Supplement Makers Shift Focus to Felt Benefits
A Holland & Barrett executive told industry delegates that consumers choose healthspan products based on daily benefits they can feel rather than the underlying mechanisms.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Nutrition
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At the Remedy Nutrafood CDMO Conference in Gdańsk, Poland, on October 22-23, Holland & Barrett global product formulation lead Alex Glover said the retailer is building new products around benefits consumers care about instead of specific ingredients or mechanisms of action.
Why it matters
Consumers tend to repurchase supplements only when they perceive results, so outcome-focused messaging shapes how products are developed and marketed. The approach reflects a broader industry emphasis on tangible, everyday benefits in the healthspan category.
Holland & Barrett asked 1,000 consumers to define 'cellular health' in research drawn from panels of consumers aged 50 and over, a sample that is retailer-run rather than independently validated. The extraction does not specify how the responses were categorized or whether they will shape specific product claims.
The players
Holland & Barrett
A UK-based health and nutrition retailer that sells a broad range of vitamins, supplements and wellness products through stores and online.
Alex Glover
Holland & Barrett's global product formulation lead, who spoke to delegates about how consumers evaluate healthspan supplements.
The details
Glover said Holland & Barrett's best-selling products communicate benefits people feel day to day, and that its creatine line uses potent gummies and added benefits to attract newcomers who are not typical strength-focused gym-goers. He also argued that fiber is not getting the attention it deserves as an essential component for improving healthspan.
Timeline
October 22-23: Remedy Nutrafood CDMO Conference in Gdańsk, Poland, where the remarks were delivered.
November 10-11: Nutra Healthspan Summit 2026 in London.
Market Landscape
Healthspan supplements have increasingly been marketed on everyday functional outcomes such as energy, recovery and digestive comfort rather than on mechanisms that are hard for shoppers to observe. Holland & Barrett's approach places a leading retailer squarely within that outcome-driven shift, as companies compete to make benefits feel tangible enough to sustain repeat purchases.
For readers choosing supplements, the emphasis on felt daily benefits suggests judging a product by the outcomes it claims to deliver rather than by ingredient lists alone. Fiber and daily-routine effects are the practical areas the executive highlighted for shoppers to consider.
The takeaway
Consumers who evaluate supplements by whether they notice real day-to-day effects can compare product claims against their own routines before repurchasing. Asking what a product is meant to change in daily life is a practical way to weigh such claims.
What happens next
The Nutra Healthspan Summit 2026 takes place in London on November 10-11, where further industry discussion of healthspan products is scheduled.
Further reading
Explore more on Nutrition to see how consumer-focused approaches are shaping supplement formulation worldwide.
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