Active Nutrition: Evolving From Sports to Lifestyle and Well-Being

Sports nutrition was once a niche market that catered to weightlifters and elite athletes. Once reserved for bodybuilders and elite athletes, sports nutrition has broken out of the gym and gone mainstream. Today’s consumers—from weekend warriors to wellness seekers—are fueling a booming active nutrition market. Driven by a universal push for better health, performance, and recovery, this category is no longer niche—it's a movement.

Recovery from physical activity is only the fourth reason people use sports nutrition products today. Active nutrition products cater to people who want to improve their general health and wellness. This evolution has prompted the beverage industry to focus on convenient active nutrition beverages with specific functional benefits for the everyday health-focused consumer. 

What Did Legacy Sports Nutrition Beverages Look Like?

Legacy sports nutrition beverages look different from today's active nutrition products. Previously, brands specializing in sports nutrition developed beverages that increased muscle growth, strength, and endurance  — quick, digestible energy and fluids to keep individuals feeling healthy and hydrated. 

These beverages focused on athletes and bodybuilders and primarily contained protein, creatine, BCAAs and, often, synthetic ingredients. The sports nutrition categories were limited mainly to drinks and powders, ideal for those who exercised hard regularly and needed immediate support. 

The Current State of the Sports Nutrition Market

The United States sports nutrition market is predicted to exceed $15.36 billion by 2030. This growth can partly be attributed to everyday consumers becoming interested in products that support wellness. A surge in health consciousness has driven consumers to research healthy lifestyle choices, and more people are turning to sports drinks to feel good. Enter active nutrition, which combines health, nutrition and supplements to support overall wellness. 

Think Liquid I.V. — this brand went from marketing to athletes to marketing to the everyday health-conscious consumer. The sports nutrition market has built on legacy beverages to develop products that meet everyday needs. Multifunctional active nutrition beverages help people get energy, improve physical performance and enhance overall lifestyles. 

The Shift From Sports Nutrition to Active Lifestyles

Sports nutrition initially targeted serious athletes, but active nutrition now serves a broader audience focused on general wellness, reflecting the growing health-conscious market. This means beverage businesses can target a broader audience, from weightlifters to casual gym-goers. Today, active lifestyle products encompass more than powders and sports drinks. They include shakes, bars, gummies, snacks and shots.

Active nutrition drinks are formulated for an everyday audience. Packaging is typically less edgy and sporty and more geared to semi-personalization for specific demographics, like women and older adults. These groups are more likely to prioritize general wellness over peak fitness, allowing active nutrition beverage formulations to focus on feel-good, functional qualities. 

With the category expanding focus from elite athletes to encompassing a wide range of active people who want to support their holistic well-being, beverage brands can address multiple aspects of consumer health. The active lifestyle category spans generations, fitness levels and health goals. 

Athletes and active lifestyle consumers are driven by different motivations: 

• Athletes: Athletes want to achieve peak physical performance, endurance and sustained energy. They want fast recovery to train effectively.
• Active lifestyle consumers: Active lifestyle consumers are driving growth in the sports nutrition and functional beverage markets by seeking convenient, high-quality drinks that offer diverse benefits like hydration, energy, mental clarity, general nutrition and more. While some are serious athletes, most are everyday individuals looking for functional boosts to support their daily activities, from staying active with family to enhancing their work routines.

What Is Active Nutrition?

A staggering 96 million adults in the United States plan to prioritize fitness, exercise or health in 2025. This represents a significant growth opportunity for the active nutrition market. Active nutrition, encompassing targeted nutrients and exercise, is becoming a mainstream approach to wellness. 

These health-conscious consumers are driving demand for products like sports drinks and protein powders, reflecting their proactive health behaviors. Many are also adjusting their diets, incorporating high-protein, low-sugar beverages and the same functional sports drink formulations previously associated with athletes into their everyday routines.

What's Driving Demand for Active Lifestyle Products?

Many high-performance athletes, casual gym-goers and everyday consumers want drinks with functional ingredients. As the sports nutrition segment reaches mainstream appeal, several trends are driving demand.

Holistic Approach to Well-Being

Consumers increasingly prioritize products that address multiple dimensions of wellness, such as physical health, mental well-being and appearance. Preventive health care is a major driver, with consumers opting for supplements, functional foods and other products designed to maintain long-term health and mobility. 

Growing Interest in Sports and Fitness

People are changing how they exercise. Participation in recreational sports, fitness classes and outdoor activities is on the rise, creating a demand for products that support athletic performance and recovery. 

Strength training has surged in popularity, largely due to detailed research on its benefits and women setting aside stereotypes that weight-lifting is a male-only sport. Strength training, or resistance training, naturally lends itself to consuming active nutrition products. Products like pre-workout and recovery-related products provide many opportunities for consumers. 

Widespread Usage of GLP-1 Drugs

The use of semaglutide for weight management has triggered a significant interest in GLP-1s. Around one in eight adults in the U.S. has taken Ozempic or another GLP-1 drug. The increasing use of GLP-1 medications for weight loss is significantly impacting the demand for active nutrition products. 

While GLP-1s help with appetite suppression and weight reduction, they can also lead to muscle loss and reduced energy levels. This creates a need for products that support lean muscle maintenance and overall vitality. Consequently, there's a surge in demand for high-protein beverages, protein powders and functional foods designed to combat muscle loss, alongside supplements that boost energy and support a healthy metabolism, as individuals using GLP-1s seek to optimize their health and fitness outcomes.

Convenient and On-the-Go Lifestyles

One of the biggest challenges active consumers face is a shortage of time. They're busy people looking for convenient, on-the-go snacks and beverages. NBJ’s 2024 Sports Nutrition and Weight Management Report shows that 56% of consumers use sports nutrition or active lifestyle products for general health and nutrition benefits, not specifically for athletic performance, highlighting the popularity of these products for overall wellness. Popular formats include ready-to-drink (RTD) protein shakes, energy drinks and functional beverages promoting improved focus. 

Clean Label and Natural Ingredients

Although consumers want portability and convenience, they're also increasingly mindful of what they put in their bodies. They take notice of ingredients and are choosing more clean-label products. The overlap between active lifestyle products and clean label trends is rooted in shared consumer priorities, such as health, transparency and sustainability. Both categories cater to individuals seeking healthier, more natural and minimally processed options that align with their wellness goals. 

Active lifestyle products, such as protein powders, hydration beverages and nutritional supplements, are often marketed to health-conscious consumers who prioritize clean labels that avoid artificial additives and emphasize natural ingredients. Active lifestyle products increasingly incorporate clean-label principles by using natural sweeteners, plant-based proteins and functional ingredients like probiotics or prebiotics.

Aging Population

As the population ages, individuals are looking for ways to maintain their mobility, strength and vitality. This drives demand for products that support healthy aging.

The Growing Demand for Protein

Protein is a buzzword for many active people due to its proven benefits. In the U.S., 56% of consumers are trying to increase their protein intake. Protein is filling, increases muscle mass, boosts strength and increases fat burning — all things active adults look for in their nutrition. As consumers place so much emphasis on protein, it creates a health halo — a phenomenon where they perceive a product positively based on a single claim. 

Protein claims significantly impact purchase decisions. In response, many brands are increasing the prominence of their protein claims. Products that claim to be a good source of protein have the on-pack claim with the highest impact on purchase decisions. As a stand-alone claim, it reaches about two-thirds of consumers. Around the same percentage of consumers will pay 10% more for a beverage or powder boasting a protein claim. 

Consumers link protein to many benefits, including healthy aging, well-being, diet supplementation, weight management, muscle health, performance and recovery. They expect protein products to support their health even if they do not do intense workouts. Consumers from differing age demographics are on board with the protein trend. 

In addition, consumers who take GLP-1 drugs typically experience loss of appetite and sometimes nausea, which means they eat less. Beverage brands are releasing companion products tailored to the specific needs of this target market, including high-protein beverages to help them maintain muscle mass as they take GLP-1 drugs. As the target market for protein continues to grow, active nutrition beverage brands have a unique opportunity to stake their claims in this market. 

Choosing Ingredients With a Purpose

Today's consumer wants more than just pre- and post-workout options for athletic performance and recovery. They want beverages with specific functional benefits relating to focus, energy, recovery, muscle-building, weight management, digestive health, joint health and immune function. Beverage brands have a unique opportunity to meet these needs with creative ingredient combinations. 

Some of the ingredients beverage brands can add to active nutrition beverages include: 

• Protein: Protein remains the predominant ingredient in the active nutrition category, with consumers finding high-protein options particularly interesting. Pea protein is increasingly popular for brands looking to incorporate plant-based protein ingredients.
• Vitamins: Many consumers want additional vitamins in their beverages, from B vitamins for metabolic function to vitamin E to maintain muscle function and promote recovery.
• Electrolytes: Hydration is crucial for active nutrition consumers. Performance beverages with electrolytes are sought-after for their recovery and hydration benefits.
• Amino acids: Ingredients like beta-alanine and L-carnitine are also popular for their perceived association with endurance, muscle building and cognitive function.
• Prebiotics, probiotics, postbiotics and fiber: Gut and metabolic health support is among the top consumer concerns, and people are increasingly aware of ingredients like prebiotics, probiotics, postbiotics and fiber that support gut microbiome health.
• Botanicals: Botanicals make active nutrition products more appealing to consumers, who associate them with wellness attributes like immune function, energy support and stress management. People often perceive beverages with botanicals to be healthier. Many brands focus on botanical ingredients that support active nutrition, including guarana, a natural source of caffeine, and acerola, a source of vitamin C.
• Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs): Many active nutrition consumers incorporate BCAAs into their diets to enhance muscle recovery after exercise.
• Creatine: Despite early skepticism, creatine has experienced a reinvigoration outside weightlifters and athletes. Consumers from all demographics supplement creatine monohydrate to enhance cognitive function, physical performance and overall health.
• Natural sweeteners: When reading Nutrition Facts Panels, many consumers are concerned about sugar reduction, calories and total sugars. Beverage brands are responding with low-calorie, natural sweeteners like stevia, monk fruit and allulose. These allow brands to maintain their clean labeling without the extra calories. 

Embracing Tailored Beverage Formats

Personalizing active nutrition products is crucial for meeting the diverse needs of today's active lifestyle consumers. Active nutrition consumers include people of all life stages and lifestyles. Each one wants a beverage tailored to their specific needs and lifestyles. In addition to optimizing formulations that target specific functional needs, beverage brands have expanded into a range of delivery formats: 

• Powdered products: Powdered nutrition products are becoming more common for consumers, particularly those looking for hydration products. Many come in single-dose stick packs or even pressed tablets, which provide a single-serve option rather than a multi-serve jug or pouch. Examples include energy mixes and powdered electrolyte drink mixes.
• RTD beverages: Brands are tapping into the consumer demand for convenience by removing beverage preparation steps. On-the-go beverage formats like RTD protein shakes and performance beverages are popular not only for their convenience but also as portion control solutions. RTDs continue to be the most popular for energy and hydration.
• Sports gels: Sports gels, or energy gels, target active consumers by providing easy-to-consume sources of fuel they can take during exercise. These highly concentrated sources of carbohydrates meet consumer needs during or after exercise, especially during long runs.
• Meal replacements: Many consumers want balanced, nutritious meals but lack the time to prepare them. Meal replacement powders and shakes offer a full range of nutrients while simplifying weight management and helping consumers meet their protein goals. 

Overcoming the Challenges of Active Nutrition Beverage Formulation

The active nutrition industry embraces a broader audience, and the surge in convenient options caters to individuals seeking quick and effective solutions. Packaging claims can draw consumers in, but the product has to taste good for them to buy it more than once. 

Many active ingredients in nutrition beverages present challenges in beverage formulation. For example, high-protein products may have challenges with solubility and bitterness. Vitamins, minerals, electrolytes and amino acids can also affect product palatability. These ingredients can also interact with each other over time, leading to changes in taste, texture, color and stability. The viscosity and mouthfeel of beverages are also integral to achieving the right thickness and smoothness, which can be challenging when incorporating ingredients like fiber and protein. 

In many cases, sweeteners and texturizers are the key to improving palatability. Working with the right supplier is also essential to gaining the relevant formulation expertise. Despite these challenges, active nutrition beverages are likely to keep growing in popularity, and beverage brands will continue to find creative ways to overcome difficulties and meet consumer demand. 

Launch Innovative Active Nutrition Beverages With BevSource

As sports nutrition evolves into active nutrition, beverage brands have an opportunity to appeal to a growing customer base. To leave their mark, brands must formulate beverages that meet specific needs, provide functional benefits and taste good enough for consumers to keep buying. 

As the active nutrition category continues to grow, brands have new opportunities to innovate while supporting consumers in achieving their health and wellness goals. With demand rising for products that cater to diverse lifestyles and activity levels, the right partner can make all the difference. BevSource helps brands bring winning active nutrition products to market by providing access to a reliable, global network of ingredient suppliers and expert technical support. From formulation to commercialization, BevSource empowers brands to navigate trends and deliver high-quality solutions that resonate with today’s health-conscious consumers.

With BevSource, you can make your beverage vision a reality. We bring our vast insight and experience to the table, collaborating with your team to develop strategies that improve your current and future position in the industry. We understand every element of beverage innovation, formulation and commercialization. We guide you as you solve formulation challenges and experiment with unique flavors to develop a standout product every time. Let's talk. Speak to a beverage expert and turn your active nutrition beverage vision into reality today!