• biological relevance
• scientific credibility
• consumer outcomes
• scalability

That feels increasingly important. Consumers don’t want scientific theatre anymore, they want outcomes they can feel.

One of the biggest shifts across the show was the continued movement away from “condition-based wellness” toward lifestyle wellness.

Energy.
Mood.
Stress.
Sleep.
Beauty.
Focus.
Women’s health.
Healthy ageing.

These categories are increasingly outperforming traditional condition-led positioning like bone, heart and joint health.

And nowhere was this more visible than beauty-from-within.

Collagen drinks.
Skin health beverages.
Nutricosmetics.
Hair gummies.
Menopause beauty.
Glow positioning.

The overlap between beauty and wellness is no longer emerging or a trend, it’s mainstream.

What beauty understands particularly well is aspiration. People don’t buy collagen because they want collagen, they buy it because they want confidence, glow, radiance and visible results. 

Collagen is now cemented in lifestyle and that consumer choice is a showcase to the world on what that lifestyle looks like. That emotional layer is becoming increasingly important across wellness as a whole.

Another thing impossible to ignore:
the explosion of delivery formats.

Gummies.
Shots.
Melts.
Chews.
Functional chocolates.
Sprays.
Powders.
Liquid sticks.
RTDs.
Soft chews.
Strips.

Tablets and capsules are no longer the automatic default.

This matters because format changes behaviour.

A gummy feels different to a capsule.
A shot feels different to a powder.
A dissolvable strip feels different to a daily vitamin tablet.

Format changes how wellness fits into someone’s lifestyle.

But this is not enough for differentiation in a crowded market, it only works when the format reinforces the role the brand wants to play in someone’s life.

One of the most interesting insights from the Euromonitor presentations, stood out for me was around “claim fatigue.” Consumers are becoming increasingly sceptical of products overloaded with functional messaging.

At the same time:
• over 50% of new SKUs launched in 2025 carried a health or functional claim
• fewer consumers are closely reading nutrition labels versus previous years

That tension says a lot – health still matters enormously, but consumers increasingly reward simplicity over complexity. The brands that win won’t necessarily be the loudest, they’ll be the clearest.

Health and wellness is no longer a single category.
It’s evolving into a deeply interconnected ecosystem spanning:
nutrition, beauty, technology, science, lifestyle, personalisation, functional food, mental wellbeing, and AI-driven commerce.

The industry is moving fast.
New ingredients, formats and innovations are emerging constantly.

But despite all of that progress, the brands that will ultimately win probably won’t be the ones chasing every trend. They’ll be the ones that create clarity.

The brands that understand:
• who they’re for
• what problem they solve
• why they matter
• and how they fit into people’s everyday lives

Because in a market crowded with functional claims, complexity and constant noise, clarity is the real competitive advantage.