(Food-Beverage-News.Com, April 28, 2021 ) According to the new market research report "Beta-Glucan Market by Source (Cereal, Mushroom, Yeast, and Seaweed), Application (Food & Beverages, Personal Care, Pharmaceuticals, Dietary Supplements, and Animal Feed), Category (Soluble and Insoluble), and Region - Global Forecast to 2026", published by MarketsandMarkets™, the market size is estimated to account for a value of USD 403.8 million in 2020 and is projected to grow at a CAGR 7.6% from 2020, to reach a value of USD 628.3 million by 2026.
Driver: Growing health consciousness among consumers and increasing health expenditure.
With the shift in demand from processed to healthy food, functional, and superfoods, consumers have become more conscious of their health and maintain it proactively through healthy living. Consumers are more aware of the food ingredients and pay attention to nutrition labels and ingredients of the food products. This change in buying habits has resulted in higher demand for healthy foods and supplements and has attracted several manufacturers to offer new food products that are functional, not genetically modified, and sourced naturally. With the increasing consciousness and concern about health and wellness, demand for multifunctional beta-glucan is expected to increase in the coming years.
Restraint: Inconsistency in regulatory norms governing beta-glucan
The beta-glucan market is governed by different regulatory bodies, which vary regionally. The legislation regarding the extraction, processing, formulation, and end-product manufacturing is different from country to country. Health claims also differ at the country level, thereby hindering the usage of beta-glucan in pharmaceuticals as well as food & beverages. The regulations also govern and monitor claims made by end-product manufacturers and labeling requirements. Europe, despite being the primary market for beta-glucan products, regulations related to health claims were harmonized in late 2007 under art.13 and art.14 – Regulation of January 19th, 2007. For health-related claims, only beta-glucan extracted from oats is eligible, as oats are one of the major sources of higher beta-glucan content compared to yeast and barley.
Opportunity: Emerging markets: New growth frontiers
Changing lifestyles, growing economy, and shift toward natural products are observed in developing economies, leading to the growth in demand for beta-glucan, not only in food, personal care, and pharmaceutical products but also in other industrial applications, such as animal feed and biofuel production. Developing countries such as China, India, and countries in the Middle East & Africa, in the coming years, are expected to experience a sharp upsurge in demand for beta-glucan extracted from different raw materials. This demand is attributed to be driven by an increase in the consumption of healthy foods, nutraceuticals, and personal care products.
Challenge: High cost of beta-glucan extraction
The extraction of beta-glucan is dependent on factors, such as source, time, and technology. There are several methods of extraction available, which offer low-quality insoluble beta-glucan. For example, manufacturing of high-quality micronized beta-glucan of particle size 1–3 microns involves high costs apart as it include several processing steps to get the desired size of beta-glucan. This is done to make beta-glucan easily absorbable at the receptor site on immune cells.
By application pharmaceutical and food & beverage will be the key areas to drive the demand for beta-glucan, in terms of value, in 2020
Pharmaceutical products come in the form of capsules, liquid, powder, or tablets and are taken to balance the deficiencies of ingredients in diets and for curing problems, such as obesity, blood pressure, and diabetes. These products have been extensively studied for their immunological and pharmacological effects. Immunologically active, homogeneous, non-aggregated, and micro-particulate beta-glucan is prepared from saccharomyces cerevisiae which has resulted in growing applications across the industry. Moreover, the rising sedentary lifestyle and increased consumption of calorie-rich food, have caused numerous health problems, such as obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart attack. The intake of beta-glucan has helped in reducing the risk of these health problems with its health-promoting properties further driving the beta glucan applications.
North America is projected to dominate the majority market share, in the global beta-glucan market, in terms of value, in 2020
The North American beta-glucan market is led by its broad applications in various products along with their health benefits. The key market players in the North American beta-glucan market include Cargill (U.S.), Millipore Sigma (U.S.), and Lesaffre (U.S.). Technological advancements have made beta-glucan available for a wide range of applications in the food & beverage sector in the form of thickening agents, fat substitutes, dietary fiber, and hypocholesterolemia agents; these are likely to drive the growth in the region.
This report includes a study on the marketing and development strategies, along with a survey of the product portfolios of the leading companies operating in the beta-glucan market. It includes the profiles of leading companies, such as Cargill Inc (US), Tate & Lyle Plc (UK), Kerry Group Plc (Ireland), Koninklijke DSM N.V. (Netherlands), Frutarom (Israel), Garuda International Inc (US), Ohly GmbH (Germany), Milliporesigma (US), Super Beta Glucan (US), Lesaffre Human Care (France), Kemin Industries (US), Angel Yeast Co Ltd (China), Biotec BetaGlucans AS (Norway), AIT Ingredients (France), Biorigin Zilor (Brazil), Ceapro Inc (Canada), Specialty Biotech Co Ltd (Thailand), and Alltech Life Sciences (US) among others.
