For health-conscious consumers, beauty-from-within just makes sense. The idea of looking and feeling your best is the fundamental concept behind eating whole, real foods and supplementing with key nutrients. While “nutricosmetics”—supplements that can help support skin, hair, and nail health—have not experienced the same success as in the international market (Japan and Europe, in particular) heightened awareness among U.S. shoppers and improved formulations are showing promise for the category (find more insights and opportunities about nutricosmetics in our 2015 NEXT Forecast). 

So what’s next in this emerging category? Anyone interested in the space should pay attention to these four trends, according to  Paula Simpson, nutricosmetics formulation expert.

4 trends defining the future of nutricosmetics

Targeted formulations.  

Increasingly, beauty-from-within companies are delivering products focused on more specific results. These formulations are “targeted to block or control biochemical reactions that may accelerate skin aging,” according to Simpson, who also points out an uptick in condition-specific nutricosmetic products. Key conditions companies are attempting to tackle from the inside out include acne and psoriasis.

Linking health and beauty.

Though the health-beauty connection seems intuitive, getting nutricosmetics to resonate with the U.S. consumer has been a challenge. One tactic to improve consumer adoption is upping the accessibility factor, a trend that is becoming more and more prevalent in the healthy food space. “Products today are more convenient to adapt into our lifestyles and vary in price points, making them more accessible to varied demographics.” Part of this accessibility also comes through finding ways to show how nutricosmetics work and how they differ from topicals (for example: oral supplements take longer to show results).

Spotlight on collagen.  

One of the hottest ingredients in the global nutricosmetics markets, collagen, represents a hot opportunity in the domestic space. According to Simpson, collagen has an easy-to-digest story: Collagen is the most abundant protein in the skin, so consumers will understand that as it starts to deteriorate, you’ll see wrinkles. Therefore, the message can be distilled to: “want firm skin, take collagen.” 

The ins and outs are key.

However, the real story is more complicated, and it’s important for brands and retailers to more deeply understand how nutricosmetics work. “Effective nutricosmetic formulas work systemically, bypassing the digestive system, into the bloodstream towards the dermal layers where blood vessels bring oxygen and nutrients to skin layers for healthy cellular renewal and protection,” according to Simpson. She notes that nutrition is the foundation of healthy skin, but that oral supplements are often key for getting enough skin-healthy ingredients, including vitamins, minerals, amino acids, botanical extracts and antioxidants, to have a “protective or restoring effect on the health and appearance of skin.”

Want more intel on the latest natural products industry trends and opportunities? Check out the 2015 NEXT Forecast, now on sale.