Diverse delivery methods and novel dosage formats can help dietary supplement brands differentiate their product offerings, innovate and experiment, and appeal to varying consumer needs and preferences—from seniors who have difficulty swallowing large tablets to kids (and the young at heart) who enjoy the appeal of gummies.

Delivery Targets
Capsules (42%) and tablets (41%) continue to be the preferred supplement format among U.S. consumers; however, this penchant has been in decline over the past 11 years as gummies (35%), softgels (33%), chewables (26%), and soft chews (24%) are gaining ground, according to the Natural Marketing Institute’s (NMI) 2021 Supplements/OTC/Rx Consumer Trends & Insights Report (9th Edition).

Overall, the percent of supplement users who completely/somewhat agree they prefer their supplements in forms other than pills or capsules has been fairly consistent in recent years (33% in 2017, 38% in 2018, and 31% in 2020). The past year, like everything, has likely been influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Meanwhile, the percent of supplement users who chose gummies as their preferred supplement product form has increased dramatically by 137% from 2011 to 2020. Soft chews have grown 35% from 2009 to 2020.

In terms of demographics, Millennials have a significant interest in almost all product forms, in addition to capsules and tablets, said Diane Ray, vice president of strategic innovation at NMI. “Millennials are most open to trying new things. They’ll experiment and try anything. They’re less likely to prefer tablets and capsules, but they are open to other varieties.”

Format preference varies by product type and functionality, to some degree, Ray said. “Gummies have an almost universal appeal beyond children due to convenience, the ‘fun factor,’ pill fatigue, perception of a ‘treat’ vs. ‘medicine,’ etc. If delivery aids functionality claims (e.g., time release, faster absorption, increased bioavailability, etc.) this can be effective justification for something other than a capsule/tablet. However, just putting something in an alternate format for the sake of variety may backfire. For example, beverages that deliver key nutrients also bring limitations of flavor, calories, packaging, etc. that mean that format may not be sustainable after the initial novelty wears off.”

Overall, delivery methods are just as dynamic as ingredients in the dietary supplement market, said Lindsey Toth, associate director, dosage form services at Lonza. “Novel dosage forms such as gummies are becoming more popular, and technological advances to existing forms such as capsules continue to boom. And while we see growth in new formats, our consumer research shows some of the tried-and-true formats continue to reign supreme.”

In fact, Lonza’s internal research has indicated the average supplement user in the U.S. continues to prefer capsules first, followed by tablets second, and soft gels third for familiarity and convenience. “Lonza continues to invest in technology that drives innovation in dosage forms that help address supplement continuity across these consumer needs,” said Toth. “From proprietary Melt Spray Congeal (MSC) technology for micro-dosing microspheres, to tamper-evident, liquid-filled hard capsules, there’s still a whole world of innovative dosage forms to be unlocked for the dietary supplements market.”

Greg Cumberford, vice president of science & regulatory, Natures Crops International (NCI), agreed that capsule and softgel formats are among the most popular formats in terms of dietary supplement product volumes. “But what’s interesting is to see how quickly alternative ‘food-friendly’ dosing forms are coming forward, notably powders intended for blending with beverages, gummies and soft chews, and squeezable single-dose emulsions. “

Cleaning Up
While lacking a universally agreed-upon definition, the concept of “clean label” resonates with consumers when choosing supplements, according to Ray at NMI. “It typically means nothing artificial and fewer, more effective ingredients,” she said. “The market is evolving to more nuanced claims. For example, extraction processes, sustainably harvested, grown with regenerative farming practices, etc. are being claimed by brands working to find meaningful differentiation.”

Demand for clean label and plant-based supplement options is driven primarily by younger generations such as Millennials and Gen Z, according to Toth at Lonza. “With major shifts occurring in the food industry promoting these types of claims, the clean label and vegetarian trends are quickly translating into strong demand for such traits in dietary supplements.”

It’s not just generational, though, she added. “Our proprietary research shows that among all generations of supplement users, at least 50% of consumers are all specifically looking for products with the following characteristics that embody the clean label trend: provides the source of all ingredients; the ingredients are derived from natural sources; contains no preservatives; has no artificial colors/flavors; free from allergens; non-GMO; and organic.”

Clean label is hard to define from any singular viewpoint, Toth admitted, as the term can mean many different things depending on the individual in question. “Some may define clean label as a product offering assurances that it is ‘free-from’ any number of items. Some examples may be ‘free from animal products’ or ‘dairy-free.’ Another definition may be a product that contains sustainably-sourced or organic ingredients. For many, it means at its simplest an ingredient list that someone can understand.”

Lonza has been focused on empowering customers to create products that fit any one of those definitions of clean label. “Our goal is to meet customers with high-quality products and ingredients, helping them meet their consumers’ growing demand for clean-label products,” said Toth.

Cumberford at NCI said demand for “clean label” is coming from a  “groundswell of consumers increasingly making visceral connections between their families’ personal well-being and the wider climate/environment in which they live.”

The movement has also been propelled by “progressive media and scientific coverage of negative environmental and toxicological impacts of synthetic, hormone-disrupting, and genetically modified ingredients and related processing agents in foods, personal care products, and the packaging/delivery systems they deploy,” Cumberford said.

“People get that clean label and vegan products are more likely to promote truly holistic, full-cycle wellness benefiting both personal and planetary health even at large scales,” he continued. “Mintel reported recently that in industrialized countries around the world, consumer preferences for vegan products are driving rapidly increasing vegan product SKU launches—and that non-vegetarians associate such products with being more healthy.”

While clean label has come to mean a lot of things, Cumberford said he believes it should mean “that all the active and carrier ingredients in a product intended to go into or onto someone’s body connect back to their raw natural sources without using synthetic chemical ingredients or processing aids. It’s about avoiding the use of petroleum-derived ingredients or synthetic preservatives, coloring agents, excipients, etc., and about advancing the use of materials whose natural origins, minimal processing, and traceability to specific farms, places, or regions is assured and disclosed transparently on product labeling.”

Sparking Innovation
Today’s market represents a “golden age of supplement dosage format technology,” according to Toth at Lonza. “From a humble beginning with basic, animal-based gelatin capsules to hand-pressed tablets and softgels, and now today, dosage technology is almost completely unrecognizable to someone from our industry even just 20 years ago.”

A major trend driving innovation in supplement dosage format is increasing consumer demand for more natural, healthy, and clean label products. “To deliver against these demands, capsule manufacturers have taken to using plant-based ingredients like hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) (found in trees) or pullulan (naturally fermented from tapioca),” Toth said. “Changing polymer types not only allows manufacturers to meet changing consumer demands but also allows for added functionality. HPMC offers added protection for moisture-sensitive ingredients when compared with gelatin. Capsules made from pullulan allow for quicker absorption of ingredients. And the list goes on.”

There have also been significant improvements in innovative delivery technologies like liquid-filled hard capsules. “This technology enables both unsurpassed functional and experiential benefits to consumers,” Toth said. “Functionally, you can formulate with traditionally incompatible ingredients as the sealed inner capsule doesn’t interact with the active ingredients in the liquid-filled outer capsule. It also enables possibilities for a multi-phase, designed release formula where you suspend an inner capsule inside of the liquid-filled hard capsule.”

According to Toth and Lonza, capsules continue to offer formulators with “unrivaled flexibility for new product innovation, delivering on consumer non-negotiables like convenience and swallowability. Build on top of that their ability to meet clean label needs and optimize the efficacy and functionality of ingredients’ benefits, they’re a hard dosage opponent to top even when matched up against trendy formats like shots and gummies.”

Lonza offers a broad portfolio of hard capsules to meet the needs of nutrition and pharma customers, with a number of customizable experiential and functional benefits. “Capsules can come in a wide array of food-colored offerings to meet clean label for enhanced branding recognition,” Toth noted. “Our innovative dosage forms include liquid-filled hard capsules, which offer enhanced absorption benefits, leak-proofing, tamper-proofing, and a seemingly endless variety of options for customized release profiles.”

“Looking to combine multiple immiscible ingredients in a dual release offering? Try our Licaps beadlets in capsule product. Want to deliver a dual pre-and probiotic product in one convenient dose? Our DUOCAP product is perfectly poised with an inner capsule and liquid-filled outer capsule to deliver both ingredients to the right places in the gut, at the right times.”

Cumberford at NCI noted the rise of sophisticated micro- and nano-emulsion systems in the omega nutrition sector, “which has a natural imperative to deliver oxidatively stable daily intakes to consumers.”

“These delivery platforms open up non-pill based delivery options across a wide array of food and beverage applications that were unavailable to high-PUFA ingredient manufacturers and formulators,” he added. “For example, our company collaborated in developing a natural 50% payload micro-encapsulated Ahiflower oil powder with excellent cold water dispersion and flavor/aroma characteristics.”

This in turn has opened up food categories that would have been unapproachable even a few years ago due to unacceptable PUFA rancidity challenges. Recent examples include a meal replacement powder blend, a morning instant coffee/mushroom powder blend, and a cognitive performance powder blend, Cumberford said.

The field of applications is expanding into liquid emulsions for ready-to-drink beverages, plant-based milks, and meal replacements, he said. “In each case, the innovation occurs in how naturally-derived substrates and matrices are used to create highly oxidatively stable micelles in which the high-PUFA oil is protected over a meaningful shelf life and in relation to other pH, moisture, and temperature environments the ingredients are likely to encounter.”

Gummies have been a challenging frontier for delivering high-PUFA oils since gummies require a certain amount of oil and that any high-PUFA oil used will be exposed to oxygen and elevated temperatures during manufacturing. “This naturally causes oxidation to set in, to a point where perceptible off-putting rancidity occurs. Innovative approaches, however, are occurring in the formulation, complementary botanical ingredient selection, blending, and processing steps that minimize oxidation and allow for good omega fatty acid payloads and fantastic flavors. A forthcoming vegan gummy product that has nailed this is the new Forest Remedies Ahiflower+Elderberry immune support gummy, expected to launch in April 2021.”

A range of new delivery formats using NCI’s Ahiflower oil demonstrates that going vegan and clean label “is not only possible, but delicious, in the omega nutritional space which was once thought to be off limits and restricted primarily to liquid oils and softgels,” said Cumberford.

Examples of recent innovative product launches include: FocusFuel powder from Natural Traditions (U.S. and Canada), Bertil’s Health olive oil plus Ahiflower (Finland), Braini cognitive wellness powder (U.S.), JimmyJoy PlennyShake Active 3.0 (E.U. and U.S.), and Nouri Health’s Omega-3-6-9 & Probiotics DuoCap using Lonza’s capsule-within-a-capsule system to protect a capsule of live probiotics “surrounded by a little ocean of Ahiflower oil.”

Custom Approaches
Personalized nutrition is a growing area of interest in the supplement space, and dosage forms are doing their share to keep pace, according to Toth. Lonza has teamed up with several personalized nutrition brands to design formulas that are tailor-made for consumers and work in harmony together. “Innovative dosage forms allow personalized nutrition solutions to have customizable release profiles and polymers, making it easy to mix and match the ingredients, routines, and attributes that work best for you and your consumers.”

Zeroing in on dosage forms in particular, there’s almost no limit to the customization options available, Toth said. “At Lonza, we focus on curating the perfect blend of ingredients and dosage forms for our customers’ consumers. Want a beauty product that works hard for you while you sleep? Our lipid multiparticulate (LMP) technology with Licaps liquid-filled hard capsules allows for sustained release of beauty ingredients overnight to restore and refresh. Want daytime energy with stress control? Our proprietary DUOCAP capsule-in-capsule technology enables immediate delivery of adaptogens with a boost later of clean energy via green coffee bean extract.”

“If you can dream it, we can make it a reality,” she added. “There is almost no limit to how we can customize our capsules, novel dosage formats, and finished products for our customers.”