Speaking with NutraIngredients at the recent SupplySide West in Las Vegas, IPA’s George Paraskevakos explained that the global market for probiotic supplements in 2023 closed at US$ 9.4 billion, with growth forecast to be about 7.5% globally for the next four years.

“The US has been, and still is, the number one market for probiotic supplementation,” he said. “What’s happening, though, there’s been a slight pullback from post-pandemic.”

Pre-pandemic, sales of probiotic dietary supplements in the US had flatlined, growing at about 1% year-over-year, but the pandemic saw the category surge, with double digit growth levels reported.

“There’s been a pullback,” said Paraskevakos. “We’ve seen the forecast with the data partners we work with show a more or less about 2% growth over the next four years. So that puts the US around US$ 2.3-2.4 billion.

“If we look at APAC as a region, [which] is almost US$4 billion in terms of probiotic supplementation. China constitutes 50% of that market […] From a growth rate perspective, it’s forecasted to grow a double digit, 11% or 12%, so from forecasts and modeling that we have in the next four years, China will leapfrog the US market as the biggest probiotic supplement market, if not in a year, maybe two.”

All biotics​

Paraskevakos also discussed IPA’s progress since it announced its expanded scope at the same event 12 months earlier. He said the organization is already working on multiple different manuscripts, including one by renowned prebiotic expert Koen Venema, which is currently being reviewed at a journal.