Unilever Bets Big on Gummies as Next Frontier in Wellness
The company’s billion-plus-dollar Grüns acquisition comes as consumers shun packaged food and swoon over supplements.
Packages of Grüns gummies on display at a marketing event in New York.
Photographer: Jared Siskin/Getty ImagesWellness gurus, Make America Healthy Again influencers and no shortage of startups are urging us to eat healthier. Sure, one could follow Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s revised food pyramid, one purported guide to healthier eating, but there’s an even easier fix these groups are also pushing: supplements. Swallow a capsule, mix a powder in some water or pop a nutrient-packed candy.
The fast growing US supplement market was valued at $69 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $87 billion by 2028, according to an industry report from Nutrition Business Journal. That growth is powered by an increased interest in wellness that spans ages and specific health concerns, whether it’s cognition and mood, metabolism or menopause, as one financial-services company report outlined. GLP-1s are hurting the packaged-food industry, but they’re boosting supplement sales as users look to fill nutrient needs such as protein and fiber. Aging consumers are the most frequent supplement users, but millennials and members of Generation Z are all over the category as well, according to one investment bank report. Consumers can buy their supplements pretty much anywhere: at supermarkets, health stores, on Amazon and TikTok too. Almost 80% of TikTok Shop’s US sales in 2025 were health and beauty related, according to a Capital One Financial Corp. report. Gummies are now the most popular format.