U.S. Medical Foods Market Is Growing Due to the Increasing Awareness Regarding the Health Benefits of Medical Foods

 

Medical foods are intended for the dietary management of a patient who has limited or impaired capacity to ingest, digest, absorb, or metabolize common foods or certain nutrients, or who has other special medically determined nutrient requirements. Some examples of medical foods are products for chronic diarrhea, oral rehydration products, formulations for metabolic disorders, special infant formulas, and special nutritional formulas for those with kidney disease, AIDS, diabetes, or inborn errors in metabolism. Medical foods are not drugs and, thus, are not subject to any regulatory requirements that specifically apply to drugs.

Majority of the U.S. medical foods market is concentrated in Europe and the United States due to the presence of leading market players in these regions such as Yakult Honsha, Nestle, and others. In February 2020, Carbiotix announced that the company will target the launch of a medical food in the U.S. by H2 2021, thus entering a new gut health modulator category and creating a bridge between its prebiotic ingredient and therapeutic products. However, it is mandatory to consume medical foods under the supervision of a physician. This in turn is also expected to augment the growth of the U.S. medical foods market.

The increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, increasing adoption of medical foods (especially among geriatric population), and increasing awareness among both the patients and healthcare professionals are key factors driving the growth of the U.S. medical foods market. Furthermore, increasing awareness among people about the health benefits of medical foods is expected to propel the U.S. medical foods market growth. For instance, BASF Corporation and DIEM Labs signed a distribution agreement to commercialize BASF’s first U.S. medical food product for the dietary management of patients with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD).

There is also an increasing demand for medical foods, with probiotics and prebiotics, in the U.S. due to health benefits associated with it, as well as due to the increasing awareness among people regarding probiotic and prebiotic products. Increasing popularity of these products is evident from rising sales of these products worldwide. Furthermore, since consumers have become conscious about their health, players in the medical foods market are focused on launching new and innovative products to boost immunity. Therefore, due to the emergence of COVID-19 (pandemic), there is an increasing demand for medical foods. The aforementioned factors are expected to accelerate the growth of the U.S. medical foods market.