"It is highly likely that a 10-billion-yuan blockbuster product will emerge in the Chinese-style health food track," Guan Yuling, deputy general manager of Run Kang Pharmaceutical (hereinafter referred to as Run Kang), told FBIF. In recent years, Run Kang, as a supplier, has focused on OEM business for Chinese-style health foods, collaborating with brands such as Zishi, Haidilao, Metro, Wanglaoji, Leiyunshang, Tongrentang, and Honeymoon Dessert. From 2021 to 2023, downstream orders continued to grow, and Run Kang expanded capacity every six months. When Guan Yuling made this judgment, she had not only witnessed sales growth of partner brands but also Run Kang's revenue doubling for three consecutive years.
Image source: Run Kang
The concept of "Chinese-style health" is rapidly penetrating the food industry. Data from Duanlian Shu shows that in April 2024, the number of notes related to Chinese-style health on Xiaohongshu increased by over 300% compared to the same period last year. According to the "2024 Douyin E-commerce Nutritional Products Industry Trend Insight," health needs have become normalized, with five-grain health foods and beauty-enhancing and blood-nourishing products such as bird's nest, fish maw, and ginseng showing high scale and high growth. Reflecting specific category growth, the monthly average growth rate of goji berry and black sesame pills reached over 970% in the past two years (TMIC data); the compound annual growth rate of fish maw new nourishment from 2020 to 2025 is 68.98%, with the market expected to grow to 12.4 billion yuan by 2025; and Chinese-style health drinks, including red bean water and barley water, reached a market size of 450 million yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of over 350%.
Many companies are starting to seize opportunities. In February 2023, Genki Forest launched "Zizai Shui," positioned as a Chinese-style health drink, which broke 100 million yuan in sales within four months, becoming the fastest product to reach 100 million yuan in sales for Genki Forest. From 2023 to 2024, Zishi continuously launched and upgraded instant fish maw porridge products. According to official brand data, the instant fish maw porridge series is one of the brand's star products, ranking first in the Tmall fish maw porridge category (statistics period: May 20, 2024 - June 20, 2024), and has entered over 500 confinement centers nationwide and multiple retail channels. Time-honored Chinese brands are also turning their attention to the Chinese-style health field, attracting new-generation consumers through innovative product development. For example, Shuangqian, a time-honored turtle jelly brand, launched tangerine peel red bean paste and tangerine peel mung bean paste; Leiyunshang launched instant bird's nest; Xiuzheng Xiuyangtang launched self-heating medicinal soups such as ginseng, Polygonatum, and chicken soup, and silkworm chrysalis, sour jujube seed, and chicken soup.
Xiuzheng Xiuyangtang self-heating medicinal soup Image source: Run Kang
Chinese-style health foods are firmly controlling young people
1. "Fragile" young people rely on Chinese-style health for "protection"?
"Weak and unwilling to move," "suddenly bald at 25," "squatting anywhere and seeing black when standing up"... On social media, young people who are not old but have various ailments self-mock as "fragile"—breaking at the slightest touch. Xiaohongshu blogger Ruola deeply feels this. Insomnia, stomach bloating, and phlegm repeatedly troubled her. Because she could only sleep 1-2 hours a day and had no energy to handle work during the day, Ruola once chose to resign. After being in a sub-health state for a long time, Ruola decided to self-study traditional Chinese medicine to find ways to improve. She tried moxibustion, Chinese herbal foot soaks, Baduanjin, and also daily dietary therapy, making health soups, eating stomach-nourishing breakfasts, and drinking dampness-removing tea. After nearly half a year of effort, in May this year, Ruola posted, "I feel much more energetic." Ruola is not alone in being keen on improving health through Chinese-style health practices. On Xiaohongshu, the topic "Health and Wellness" has been viewed 15.8 billion times, and under the topic, discussions on how to use Chinese-style health ingredients to nourish the liver, remove dampness, and replenish blood are popular notes.
Purchasing Chinese-style health foods is also becoming a consumption trend among young people. The "2024 Medicine and Food Homology Trend Insight" shows that young people's traditional health needs are increasing, and the dietary therapy and nourishment crowd is becoming younger, with those under 35 accounting for 35.9%. Driven by demand, the Chinese-style health food industry is growing rapidly. The "Tmall Health and Nutrition Industry Consumption Scenario and Crowd Insight" shows that from 2020 to 2024, per capita consumption in the health and nutrition industry increased by 31%, transaction volume increased by 34%, and market size increased from over 26 billion yuan to over 47 billion yuan. Young people and Chinese-style health brands are engaging in a "two-way rush." In the view of Xiaohongshu blogger "Good Luck," autumn hydration should focus on "clear nourishment without dryness," and "red dates are sweet and moist, astragalus is mild," so drinking a bottle of red date and astragalus water is the correct way to maintain health in autumn. The product she drinks is the "Red Date and Astragalus Water" beverage under the emerging beverage brand Chaxiaokai. Launched in 2024, this product is positioned as "healthy light nourishment."
Image source: Chaxiaokai
Apart from Chaxiaokai, many brands have wanted consumers to "take care of health while drinking water" in recent years. For example, C'estbon launched "Qingrun" chrysanthemum tea in 2021; Genki Forest launched the "Zizai" series in 2023 to make the body "burden-free"; Haowangshui launched the "Care Series" in 2024, including barley water, longan water, and tangerine peel water... The sales scale of Chinese-style health drinks is also growing rapidly. According to a report from China Post Securities Food and Beverage Industry, in the first five months of 2024, sales of Chinese-style health drinks increased by 94.5% compared to the same period in 2023. In addition, from three meals a day, social leisure, to exercise and fat loss scenarios, there is no shortage of Chinese-style health foods being rapidly launched. For example, Zishi launched meal replacement fish maw porridge that is healthy, low-fat, and nourishing; Lao Jin Mo Fang launched the health snack black sesame pills with the slogan "nourish black with black, rejuvenate"; Qingshang launched plum soup, which is touted as a "fat burner."
2. Reasons for the popularity of Chinese-style health foods
Behind the popularity of Chinese-style health foods, more than one trend is being ridden. From a policy perspective, in August 2024, the National Health Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued an announcement, incorporating four substances—Rehmannia glutinosa, Ophiopogon japonicus, Asparagus cochinchinensis, and Citri Grandis Exocarpium—into the "medicine and food homology (both food and Chinese medicinal materials)" list. After four approvals, a total of 106 substances are now included in the medicine and food homology list. Traditional Chinese medicine is the "soul" ingredient of Chinese-style health foods and plays a key role. With policy support, the continuous expansion of the medicine and food homology catalog means that more traditional Chinese medicines can be applied to health foods. In addition, the rich supply of traditional Chinese medicine ingredients also provides more possibilities for innovation in Chinese-style health products.
From the perspective of consumer health awareness, during the pandemic, the combination of traditional Chinese and Western medicine in prevention and treatment brought the unique advantages of traditional Chinese medicine to social attention, deepening the concept of "treating disease before it occurs." Coupled with the existing "medicine and food homology" health mindset in Chinese society, as consumer health awareness increases, the consumption concept of preventing diseases and improving health through medicine and food homology products has gained attention.
From the perspective of the revival of national trends, young people's sense of identity with traditional culture is increasing. Medicine and food homology is an important part of traditional Chinese culture, which also prompts young people to pay more attention to and accept the health preservation methods of medicine and food homology.
Tailor-made
To become the best "health partner" for young people
Chinese-style health brands are reaching out to consumers, not solely by adding "medicine and food homology" ingredients. Whether they can achieve "customization" is a key indicator of how well brands meet health needs.
1. Seasonal health preservation: customizing Chinese-style health foods according to seasons
"Eat radish in winter and ginger in summer" is a widely spread health wisdom. After summer ends, ingredients that clear the lungs and moisten dryness begin to replace those that clear heat and reduce fire, becoming the new trend. Baidu Index shows that in September, search indices for mint, mung bean, and barley declined, while those for pear, red date, and tangerine peel rose significantly. In seasonal health preservation, some brands have begun to innovate products based on popular autumn health ingredients, highlighting the corresponding autumn health benefits. For example, Jizhan launched "Xinhui Tangerine Peel and Loquat Stewed Crisp Pear," with ingredients including 2017 Xinhui aged tangerine peel, Dangshan crisp pear, Tangqi loquat, basswood white fungus, red dates, and goji berries, emphasizing to consumers "full of colloids, refreshing and moist, relieving autumn and winter dryness and heat."
Image source: Jizhan
As Jizhan's supplier, Run Kang also pays attention to the development of seasonal health products. Run Kang's deputy general manager Guan Yuling just finished a trip to Dangshan, Anhui. The crisp pears produced in Dangshan are the first of China's three famous pears. Guan Yuling told FBIF that this autumn's health hit product is a whole bowl of instant crisp pear. She needs to communicate with pear farmers in advance about yield, complete raw material reserves, and prepare for the upcoming surge in orders. In Run Kang's view, seasonal health preservation is not only a consumer demand but a common demand of consumers, brand owners, raw material suppliers, and suppliers. For consumers, seasonal health preservation allows them to experience product diversity, maintain freshness, and achieve a sense of ritual in seasonal health, enhancing the consumption experience. For brand owners, seasonal health preservation can link Chinese traditional food culture and customs, endow health products with more cultural connotations, and increase product selling points. At the same time, holiday and seasonal topics naturally attract traffic and are more likely to stimulate consumer purchase desire, bringing greater advantages to brands on the marketing side. For raw material and suppliers, seasonal health foods mostly use seasonal ingredients, such as Suizhou peach gum, ink red roses, and Gutian white fungus. These seasonal ingredients are fresher in taste, have rich nutritional and therapeutic value, can provide better quality assurance for products, and are more abundant in supply. "In product innovation and development, we can follow the laws of health preservation and use existing knowledge to achieve higher success rates," Guan Yuling said.
2. Different for different people: customizing Chinese-style health foods for 9 constitution types
After half a year of health preservation, Ruola shared her experience on Xiaohongshu: "When I see any health recipe, I subconsciously think: What does this recipe improve? Is it suitable for my constitution? Is it right for my symptoms?" Many netizens in the comments shared their own experiences, saying they had also paid attention to health methods corresponding to different constitutions. "Even simple dietary supplements should consider individual constitution," "People with strong fire should eat less longan," "Health preservation is not about copying homework; you need to understand ingredient knowledge and theoretical background." Self-testing constitution is not new in the health circle. Yang deficiency, yin deficiency, qi deficiency, phlegm dampness... According to factors such as constitution characteristics, traditional Chinese medicine divides constitutions into nine types. These nine constitutions have also become an important basis for many brands to prescribe the right medicine and innovate ingredients.
Image source: Xiaohongshu @Zhiqing Health
For example, Shangchu launched ginseng and Poria pigeon soup, suitable for people with weak spleen and stomach and qi deficiency. Run Kang Pharmaceutical successively launched Sijie Yue Zhi Tang and Ginseng Silkworm Chrysalis Fish Maw Soup, respectively suitable for postpartum women needing recovery and people who are prone to fatigue from overtime and staying up late. "For the nine constitutions, prescribing the right medicine means that for consumers, they are no longer food but conditioning products," Guan Yuling believes that consumers seek to get rid of sub-health and adjust themselves to a balanced constitution, but a single formula cannot solve all consumers' health problems. In Guan Yuling's view, customizing health foods for the nine constitution groups can provide consumers with more suitable health improvement plans and more choices, which is very beneficial to consumers and helps increase their stickiness and repurchase, also benefiting brand owners.
3. Customizing Chinese-style health foods according to different channels
Apart from brands, channels also want to get a piece of the Chinese-style health pie. Around the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2023, Run Kang cooperated with Metro to launch coconut-flavored fish maw porridge. In 2024, Metro laid out the new Chinese-style herbal dessert sector, and the two parties cooperated again to launch instant red bean double-skin milk, mango pomelo sago, etc., which are sold in Metro's offline physical stores and mini-program official mall.
Image source: Run Kang
Run Kang also cooperated with channels such as Xiuzheng Xiuyangtang, Zhang Zhongjing Pharmacy, and other traditional Chinese medicine health centers, as well as catering channels like Guangzhou Restaurant, to launch self-heating medicinal soups, herbal desserts, and other products, interpreting the concept of medicine and food homology in a cross-border and innovative way to meet consumers' dietary health needs. Guan Yuling shared cooperation experience with channel merchants with FBIF. In her view, channel-customized products need to consider multiple factors. "Different channels have different positioning for products." Guan Yuling summarized the unique needs of traditional Chinese medicine health centers for health products: "Product formulas focus on the combination of medicine and food homologous ingredients, emphasizing the proportion of 'monarch, minister, assistant, guide,' and product development overall emphasizes efficacy." Supermarket channels have a relatively higher frequency of product launches, and on the basis of health benefits, they emphasize taste, cost-effectiveness, and innovation in packaging styles. Guan Yuling used Metro as an example to explain how the two parties cooperated to create channel-customized products. "We provide Metro with exclusive customized formulas and continuously adjust the R&D plan according to its requirements for product taste, form, specifications, etc." Guan Yuling said that shopping mall channels have more considerations in product launches and packaging design due to seasonal needs such as festival gifts, which requires production enterprises to have an efficient and complete supply chain and a rich and diverse selection of health categories. "Consumers naturally trust channel products, so product quality is the top priority for enterprises," Guan Yuling told FBIF that Run Kang's ultimate goal is to do a good job in products and services. It is reported that to make the coconut-flavored fish maw porridge recognized by consumers upon launch, Run Kang's marketing team conducted a six-month product blind test on Metro users before the product was launched.
Can the Chinese-style health track produce a 10-billion-yuan blockbuster product?
According to a report from Galaxy Securities Food and Beverage Industry, in 2023, China's sugar-free tea market reached over 20 billion yuan. In the same period, based on Nielsen data, Oriental Leaf has become a 10-billion-yuan blockbuster product in the sugar-free tea track. The logic of sugar-free tea market expansion is similar to that of Chinese-style health foods: both follow the trend of food health, the mainstream consumer group is young people under 35, and consumption scenarios are rich, covering energy replenishment, social leisure, personal image and body management. Due to high similarity, some health food categories even have substitutability for sugar-free tea. The "2024 China Chinese-style Health Drink Industry Development Trend Insight Report" released by Qianzhan Industry Research Institute explicitly mentioned that Chinese-style health drinks have a substitution effect on sugar-free beverages. It is expected that from 2024 to 2028, Chinese-style health drinks will gradually squeeze the market share of sugar-free beverages, and by 2028, they will replace more than 30% of the market share of sugar-free beverages, with the market size exceeding 10 billion yuan.
So, can the Chinese-style health food track grow a 10-billion-yuan blockbuster product like the sugar-free tea track? From sales data, Genki Forest's Zizai Shui may be one of the seed players. In February 2023, Genki Forest launched Zizai Shui, which broke 100 million yuan in sales within four months, becoming the fastest product to reach 100 million yuan in sales for Genki Forest. According to LatePost, in 2024, Zizai Shui's sales are expected to exceed 1 billion yuan.
Image source: Genki Forest
Currently, Zizai Shui has been on the market for less than two years and is still in the rapid distribution stage. Brands mostly focus on covering convenience stores and smart vending cabinets in first-tier cities, while second-tier and below cities are not fully covered. Internal data from Genki Forest shows that the consumer overlap between Zizai Shui and sugar-free tea reaches 90%. Based on the high consumer overlap, compared with the leading sugar-free tea brand Oriental Leaf, which has been on the market for 13 years and has already penetrated county-level retail channels, Zizai Shui's growth space in the national market is worth looking forward to.
In the Chinese-style health food track, other categories and brands are also worth paying attention to. For example, the fish maw new nourishment category has a compound annual growth rate of 68.98% from 2020 to 2025, and is expected to grow to 12.4 billion yuan by 2025. Among them, the leading brand Guanzhan has ranked first in national fish maw sales for four consecutive years from 2020 to 2023. In 2023, Guanzhan's annual sales on the Douyin platform alone exceeded 100 million yuan, and B-end sales reached several hundred million yuan. The bird's nest category market size is expected to grow from 43 billion yuan in 2022 to 92.1 billion yuan in 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of 16.5%. Among them, the leading instant bird's nest brand Yan Zhi Wu achieved revenue of over 1 billion yuan in the first half of 2024, a year-on-year increase of 11.36%.
"It is highly likely that a 10-billion-yuan blockbuster product will emerge in the Chinese-style health food track," Guan Yuling told FBIF. In the past two years, as a supplier enterprise, Run Kang has clearly felt the market increment of Chinese-style health foods and the high growth of some brands. The large number of downstream orders has also prompted Run Kang Pharmaceutical to expand capacity every six months to meet brand OEM needs. From 2021 to 2023, Run Kang's revenue achieved doubling growth for three consecutive years. "Sometimes our growth is more than double," Guan Yuling said.
References: [1] Data from COFCO [2] Data from Zhongyan Net [3] Data from Qianzhan Industry Research Institute [4] Yao Lan, "Genki Forest Has a Third Blockbuster Product," 2024.8, LatePost [5] Data from Frost & Sullivan