COVID-19 Impact on the Sports Nutrition in Food and Beverage Industry
The pandemic have impacted the food industry by up surging in their consumption owing to health benefits associated with them. Extended lockdown has impacted considerably in Europe, Americas and all over world and it has been created an opportunity due to their demand because of raised awareness regarding health and increased concern for maintaining immunity and thereby well-being of health.
According to published journal of MDPI Sports 2020, unpredicted pandemic impacts and risk associated with spread has forcing governments to impose a quarantine and lockdown. The demand for fitness and sports products is also facing huge impact of pandemic. Isolation and quarantine has been imposed by governments which impacted on all aspects related to the sports.
For instance,
The absence of planned training, organized competition, lack of communication between coach and athlete, inappropriate training conditions are impacting on health of sports persons accordingly.
Thus, governments across the globe have focused on encouraging athletes to maintain their health through proper intake of healthy food supplements. Major of local and international competition, such as European Football Championship and the Olympic Games in Tokyo has postponed for a year as health of coaches and athletes is the first priority of government. Hence, governments are focusing on maintaining health of sports persons by providing them proper nutritional intake in isolation. Pandemic also impacted on consciousness regarding the health. Thus, awareness regarding physical and mental health has been increased which provides the demand to the nutritional products.
Sports nutrition products are manufactured to achieve fitness goals and to fulfill nutrients which depleted during the workout. They also include energy bars, sports drinks and protein powder. Manufacturers of sports nutrition prefer vegetable proteins, meat and dairy source as raw material for sports nutritional products.
Owing to this COVID-19, health conscious people and sports persons are staying at home providing demand for healthy supplements and related products for maintaining fitness has been raised. According to online shopping portal of sports and fitness products NorthAlp, it has been noticed an increase of 300% in sales of the fitness related products in India. During the lockdown, NorthAlp has witnessed raised sales of fitness related products.
Another factor behind the rise in online sales of fitness goods and brands is the growing acceptance of virtual exercise workouts with certified instructors and coaches. As gyms and fitness facilities are remaining closed owing to the lockdown, consumers are now more prone towards nutritional supplements to cater general wellness. The products for nutritional products are catering demand to maintaining health. Ingredients that enhance health and immunity are gaining demand as these ingredients are essential for muscle health and well-being of health. Among all sports nutritional products, protein powder is the leading ingredient of the sports nutrition market. According to Lallemand Health Solutions, 70% of consumers are being more concerned in sports nutrition as they are effective source of probiotics as well.
Further, e-commerce is playing essential role for providing sports nutrition. For instance, According to “Nutrition Business Journal's 2020 Supplement Business Report,” the demand for nutritional supplement has been grown as they are expected to grow at 61.4% in 2020. Further, online sales are expected to reach USD 10.00 million in 2023 in which online sales of nutritional supplements will acquire 19.6% of sales by 2023.
According to Aerometric Sports Products Pvt. Ltd., whey protein and other sports drinks such as glucose water has provided demand for sports nutrition across the world. Globally, sports nutrition is around USD 20.00 to 25.00 billion. Owing to the pandemic, sports nutritional products manufacturers and producers are prioritizing health and safety over productivity and profitability. They are looking for specialty vegan protein as they become more aware of techniques and strategies to manage the health. The pandemic has provided an opportunity for nutritional manufacturers to show their assurance to their customers by delivering customized support, representing their reliability and consistency as suppliers and augmenting their company’s biosecurity efforts across the board.
For instance,
• In August 2020, Hormel’s Ingredient Solutions has launched a new website for full catalog of protein ingredients. The new website makes help to view a product’s ingredients, packaging and shelf life. Further, this allows customers to quickly request samples and explore products, more about the ingredient solutions team and speak with an expert on the team. Hence, as shift towards healthy food is increasing, the demand for sports nutrition has been impacted in better terms.
INITIATIVES
Outbreak of coronavirus has affected every sector in the food services industry including sports nutrition. The industry has affected as the supply and demand are badly disrupted. Read more....