As we leave January behind, some of us are now fully embarked on our New Year’s resolutions and focusing on overall well-being is at the top of many people’s lists.
According to Heights, an expert-formulated brain health brand founded by Dan Murray-Serter and Joel Freeman, and developed by Dr. Harry Jarrett and Consultant Dietitian Sophie Medlin, customers are shifting their attention to expert-led, evidence-based health products. Wellness has become a priority and a trend that continues to grow. This is supported by the McKinsey Report, which states that in 2024, 82 percent of consumers in the US, 73 percent in the UK, and 87 percent in China reported wellness as a top or a very important priority in their lives.
I recently emailed Elle Macpherson, the supermodel and co-founder of WelleCo. Her luxury Australian-based supplement brand offers a range of premium, plant-based supplements that are designed to support overall health and wellness and was created as a result of her own self-care journey. I asked her how important she thought supplements are for everyday well-being, and she told me that, in her experience, taking supplements was “a logical and noticeably beneficial daily habit”. She explained that the foods we eat are no longer as nutrient-dense as they once were, so it is extremely important to get these nutrients from another source.
Elle explained to me that she has learned a lot from her friend Zach Bush MD. Zach Bush is a physician specializing in internal medicine, endocrinology and hospice care. He is also an internationally recognized educator and thought leader on the microbiome as it relates to health, disease, and food systems. He described to Elle how there was a clear link between our soil and our wellbeing, and how “repairing this link is one of the most poignant and pressing issues of our time”.
The Benefits of Taking Supplements
“Without healthy soil, our produce not only will lack nutrients, but it will invite damaging chemicals into our own biology and ecosystem,” says Dr. Bush. “These chemicals will continue to break down the cornerstone of our health – our immune system – if we let them.”
Consultant Dietitian and Head of Nutritional Research at HeightsSophie Medlin agrees and tells me in an email interview that supplements are a great way to have a nutritional insurance policy to cover you when your diet and lifestyle aren’t providing everything you need. She gives me an example by saying that if we could all guarantee that we ate an abundance of fruits and vegetables every day, plenty of nuts, seeds, and oily fish, slept well, weren’t overly stressed, and moved our bodies daily, we might not need supplements. But says that for most people, that’s not reality.
Sophie explains that probiotics in supplement form are also worth considering. “In modern life, we use antibacterial cleansers, take antibiotics, eat foods with preservatives, and live with stress. These have a negative impact on our gut bacteria and can reduce their ability to carry out essential roles and provide the health benefits we need,” she says.
This was also addressed by Elle Macpherson, who pointed out that although the immune system is not housed in any one place, 70 per cent of it does reside in our gut and that naturally, the micro-organisms making up the gut microbiome are directly affected by what we eat. She explains that damage to the gut membrane, therefore, through our food and, particularly, through toxic soil due to the widespread use of the pesticide glyphosate, causes inflammation and a breakdown in the gut’s natural barrier function. Elle tells me that over time this becomes a serious issue for our immune systems, making cultivating a healthy gut microbiome our life’s work.
Are Supplements Essential?
I asked Sophie if she thought supplements were essential, and she replied that in an ideal world, food would be enough. As a dietitian working with patients, however, she knows that for most people, it’s challenging to consume a diet that meets all their nutritional needs. “Most of us are rushing around, grabbing a sandwich, or relying on foods that don’t provide a fully balanced diet every day,” she says.
She also explains that we use additional nutrients when stressed, anxious, exposed to pollutants, or when consuming alcohol. These stressors on the body are almost inevitable in modern life, making good supplementation very beneficial.
Different Supplement Types
Nutritional supplements come in many forms, most commonly as tablets, but also as powders, liquids, and patches.
Patches are a good choice if ingesting supplements is problematic. Kind Patches, for instance, provide a stress-reducing supplement you can apply directly to the skin, utilizing it as an intake pathway, thereby alleviating stress on the digestive system. By carefully selecting ingredients that are small enough for diffusion, Kind Patches have developed a formula that facilitates the entry of these ingredients into the bloodstream while excluding the rest. This approach avoids introducing unwanted substances into the body, such as the materials used in capsule shells, preservatives, and unnecessary calories from fillers and starches.
Their best seller, Stress Down Patches (by) Kind Patches™, uses a powerful combination of Lychee, Magnolia Bark and Green Tea Extracts rich in flavanoids that combat oxidative stress in the body, which is linked to a negative impact on mental health.
Powders are also a very popular form of supplementation, as they can be added to food or drinks to ingest.
WelleCo’s Super Elixir™ is a cult product revered by many. It has been fine-tuned five times and fuses pre- and probiotics with vitamins and herbs, making it an alkalizing powder that supports optimum body function while boosting from within. Elle believes this product is the secret to her vitality. “Consider it a one-and-done, easy-to-digest, convenient multivitamin and mineral support in powder form, ” she says.
Future Dietary Supplement Trends Forecast for 2025
Supplements and well-being are said to stay as a top priority. According to Favoured, forecasts for the dietary supplement industry suggest robust growth in the coming years, propelled by innovation and an increasing consumer demand for personalized solutions, and many brands are now offering a subscription business model. As health consciousness continues to rise, Favoured states that “the market is expected to see a surge in supplements targeting specific health needs, including gut health, immune support, and emotional wellness”.
This story was originally published on forbes.com.
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