The Rise of Adaptogens and 40+ Brands in One Market Map
“Adaptogens” is the new buzzword in the wellness industry, popping up everywhere from wellness influencers, new supplement brands, to the hottest new venture-funding announcements. Brands like Moon Juice and Four Sigmatic have been promoting adaptogens since the early 2010s, but in the last few years, new brands like Recess, Kin Euphorics, and most recently, Taika have raised large seed rounds of ~$3–6M from top venture capital firms. Even mass retailers like Sephora and Anthropologie have started to expand their wellness sections, particularly in the supplements and adaptogens space.
They’ve been touted as the magical panacea for stress, anxiety, depression, insomnia, improving immunity, and more — but there’s more confusion than ever as to what an adaptogen is.
So, what are adaptogens?
Adaptogens are plants, usually herbs and roots, that help the body resist stressors of all kinds, whether physical, chemical or biological. In other words, they help your body adapt to and handle negative stress. These herbs and roots have been used for centuries in Chinese and Ayurvedic healing traditions, but it was first coined as a term by Soviet toxicologist N.V. Lazarev in 1947.
Here are the criteria that he used to define an adaptogen -
a) an adaptogen is almost non-toxic to the recipient; b) an adaptogen tends to be non-specific in its pharmacological properties and acts by increasing the resistance of the organism to a broad spectrum of adverse biological, chemical, and physical factors; c) an adaptogen tends to be a regulator having a normalizing effect on the various organ systems of the recipient organism; d) the effect of an adaptogen is as pronounced as deeper are pathologic changes in the organism. (ref)
In simpler words, an adaptogen is a substance that is 1) safe, non-toxic, and non-habit-forming, even when taken over a long period of time, 2) increases non-specific resistance to stress, and 3) regulates the body and helps maintain homeostasis, the body’s natural ability to balance internal and external stress.
How Big is the Adaptogens Market?
According to recent statistics from the American Botanical Council, herbal dietary supplement sales sat at roughly $7.45 billion in 2016, representing a 7.7% spike from the year before. The market is expected to reach ~US $23.4 B by 2030, at a CAGR of ~6.8%. Mental health and stress relief are more relevant topics than ever — in 2019, mental health books outsold diet and exercise books at Barnes & Noble for the first time.
In fact, a quick look at Google Trends shows that in the last 10 years, people are increasingly searching for adaptogens (as shown above). The top and rising queries are questions about adaptogens and what specific adaptogens can be used for.
40+ Brands Tackling the Space
More and more brands are emerging in the space. From adding adaptogen powders and tinctures into your favorite beverages, to coffee mixes and tea blends, to using adaptogenic beauty products, the market is early in its development but offers insight into what the future of the space could look like.
The current market can be broken down into 7 main categories. Powders + Supplements and Tinctures are the two main categories many of the original adaptogen brands used by herbalists and traditional practitioners exist in. There has been growing innovation in Coffee + Tea Alternatives and RTD Beverages and Foods as consumers seek easier ways to incorporate adaptogens into their existing lifestyles. Incorporating adaptogens into Beauty is still nascent and as more brands develop, there will be an increased demand for curators of these brands.
Looking Forward
There is still much scientific research to be done in the space of adaptogens. These supplements are unregulated by the FDA, meaning that brands and manufacturers can continue making claims of their purported benefits. As the space grows, it will be interesting to see how the trend evolves and how companies responsibly create and invest in this space, particularly companies built around the education and production of adaptogens.
Some questions to think about:
- What does education about adaptogens look like? As an emerging space in the wellness category, it can become easy for pseudoscience and snake oil claims to drive the narrative — how do brands and curators in this space scale in a more responsible, and sustainable way?
- What categories for adaptogens will see the most growth and which ones will remain relatively stagnant / fade out over time? Similarly, as a set of ingredients, adaptogens can come in several form factors from tinctures to pills to blends in Food & Bev — which form factors will resonate the most with consumers?
