India’s wellness movement is evolving, from weekend workouts and fad diets to a deeper, more intentional focus on preventive health. More consumers today are reaching for dietary supplements, functional foods, and herbal formulations not as afterthoughts, but as essential parts of their daily routine.

This shift is far from anecdotal. According to a 2024 EY–FICCI report, 65% of urban Indian consumers now actively seek nutritional value in their food and supplement purchases. Whether it’s plant-based capsules for gut health or adaptogenic powders for stress management, wellness is becoming habitual.

And the industry is responding. The Indian nutraceuticals market, valued at USD 6 billion in 2022, is expected to grow threefold and cross USD 18 billion by 2027 (Assocham–RNCOS), driven by increased awareness, disposable income, and regulatory alignment.

But as brands innovate rapidly to meet this demand, one critical question often goes unasked:

Can these products retain their promised benefits all the way to the consumer?

From Lab to Life: A Fragile Journey

Formulation is only the first step. Before it ever reaches a consumer, a health product must withstand real-world variables like long-haul shipping, warehouse conditions, regional weather, and retail handling. In a tropical country like India, where heat and humidity fluctuate dramatically, this is no mean task. Many products degrade silently: moisture causes clumping or microbial growth, oxygen exposure reduces potency, and herbal blends may lose efficacy well before their expiry date.

A 2023 NielsenIQ survey revealed that 42% of Indian consumers are unsure whether the health products they purchase retain their claimed effectiveness by the time they use them. This is more than a technical failure. It’s a trust gap and it’s widening as consumer expectations rise.

Shelf Life as the New Benchmark

Today, much of the industry conversation is focused on bioavailability, personalization, and clean-label transparency. But shelf-life integrity needs equal attention because no matter how advanced the formulation, if the product breaks down before it’s consumed, the consumer receives nothing except disappointment.

Protection technologies like moisture control, oxygen absorbers, and active barrier systems are not merely packaging extras. They are enablers of trust, ensuring the product that leaves a lab is the same one a consumer experiences weeks or months later. In this context, the shelf isn’t where a product waits. It becomes a milestone on which the product proves its worth.

The Path Forward

India’s nutraceutical story is still unfolding. But as consumers become more health-literate, their standards will continue to rise. They will ask not just what’s in the product, but can it stay effective until I use it?

That’s a fair question. And one we must all be prepared to answer with better systems, smarter packaging, and science that extends beyond the lab. Because at the end of the day, what you protect is what the consumer receives.

(The writer is a versatile content professional with 20+ years of experience, specializing in customized, high-impact writing across education, PR, corporate, and government sectors.)