Emerging flavors for sports nutrition revealed in new research from Synergy Flavors

Photo © iStockphoto.com/Marika-

Synergy Flavors (Wauconda, IL) released new research called “Flavors of the Future,” highlighting new and emerging flavors in the sports nutrition market in North America. Flavors trends were divided in four categories: Emerging, Growing, Mainstream, and Established. Among those growing in popularity are tart cherry, turmeric, Speculoos, and matcha. These are popping up in products with greater frequency and have a potential for mainstream success, Synergy says. Two emerging flavors which are innovative and interesting, but may still be too novel to achieve mainstream appeal, are yuzu and mochi.  

“Our Flavors of the Future research was a journey of discovery, going well beyond a typical research project to represent an in-depth analysis of the trends that will captivate the sports nutrition market in the near and longer term future-some of which are so novel to the market that those product manufacturers that are considering them are true trendsetters,” said Alexandre Massumoto, marketing research lead at Synergy Flavors, in a press release.

Flavors in the “growing” category have experienced substantial gains in terms of product launches, providing product formulators new potential flavors to offer consumers.

Tart cherry product launches increased by 87% between Q4 2017 and Q1 2018. Turmeric, an already popular dietary supplement ingredient, has seen a 51% increase in turmeric-flavored products between 2016 and 2017. Matcha, for its part, has grown 520% over the last four years, according to Synergy’s research, while Speculoos, a spiced biscuit originating in the Netherlands and Belgium, has only recently gained a real foothold in the North American market, making it the more novel ingredient of the four.

Flavors like yuzu and mochi still remain niche, but nonetheless have shown a good deal of growth as well. For example, mochi, a pounded rice cake traditional to Japan, has seen a 300% increase in product launches between 2014 and 2018. “The research results have been fascinating, and using them as a guide, we aim to help product manufacturers seize the opportunity to be pioneers in flavor development and stay ahead of the game in the ever-evolving sports nutrition market,” added Massumoto.