What are the new trends in the market of health food products derived from plant extracts?

2025-03-10

As consumers' awareness of naturalness, greenness, healthiness and safety keeps increasing, products claiming to be natural and free from additives are increasingly favored by people. As a sub-industry under the big health industry, the plant extract industry has a broad application field and can be widely added to various aspects such as food, nutritional health supplements, medicines and cosmetics. The segmented market segments lead the industry to accelerate its expansion. The plant extract industry is entering a period of rapid development. According to relevant research reports, the global market for plant extracts is expected to reach a scale of 64.6 billion US dollars by 2028, and the market size of the Chinese plant extract industry is expected to reach 60.2 billion yuan by 2025.

In recent years, with the vigorous rise of the trend of healthy consumption on the Internet, plant extract nutrition and health food products have shown strong growth momentum in the online market. Data from Mogu Mirror Insights indicates that the sales volume of this field has climbed to 49.89 billion yuan in 2023, achieving a year-on-year growth rate of 13.7%, demonstrating the high recognition and strong demand of the market for it.

In China, the raw materials for plant extracts are deeply rooted in the long-standing traditional Chinese herbal culture. Domestic plant extract products can largely be regarded as modern interpretations of the essence of traditional Chinese herbs, embodying the integration of traditional Chinese medicine wisdom and modern technology. It is particularly noteworthy that the field of traditional tonics has always centered on Chinese herbs as its core ingredients, which makes the application proportion of plant extracts in such products particularly prominent, nearly accounting for half of the market share. This further highlights the unique value of Chinese herbal extracts in health tonification and rejuvenation.

Popular plant extracts lead the new trend of health food products

In the current health food market, the top three star products in terms of sales are milk thistle, ginseng, and blueberry extract products. They have won the wide favor of consumers by virtue of their unique health benefits.

In particular, milk thistle and turmeric, which are liver-protective ingredients, have risen to become popular choices in the market. They have led the new trend of liver protection health care. In addition, products such as hawthorn fruit, luo han guo, and winter worm and summer grass have shown particularly significant growth rates. Behind this growth trend lies the urgent demand of consumers in the post-pandemic era for maintaining lung health and enhancing immunity. Among them, winter worm and summer grass not only holds a leading position in traditional tonics but also has further driven its market demand with its outstanding performance in enhancing immunity and nourishing health.

In the traditional health tonifying products sector, ginseng, goji berries, winter worm-summer grass and reishi mushroom, with their status as precious Chinese herbal medicines and multiple health benefits such as enhancing immunity and nourishing the body, have consistently occupied the top positions on the sales charts. Meanwhile, the rapid growth of traditional Chinese herbal ingredients like astragalus, angelica sinensis and kudzu root reflects consumers' pursuit of more refined and targeted health solutions.

In 2023, sales of products related to Ganoderma lucidum extract were outstanding. The online market size was approximately 2 billion yuan. Among them, Taobao and JD platforms showed significant growth, with sales on JD platform increasing by nearly 18% year-on-year. By the first quarter of 2024, the online market performance was outstanding, reaching 480 million yuan. Compared with the same period in previous years, the market size of Ganoderma lucidum extract health food continued to expand.

The main consumption demand for the main components of Ganoderma lucidum is to enhance immunity, and the sales of products with this efficacy accounted for nearly 90%. In addition, due to the increasing demand from consumers for liver protection and nourishment, market-released Ganoderma lucidum and milk thistle compound ingredient products emerged. The sales of related goods on Taobao platform increased by over 750% year-on-year. Ganoderma lucidum spore powder is the most common product form in the market. It is worth noting that the sales of Ganoderma lucidum spore oil have shown remarkable growth in the past year, and the sales of related products in the overall online market increased by 40.2% year-on-year. The dosage form of this product is mostly capsules.