The Outlook on Active Nutrition Preview: Conversation with Rahul Roy

This article has been updated to include a transcription of the video.

Nutritional Outlook's managing editor, Sebastian Krawiec, interviews Rahul Roy, a senior retail insights manager for the market researcher SPINS. Rahul will be presenting about market research and moderating a panel discussion on white space in the sports nutrition market at Nutritional Outlook's upcoming conference, The Outlook on Active Nutrition. In this interview, he discusses his role in thought leadership across vitamins and supplements, plus the evolution of active nutrition beyond performance.

To learn more and register for the conference, click here.

Transcription:

Sebastian Krawiec: Hi everyone. I'm Sebastian Krawiec, managing editor of Nutritional Outlook. I am joined now by Rahul Roy, who is a senior retail insights manager for the market researcher SPINS. Rahul will be presenting at our upcoming conference, The Outlook on Active Nutrition. He'll be going over some market research, obviously, and paneling a discussion on white space in the sports nutrition market. Thanks so much for joining us today, Rahul.

Rahul Roy: Hey, Sebastian, thank you for having me. Very excited to join The Outlook and Active Nutrition.

Krawiec: I think it will be a great time. I wanted to just start off and give you an opportunity to tell our audience about yourself, what you specialize in, and what your role is at SPINS.

Roy: Sure. So I am a senior retail insights manager here at SPINS. I work very, very closely with all of our VMS retail partners, so really helping them with strategy, thought leadership across vitamins and supplements and the actual nutrition space. So my background is actually in category management across organic and natural grocery including vitamins and supplements and HBA. So really focusing on shopper behavior, functional ingredient trends, and spotting white space opportunities to help retailers.

A big part of my role here, really connecting emerging wellness trends to real world retail strategies, right? The numbers don't say the entire story, especially within our space. So really in areas like vitamin supplements, premiumization, performance, nutrition, protein of course, functional beverages, and how shopper preferences are really shifting across the spaces are really what excites me, especially with the evolution of what people are including in their diets nowadays. We've seen a massive shift towards people including wellness trends that we wouldn't normally have seen them take just five, six years ago.

Krawiec: Great. So kind of looking ahead at your presentation, I wonder if you could tell us a little bit about what we can expect from the presentation, what you're going to get into, and if there's any little sneak peeks of stuff that you like to mention, anything that caught your eye in terms of the market research?

Roy: Sure, so not to give everything away, definitely come to The Outlook in September to get the full deck, but in the presentation, we'll be focusing on how active nutrition is moving beyond just performance, and starting to connect everyday wellness. So we'll talk about how energy, recovery and hydration, of course, are being redefined for more than just athletes, so including things like functional hydration and adaptogens and l-theanine, clear nostalgic protein flavors and the rise of more cleaner and smarter pre workouts, and it wouldn't be a talking active nutrition without including creatine. So we'll get into how creatine is showing up in new ways, like in our favorite formats, gummies, and the evolution of moving into RTEs, and how trends like premiumization, clinical wellness and validation and GLP-1 support are really reshaping that space and how people are including performance nutrition to cover all aspects.

So I'll also dive into the link between short term performance and long term health. So from cellular health, beauty from within, all the way to keeping muscle and bone health strong as part of a more aging well goal. My goal is to really just give a snapshot and a foundation of what's growing, what's resonating, based on the market and where the biggest opportunities are in the active nutrition space.

Krawiec: Fantastic. I wonder what's something that you hope to learn from The Outlook on Active nutrition?

Roy: Really excited about the performance nutrition space. My brother and I, we go off to different retailers and look for the greatest and latest, nutrition bars, protein bars, protein RTEs, as well as different supplementations, seeing how a lot of retailers are evolving with their actual current sets. So I'm really excited to learn from the conference and the speakers and how shoppers are adapting to the new wave of multi functional, active nutrition. There's just so much happening with products that combine performance, everyday wellness and even long term health benefits all in one, so really curious to see how brands are using things like functional hydration, adaptogens, new protein formats to reach that broader audience, also a great chance to learn how retailers and brands are approaching the education piece right. So active nutrition expanding extremely, extremely quickly, and getting the messaging right, especially around clean energy, recovering longevity, is going to be key. So I want to walk away with a better understanding from the speakers of how the industry is bridging that gap between innovation and shopper engagement.

Krawiec: What excites you about the sports nutrition space currently?

Roy: So what excites me the most is how dynamic and inclusive the space has become. Sports nutrition, again, not just for athletes anymore. Anyone looking to feel their day improve, recovery or support long term wellness. And the innovation in clean energy drinks, smarter pre workouts, protein formats that fit into daily routines just shows how quickly the category is actually evolving. So I love seeing performance products stacked with other benefits, like creatine combined with collagen for muscle, and joint support or energy drinks would be vitamins and adaptogens for focus and mood. So that blend of performance total body wellness is where that category is really starting to shine. Moving beyond that niche space, into something that supports overall health and health span.

So on a personal level, my parents are, of course, reaching that stage, stage of their life where maintaining strength and mobility is just so important. So my focus has completely shifted to products that help support that journey. So I want them, and really anyone at that age, to feel confident not just getting through their day, but looking ahead, knowing that they can age well, stay active. So that connection between performance, longevity, and quality of life is really what makes this space so exciting for me.

Krawiec: Fantastic. Well, I really look forward to seeing presentation and moderating that panel, and thanks again for the little preview.

Roy: Absolutely. Thank you very much Sebastian. Looking forward to The Outlook.