The plant-based sports nutrition industry is experiencing a shift towards inclusivity, embracing a broader audience beyond those solely focused on peak performance. Sue Bancroft, category lead, beverages & PureCircle EMEA at Ingredion explores how to address the needs of active beverage consumers following a plant-based diet.

A surge in convenient plant-based products including beverages, such as ready-to-drink protein shakes and electrolyte drinks, is catering to individuals with active lifestyles seeking on-the-go solutions.

The overall challenge lies in creating plant-based formulations that meet the nutritional demands of the market while enticing the taste buds to ensure a pleasurable consumption experience. There are specific formulation challenges, however, which manufacturers must address in order to deliver the drinking experience consumers expect.

Constraints of plant-based liquid formulations

Achieving a palatable taste and appealing texture, as well as delivering on nutrition, in plant-based liquid formulations is a complex process.

Taste

Masking the inherent bitterness or unpleasant off-notes of certain ingredients is a key challenge. Sugar, which often helps in masking those off-notes, is often reduced or replaced by sweeteners. Therefore, manufacturers need the formulation expertise to deliver the right level of sweetness quality and intensity without any off-notes. As an example, utilising the steviol glycoside Reb M is a way to optimise taste in reduced or no added sugar beverages, which may contain active ingredients such as vitamins, minerals, electrolytes or amino acids.

These active ingredients — while nutritionally beneficial — can affect the overall palatability of the product. These ingredients can also interact with each other over time, leading to changes in taste, colour, texture and stability. These changes are caused by several complex processes, from chemical reactions, precipitation and aggregation to emulsion breakdown and pH changes. With much to consider, it’s crucial that manufacturers have the right formulation expertise to deliver the right level of sweetness.

Texture

In terms of texture, the viscosity and mouthfeel of a plant-based liquid formulation are critical. Achieving the right thickness and smoothness enhances a product's palatability, making it more enjoyable for consumers. However, striking this balance can be challenging, especially when incorporating plant-based proteins or fibres.

There are many more considerations that exist when adding ingredients, including plant protein source variation, solubility and the use of specific ingredients. Each source has unique properties that can affect viscosity and mouthfeel differently. Achieving a consistent and desirable texture, without clumps of protein across different formulations, requires careful adjustments.

Nutrition

There’s also often the need to boost protein content with consumers generally wanting what they believe to be a good source of protein from the beverages they consume. This can be achieved, for example, by delivering a blend of certain proteins to enable a higher protein content in ready-to-mix beverages. Pea protein isolates, for example, can help enable ‘good’ and ‘excellent’ sources of protein claims and offer emulsion stability, water- and oil-holding capacity.

Opportunities in plant-based sports and active nutrition beverages

Plant-based protein is fuelling consumers’ thirst for sports and active nutrition beverages, so much so that 70% of global beverage consumers are looking for ‘good sources’ of plant protein, but not at the expense of taste and texture. With such high demand, it’s imperative that manufacturers are able to deliver on the formulation challenges related to plant-based beverage formulation.

Today's consumers are also increasingly mindful of what goes into their bodies. As a result, demand for clean label plant-based products is on the rise, with 59% of global consumers paying more attention to ingredients listings over the last year. Convenient and better-for-you plant-based products with a clean label are ideal for tapping into the demand for active nutrition beverage products. These better-for-you products also need to meet the demands for reduced sugar, with this market growing at almost 4% CAGR.

Plant-based claims in sports nutrition are gaining momentum globally, too, with 25% year-on-year growth, presenting a major opportunity for manufacturers to capitalise on the plant-based sports nutrition market.

Formulating for success

Manufacturers must find new ways to meet consumer demands for taste, texture, health and nutrition. When it comes to addressing constraints, formulation experts can advise manufacturers on how to address key challenges, such as boosting protein and replacing sugar.

With formulation know-how, manufacturers can deliver on consumer demand for plant-based beverages in the sports and active nutrition category. By partnering with a formulation expert, manufacturers can also accelerate new product development, meaning they can get to market quicker, in order to capitalise on the growing demand for plant-based beverages and in the overall sports and active nutrition category.