The days when strong branding alone could drive success in the nutraceuticals sector are fading.
Today, companies are increasingly being judged on the strength of their science, the quality of their products, and their ability to navigate a more demanding regulatory landscape.
Scientific credibility is becoming a key value driver
One of the most significant changes across the sector is the growing importance of scientific validation.
Consumers are becoming more discerning and increasingly expect products to be supported by credible evidence, rather than marketing-led claims alone. Categories such as healthy ageing, immunity, cognitive health, and gut health are seeing particularly strong demand for clinically supported products.
At the same time, regulatory scrutiny across Europe continues to increase. Companies are facing greater expectations around health claims, traceability, product efficacy, dosage levels, and ingredient transparency.
As a result, businesses that can demonstrate strong scientific credentials are commanding even greater attention from investors and acquirers.
Companies with proprietary formulations, clinical studies, intellectual property, and robust regulatory capabilities are increasingly viewed as higher-quality assets. These characteristics can create meaningful barriers to entry and support stronger growth prospects over the long term.
For investors, scientific differentiation is becoming an increasingly important indicator of sustainable value creation.
To explore how these shifts are playing out across the market, Director Berta Esteban attended Vitafoods Europe 2026 in Barcelona, one of the world's leading nutraceutical industry events. Conversations with manufacturers, brands, investors and industry leaders highlighted several themes that are shaping the next phase of growth across the sector.
Scientific validation, premiumisation, regulatory sophistication and consolidation are all reshaping the competitive landscape and creating new opportunities for investors, entrepreneurs and strategic acquirers alike.
For businesses operating in the sector, differentiation matters more than ever.
A market with strong structural tailwinds
The long-term growth story behind nutraceuticals is still very compelling. Demand continues to be supported by several powerful trends, including preventative healthcare, healthy ageing, personalised nutrition, and a growing consumer focus on overall wellbeing.
The European nutraceuticals market reached approximately €116bn ($132bn) in 20241 and is forecast to continue growing strongly through the remainder of the decade. As the market expands, it’s attracting increasing attention from private equity investors and strategic buyers looking to capitalise on these favourable fundamentals.
While the sector remains fragmented across many European markets, consolidation is accelerating. Buy-and-build strategies are becoming increasingly common as investors seek to create scaled platforms capable of serving customers across multiple geographies and product categories.
This is particularly evident among contract development and manufacturing organisations (CDMOs), specialised ingredient businesses, and premium consumer brands.
Scientific credibility is becoming a key value driver
One of the most significant changes across the sector is the growing importance of scientific validation.
Consumers are becoming more discerning and increasingly expect products to be supported by credible evidence, rather than marketing-led claims alone. Categories such as healthy ageing, immunity, cognitive health, and gut health are seeing particularly strong demand for clinically supported products.
At the same time, regulatory scrutiny across Europe continues to increase. Companies are facing greater expectations around health claims, traceability, product efficacy, dosage levels, and ingredient transparency.
As a result, businesses that can demonstrate strong scientific credentials are commanding even greater attention from investors and acquirers.
Companies with proprietary formulations, clinical studies, intellectual property, and robust regulatory capabilities are increasingly viewed as higher-quality assets. These characteristics can create meaningful barriers to entry and support stronger growth prospects over the long term.
For investors, scientific differentiation is becoming an increasingly important indicator of sustainable value creation.
One of the most significant changes across the sector is the growing importance of scientific validation.
Regulation is raising the bar
The regulatory environment is also playing an increasingly influential role in shaping the sector.
The ongoing tightening of European requirements around health claims, product quality, and scientific substantiation is raising compliance standards across the market. While this creates some complexity, it also helps to separate established operators from smaller competitors.
Businesses with experienced regulatory teams, established quality systems, and pharmaceutical-grade processes are often better positioned to navigate these requirements and bring products to market efficiently.
Direct-to-consumer models continue to gain ground
Digital channels are also playing a growing role in the evolution of the sector.
The continued expansion of e-commerce and direct-to-consumer business models is allowing brands to build closer relationships with consumers, gather valuable customer insights and create more personalised experiences.
These channels are particularly attractive for premium brands, allowing them to strengthen customer loyalty while maintaining greater control over brand positioning and product education.
The combination of recurring revenue models, strong customer engagement and scalable growth profiles is also helping to increase investor interest in the category.
From an M&A perspective, this dynamic is reinforcing consolidation trends. Larger, well-resourced operators are typically better equipped to absorb rising compliance costs and invest in specialist expertise, creating opportunities to gain market share through acquisition.
As barriers to entry increase, regulatory capability is becoming an increasingly important source of competitive advantage.
Innovation is creating new premium opportunities
Innovation remains one of the most exciting areas of development within the nutraceutical sector. Consumers are seeking solutions that fit seamlessly into their lifestyles, offering convenience, improved efficacy, and an enhanced user experience.
This is driving strong growth in alternative delivery formats such as gummies, liquid shots, powders, stick packs, and advanced delivery technologies, including liposomal formulations.
Alongside format innovation, premiumisation continues to reshape the market. Consumers are increasingly willing to pay more for products that offer greater personalisation, superior ingredients, better absorption, or stronger scientific backing.
Emerging categories such as personalised nutrition, microbiome-focused products, and targeted wellbeing solutions are attracting significant attention as businesses look to find new ways to distinguish themselves.
For brands, innovation is becoming an important lever for both growth and margin expansion.
Direct-to-consumer models continue to gain ground
Digital channels are also playing a growing role in the evolution of the sector.
The continued expansion of e-commerce and direct-to-consumer business models is allowing brands to build closer relationships with consumers, gather valuable customer insights and create more personalised experiences.
These channels are particularly attractive for premium brands, allowing them to strengthen customer loyalty while maintaining greater control over brand positioning and product education.
The combination of recurring revenue models, strong customer engagement and scalable growth profiles is also helping to increase investor interest in the category.
What this means for M&A
Taken together, these trends are creating a highly attractive environment for deal activity.
Investors continue to seek businesses that combine strong growth potential with defensible competitive advantages. In today's market, those advantages are increasingly found in scientific expertise, regulatory capability, differentiated products and scalable operating models.
Across Europe, we expect continued interest in:
- Specialised CDMOs with strong manufacturing and formulation capabilities
- Premium consumer brands with clear differentiation and direct customer relationships
- Ingredient businesses with proprietary technologies or intellectual property
- Companies operating in high-growth categories such as healthy ageing, immunity, microbiome health and personalised nutrition
As the sector matures, value creation is becoming increasingly concentrated among businesses that can demonstrate both innovation and execution.
The nutraceutical market certainly offers compelling growth opportunities, however success is likely to favour those businesses capable of combining science, scale, and differentiation in a market that is becoming more sophisticated, regulated, and increasingly competitive.
1 Grand View Research - Europe Nutraceuticals Market Size | Industry Report, 2030
Author
Berta Esteban
Director
I am an M&A specialist with over 15 years' experience in corporate finance, advising entrepreneurs on both domestic and cross-border corporate transactions.
I have developed my professional career at firms such as PwC and Banco Santander in the UK.
I believe that this profession must be vocational and born out of admiration and deep respect for entrepreneurs. For me, it is essential to align with shareholders and execute efficient processes that deliver maximum value.
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