Trends and Insights from Expo West 2026
Scanning the aisles of Natural Products Expo West for the next hot-out-of-the-lab supplement trend is no small task. The Pharmachem team walked the show floor with an eye toward how today’s emerging trends are likely to evolve. Along the way, we identified six developments in the supplement aisles that point not to the “next big thing,” but to trends already gaining momentum and offering opportunities for forward-thinking product developers.
Momentum in Women’s Health
A combination of better science and better marketing has turned Women’s Health into a promising arena for innovation over the past several years, with brands finally bringing women the efficacy they’ve been deserving for years in forms and formats to meet their needs. The market began to bloom with new formulations for menopause, perimenopause and urinary tract health beginning in 2023, but what stood out at Expo West 2026 was how many conditions have been added to the women’s health quiver. We saw products for eye health, brain health and blood pressure in women’s health branded lines, even a creatine gummy for women. Product developers should be careful to make sure the science meets the sex-specific claims, but there is so much potential for brands that can approach women with the simple acknowledgement that their biology can be very different from men’s.
Chews wisely
Gummies may still bulge from booth after booth at Expo West, but limits to formulation in the format have created an opening for chews. Calling to mind the classic Starburst fruit chews, the new supplement chews can pack in several times the amount of ingredients as might be delivered in a gummy. This is especially important for multi-gram dosages in ingredients like creatine and collagen, but the manufacturing technology can also be a better fit for ingredients that pose challenges for gummy formulation at lower dosages. One brand that launched two chew products in 2022, came out with 20 the next year and now offers chews across the majority of their product line. Jelly chews are also getting more attention, with brands able to put, for instance, ten times as many milligrams of omega 3 as are seen in a typical fish oil gummy.
Hydration with benefits
The hydration craze showed no signs of peaking on the show floor last week. Stick packs, effervescent tablets and drop concentrates all made it clear that product developers are still betting on the market. What’s changing in hydration, oddly enough, is that hydration on its own doesn’t seem to cut it. In booth after booth, the number of hydration-only products was consistently outnumbered by the number of products that layered on additional benefits. Energy and focus were favorites, but sleep and stress made a strong showing as well. Some new brands are launching without a single hydration-only stick pack in their lineup. Benefits matter.
The next Ayurvedic star
Nobody would say that shatavari has taken a full step out of the shadow of turmeric and ashwagandha, but it appears to be the Ayurvedic herb most likely to make it off the launch pad next. With hormonal health benefits making it well-aligned with the growing market for women’s health, shatavari can build from its adaptogenic base as a source of stress relief and make additional claims for immunity and digestive health.
Creatine on the brain
News has been buzzing across the industry and online about the potential brain health benefits of creatine, and those claims are now beginning to appear on product labels. One product even illustrated the concept with a dumbbell whose weights were shaped like brains, visually linking cognitive performance with strength training. What remains unclear is whether the products currently on the market deliver creatine at the dosages used in recent studies. Still, creatine, already the most mainstream sports nutrition ingredient beyond protein, appears to be gaining new momentum as brands explore benefits beyond physical performance.
Fiber’s optics
Fiber is very clearly having a moment, a moment that, oddly enough, it may have needed pharma to create. GLP-1 drugs raised the profile for fiber, not only as a strategy for people on the drugs to keep their bowels moving, but also because brands selling fiber have said that fiber “stimulates” GLP-1 response in the body. However negligible that stimulation might be relative to the drugs, it caught on and psyllium was able to join berberine in “nature’s Ozempic” status on TikTok. Now, after finally escaping the digestion trap, fiber is being highlighted for all its other benefits. Across the supplement aisles and the whole Expo floor, fiber was being celebrated without a toilet in sight. A high fiber sparkling superfoods drink? Why not?
Other Honorable Mentions
- – Fermentation frenzy
- – The protein arms race
- – Mushroom mania
- – Magnesium & metabolic balance
- – Sinister seed oils
About Pharmachem Innovations
Pharmachem Innovations, a household name in the nutraceutical industry for more than 40 years, develops and manufactures science-backed ingredients and advanced nutrient delivery systems that power the next generation of dietary supplements and functional foods and beverages. With decades of manufacturing expertise and clinically studied ingredients, including proprietary platforms such as GPM™ Fermented Nutrients, Phase 2™ Carb Controller, Cran-Max™ Cranberry Concentrate, and Pharmachem helps leading brands worldwide translate nutrition science into meaningful consumer solutions.
