HBA Expo gives sneak peek at future

As health and beauty manufacturers and buyers from around the world descended on New York City for September’s HBA Global Expo, a trendy color emerged from educational seminars and surfaced at exhibition booths: green. Ingredients companies and finished-goods producers alike touted their environmentally friendly practices and new natural and organic offerings.

But green health and beauty products wasn’t the only hot new trend. In the coming months, look for personal care products featuring topical probiotics. With an aim to address beauty holistically, companies such as ingredients manufacturer PL Thomas are exploring how probiotics can keep skin’s natural flora healthy. In general, manufacturers seem to be leaning more toward natural botanicals and vitamins—from açai to vitamin K2—for their active ingredients, and they’re exploring options for natural preservatives, such as aspen bark and rosemary extracts. In the future, keep an eye out for fresh new personal care products loaded up with rooibos, Rhodiola rosea, Co-Q10 and milk proteins.

Also in the exploding “beauty from within” category, nutricosmetics had a big presence at the show. Although it’s not a new category—Lane Labs’ drinkable beauty product, Toki, has been around for years—sleek new packaging, contemporary marketing and more affordable options might help these beauty drinks and supplements find their way into American women’s daily beauty routine. Nestle’s fruity drinkable supplement, Glowelle, is available only in department stores, but it speaks to a growing trend among the beauty-conscious.

On the manufacturing side of things, several seminars were dedicated to renewable ingredients and environmentally friendly production processes. Mainstream cosmetics companies seem to see a major market for organic products; they’re actively researching ways to overcome their challenges to create U.S. Department of Agriculture–certified organic colors, fragrances and emulsifiers that compete with conventional products.

Natural Foods Merchandiser volume XXVI/number 8/p. 26