The impact of lutein UL value modification on the market

Changes in DRIs

It has been 7 years since the Chinese Nutrition Society issued the "Reference Intake of Dietary Nutrients for Chinese Residents" (later referred to as DRIs) in 2016. The Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents released in 2022 also have many changes compared with the 2016 version: fewer recommended amounts of salt and cereals, more dairy products and adjustments to the recommended amount of animal foods all indicate that Chinese people's diets are changing.

In response to the many changes, the Chinese Society of Nutrition is expected to update the 2016 version of DRIs this year, and it will be officially launched at the 14th Asian Nutrition Congress (ACN).

Through the Open Science Society held by the Chinese Nutrition Society in May, the fifth academic forum roughly understood the content and direction of other dietary components modification in DRIs. It is mainly to put forward adjustment suggestions for the SPL value and UL value of existing other dietary components, and put forward new contents, roughly as follows:

① It is suggested that other dietary ingredient CoQ10 be added to the new version of DRIs.

② The UL value of lutein (the maximum tolerable intake) was significantly different before and after adjustment. Professor Yang proposed that the UL value of lutein should be increased from 40mg/d to 70mg/d, and the SPL value (the specific recommended value) should remain unchanged. According to the survey, the lutein intake of some middle-aged and elderly people in China is 11mg/d, so it is not recommended to increase the SPL value.

Market application of lutein

At present, lutein has been allowed as a Food Supplement in food, beverages, health foods, cosmetics, and even baby food. Lutein ester can be converted into lutein, and in 2008 the Ministry of Health approved lutein ester as a new resource food and can be used as a food raw material.

Lutein products on the market are usually divided into two categories: health food and ordinary food, and both have gathered many players. Domestic products use lutein ester more, overseas cross-border products are mainly lutein, if the UL value is adjusted, it is foreseeable that the content of various lutein/lutein ester products on the market will gradually increase.

According to Magic Mirror statistics, from 2019 to 2021, the lutein market on Tmall Taobao platform doubled from 30 million yuan to more than 70 million yuan, with an annual growth rate of 30.53%, 38.06%, 69.35%, and a rapid momentum.

Among the lutein categories, overseas brands occupy the main position. Among the top 10 brands of lutein sales in 2021, only three are domestic brands (Tomson Bihealth, Zhongjiu, and Tomson BiHealth sub-brand Health). Doppelherz Double Heart from Germany ranks high, with sales of its brand exceeding 103 million yuan in 2021. It was up 29.4 per cent year-on-year.

Based on the mapping of UL value changes to products mentioned above, analyze other influencing conditions of lutein products in the market besides policy factors and the current situation of lutein products in the market:

1. Lutein content: In the overseas dietary lutein market as a whole, 5mg and 20mg are mainly used, and there is no high concentration trend at present. At present, the highest content is only 40mg, equal to the current UL value of DRIs, which proves that the above prediction may occur if the UL value increases to 70mg/d in the later stage (the content of lutein products will gradually increase in the later stage).

Intercepted the cross-border lutein brand sales data of Tao in 2022, among which the lutein products with high GMV were 20mg lutein products, the Doppelherz double-heart brand accounted for 58% of this content scale, and 1/3 of the top brands were doing 20mg lutein. Among them, lutein product brands are sold in the market, and their lutein content is close to the head brand Doppelherz double heart.

Therefore, if the UL value is adjusted in the later period, there may also be an impact on mainstream brands, and its current lutein content is mostly 10-20mg, and it will inevitably face the situation of lutein content adjustment in the future, but the market may also follow the pace of updating and adjusting the head brand products.

2. Compound ingredients: Currently more eye protection ingredients, such as: carotenoid lutein, zeaxanthin, astaxanthin, Vitamin and mineral zinc, selenium, vitamin C, vitamin A and so on. This combination of substances, through nutrient synergy, better meets the needs of consumers.

A survey of cross-border 50+ lutein products found that overseas products were mainly supplemented with 1 ingredient (lutein/zeaxanthin), followed by products with 4 and 6 ingredients, and the number reached 22 ingredients. According to the above data, all are classified into compound and non-compound, from the above it can be seen that consumers prefer the compound products. This is more in line with the consumption habits of modern consumers - simple, convenient and fast.

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2023-7-21

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