Algae makes its way to the aisles
More than a dozen beverages featuring algae debuted at Natural Products Expo West 2017. Here's more on where else this sustainable ingredient is showing up.
December 23, 2017
![Algae makes its way to the aisles Algae makes its way to the aisles](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt09e5e63517a16184/blt18472ee5d6919494/64d6d1f087a02d69e53212b5/spirulina_2.jpg?width=1280&auto=webp&quality=95&format=jpg&disable=upscale)
The following is an excerpt from the NEXT Forecast, an insider’s guide to where the natural products market is now—and where it’s headed. The updated NEXT Forecast for 2018 includes a new section on ingredient trends, and updated market manifestations for 13 macro forces. Learn more here.
Algae is nature’s miraculous aquatic single-cell chemical factory. While barely a blip on the new product development map just four years ago, algae-derived products are finally leaving the spirulina tablet bottle and arriving on store shelves within drinks, cosmetics and dairy. Algae even creates the blue color in M&Ms.
Over the last decade there’s been an explosion of algae research in government, academia and private-sector initiatives. At first algae was seen as a potential biofuel. That hasn’t panned out yet, but beauty lotions and nutritious food add-ins have turned out to be the low-hanging fruit. That’s translated to a fascinating aspect of algae: Producers can tweak the formulation of creating algae industrially to spike different nutritional levels, be it protein, omega-3s or other healthy fats, with decadent textures and enticing taste profiles.
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