Lactic acid bacteria beverages are becoming more popular year by year, and in the past two years, they have emerged as a dark horse, leading to intense competition. In supermarkets and retail outlets in first-, second-, and third-tier cities, refrigerated displays of lactic acid bacteria beverages now occupy the majority of shelf space. In fourth- and fifth-tier cities and rural markets, room-temperature sterilized lactic acid bacteria beverages are also increasingly common. The market offers a wide variety of lactic acid bacteria drinks, all promoting health concepts, but in the future, who will grow healthily and expand, and who will fail and be eliminated by consumers?
As manufacturers educate consumers about the lactic acid bacteria market, it will naturally become more mature, and consumers will gain more product knowledge. With experience and knowledge, consumers will become increasingly difficult to fool. Therefore, products that tout health benefits without actually delivering them will inevitably be phased out by consumers.
- Products that promote zero fat and weight loss but are high in sugar will be eliminated.
A single Weibo post toppled a brand product: in 2014, it was Wei Chuan (味全) active lactic acid bacteria.
Last year, a Weibo post about Wei Chuan active lactic acid bacteria went viral and attracted widespread attention, followed by extensive media commentary, which brought Wei Chuan's sales crashing down from the sky to the ground.
The Weibo post said, "Don't let zero fat fool you." A 435 ml bottle of Wei Chuan lactic acid bacteria drink, although fat-free, contains 70 grams of sugar (about 15 cubes of sugar). For an average woman, drinking two bottles is equivalent to eating a dinner! As soon as this post appeared, it sparked heated discussion among netizens. Some lamented, "I've been fooled; I really have no brain—which drink has fat?" Others realized, "Finally I know why I can't lose weight—I drink it every day." "I've been fooled for years."
Subsequently, many mainstream online and media outlets compared its calories to those of cola, and nutrition experts naturally seized the opportunity to boost their reputations, pointing out that "zero fat misleads consumers" and "high-sugar products are not suitable for people with high blood lipids or diabetes."
Under this combined pressure, Wei Chuan lactic acid bacteria sales plummeted, and many retailers removed it from shelves. Afterward, Wei Chuan's sales were far below their peak.
With Wei Chuan struggling, other sugar-added fermented lactic acid bacteria products containing sugar also suffered in the market. With the rise of online media and self-media, such incidents will become more frequent, potentially erupting at any time among popular products. Such hype will find it increasingly difficult to survive.
- Products that tout live bacteria counts but have most bacteria die in stomach acid will be eliminated.
Lactic acid bacteria beverages are divided into active and non-active types. Active products mostly tout how many billions of live bacteria they contain and how good the strains are. Non-active products, due to explicit policy regulations, can no longer claim billions of bacteria, so they tout that their products are fermented with several strains. This kind of promotion is mostly hype, which succeeds when consumers are unaware of the truth, but once consumers gain more professional knowledge about such products, they can no longer be fooled. Concept-based promotions without factual basis, or with fabricated evidence, will ultimately be fooled by the market.
Products that loudly advertise live bacteria counts refer to the content in the bottle, and some even claim the count at the time of production. If your live bacteria product sits on the shelf longer, the count will decrease. If a consumer challenges you and it spreads through media, you're done. Another fatal issue is that no matter how many billions of live bacteria are in milk-fermented lactic acid bacteria drinks, once they enter the stomach, the vast majority are killed by stomach acid, and very few survive to reach the intestines.
It is naturally better to deliver more beneficial bacteria to the intestines, but due to stomach acid, not all beneficial bacteria can reach the intestines alive. Only those that successfully arrive can truly function.
Animal-derived lactic acid bacteria in milk mostly die before even entering the stomach, with only a few reaching the intestines. Plant-derived lactic acid bacteria, however, are completely different; they are not afraid of acid or alkali and can survive in harsh environments, giving them stronger vitality than animal-derived strains. They can break through barriers, with 20-30% eventually reaching the intestines. This is why Japan's Yakult and益力多 (Yakult) sell well worldwide—their unique strains are truly more effective. That's why Guangming Changyou (光明畅优) fully promotes plant lactobacillus. Unfortunately, Guangming's product is milk-based, so the concept is less convincing, but it can withstand scrutiny better than its peers.
The development of the internet is good for consumers, but for some products, it's really not good. In the past, it was easy to suppress unfavorable information; now it's hard, and in the future, it will be even harder. If you can't suppress it and the product itself has problems, the only outcome is failure.
- Plant-derived lactic acid bacteria may dominate the active product market in the future.
Why do we favor plant-derived active lactic acid bacteria beverages? Because from a technical and product perspective, they can support the consumer rationale for the lactic acid bacteria market, and only their rationale is more defensible.
Plant-derived active lactic acid bacteria have several advantages that animal-derived ones lack: 1. They are more easily accepted by the human body; even with heavy use, they do not cause foreign protein allergies. 2. They have stronger vitality than animal-derived strains for colonizing, growing, and multiplying in the intestines, exerting powerful biological effects. 3. They can withstand strong acid. Their super activity, resistance to stomach acid, and strong intestinal colonization ability allow them to pass through stomach acid, colonize, grow, and rapidly reproduce in the intestines. In short, they have all the functional foundations that current market hype claims.
Plant-derived active lactic acid bacteria are suitable for a wider range of people than milk-based ones. Milk without added sugar is difficult to ferment, but plant-based products can achieve true sugar-free and zero animal fat. They can be used by people with intestinal flora imbalance due to various reasons, those with low immunity, and those who have used large amounts of antibiotics due to various diseases.
Plant lactic acid bacteria are selling very well in Japan. In China, as long as a brand can perfect the product's taste and invest in marketing and promotion, such products can also become popular without difficulty.
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