Inside Univar Solutions’ “Powering Healthy Tomorrows” Campaign: Ingredients and Formats Driving Nutrition Trends

Live from SupplySide Global 2026, Nutritional Outlook interviews Ishani Maharaj, application development specialist for Univar Solutions, discussing how the “Powering Healthy Tomorrows” campaign helps customers develop products for evolving consumer needs. Maharaj says it highlights ingredients addressing nutritional gaps in gut health, cognitive function, mood balance, women’s health, protein fortification, and muscle building.

Customers are responding to growth of GLP-1 therapies, she adds, and as reach expands, brands are exploring appealing formats that feel less like taking medication, including gel pouches, stick packs, and jellies. She notes that protein and fiber fortification are among the strongest customer requests and that brands are also interested in developing multifunctional products.

Univar’s Global Solutions Centers guide customers through dosage formats and formulation challenges, Maharaj explains. Their labs can support development across tablets, capsules, gummies, powders, stick packs, and gel pouches. This support helps customers combine ingredients, respond to consumer demand, and accelerate product development and commercialization timelines.

Transcript

Erin McEvoy: Can you tell us more about Ingredients + Specialties from Univar Solutions, and what the “Powering Healthy Tomorrows” concept means?

Ishani Maharaj: Absolutely. So, “Powering Healthy Tomorrows” is a campaign we're very passionate about because it encompasses different key trends that we're seeing consumers gravitate towards because of other key drivers in the market, even like GLP-1 consumers, and filling those gaps for those types of consumers.

So it really highlights key ingredients that addresses those gaps, whether it's addressing gut health or it's addressing improvement in cognitive recognition, mood balance, or women's health, protein fortification, and muscle building. So it's really a campaign that aims to support our customers in those types of product innovations that they want to get to market that meets those current market trends.

McEvoy: What are you hearing from customers about GLP-1 therapies and how it changes what they want to formulate?

Maharaj: GLP-1, let's just say these medicines are here to stay. They’re growing in terms of indication expansion. They're going to be around a long time. The consumer reach is going to grow. So, the key question we see our customers doing is how we could present product or dosage formats present to customers that are more appealing, consumer friendly. So it doesn't feel like they're taking more medications, more pills, more tablets. So we see a shift in the dosage format types to more trendy types gel pouches, stick packs, jellies. So we see a lot of that in the neutral customer base. We're getting a lot of requests for it.

McEvoy: Which 2 or 3 market trends are driving the most customer requests right now?

Maharaj: I would say definitely protein fortification and gut health. So, fiber fortification. A lot of the products are trying to even target multifunctional type of products. So we want to traditionally we'd see individual ingredients highlighted in products. Now we're seeing a combination of ingredients. We understand, I think a lot of customers out there understand the need of the patients now that they want to get more in one single dosage format. So we see a lot of those synergistic types of dosage formats with ingredients featuring protein plus collagen plus fiber. So that's a key trend.

But also even like women's health is a growing trend. We see even here at SupplySide shatavari extract is a key or really emerging ingredient as well in women's health. And then I would say, moods, cognitive health is also an emerging trend that we see a lot more customers asking about.

McEvoy: What formulation challenges do customers bring to your Global Solution Centers most often and how are you overcoming them?

Maharaj: Where we really provide value to our customers using all solution centers is helping them navigate those new innovative types of dosage formats, because as I mentioned key trends, trying to meet the consumer demands, trying to put out a lot of different products. I think our solution center has the capability to give that guidance, develop those formulas, showcase how we could combine ingredients that would meet that consumer demand that customers are seeing from their customers as well.

In our lab, we have capabilities from tablets to capsules, to gummies to powder RTM stick bags, gel pouches. So we definitely could meet and help our customers accelerate their commercial timelines to get these products to market by utilizing some of our technical capabilities.