The 2026 China International Food Additives and Ingredients Exhibition (FIC) is set to open. Forum topics centered on "nutrient innovation", "biobased liposome construction", "multi-effect delivery" and "precision nutrition" have sent a clear signal: the functional food industry is shifting from a "raw material competition" to an "efficiency of delivery competition". Over the past decade, the discovery of new active ingredients, the accumulation of efficacy research data, and the upgrading of conceptual marketing have all been effective drivers of growth in the functional food industry. Today, however, against a market backdrop of high raw material homogenization and saturated efficacy promotion, consumers are paying increasing attention to "absorption rate" and "utilization efficiency". This indicates a quiet shift in the industry's development direction: what determines a product's competitiveness is no longer just "what ingredients are added", but more importantly, solving the problem of "how they are absorbed".

I. The Industry Enters the "Era of Delivery Technology"

The development of functional foods can be divided into three phases: The first phase is the "era of raw material discovery", driven by new ingredients as the core; The second phase is the "era of efficacy verification", with efficacy data as the core of marketing; The third phase is the "era of delivery efficiency, which takes improving delivery efficiency as the primary approach and represents the current development direction. In recent years, within the functional food and nutritional health industry, "liposomes" have evolved from a relatively niche delivery concept into a high-frequency keyword in industrial R&D. Whether in the fields of energy metabolism, anti-aging, or cardiovascular and cellular health maintenance, the core value of liposome technology has always revolved around one question: how to truly enhance the in-vivo utilization efficiency of active ingredients without altering their inherent properties. As the application of liposomes becomes more widespread, the focus of industry discussions has gradually shifted from the initial question of "whether to make liposomes" to "how liposomes are designed". The frequent appearance of keywords such as "functional regulation", "multi-effect delivery" and "precision nutrition" in recent major exhibitions like FIC and other mainstream media forum topics is a typical hallmark of this phase.

Precision Nutrition Market Growth Index Source: Compiled from industry reports by Grand View Research, MarketsandMarkets, Nutrition Business Journal (NBJ)

II. Why Has Liposome Technology Become the Focal Point?

From a research and development perspective, conventional liposomes mainly address the absorption and stability issues of single active ingredients. This dosage form has indeed significantly improved the application limitations of fat-soluble components (e.g., Coenzyme Q10, Vitamin D, etc.). However, in the current industry trend, its limitations have gradually emerged: - Single-component delivery struggles to support compound functional formulations; - Different active ingredients cannot be delivered synchronously to exert synergistic effects; - There are growing requirements for the stability and compatibility of complex systems; - It is difficult to match the product positioning of "system-level health" (e.g., mitochondrial support, cellular energy management). When product R&D upgrades from "supplementing a single ingredient" to "supporting the health of a specific physiological system", liposome technology itself needs to undergo a technical upgrade.

III. Driving Forces Behind Dosage Form Innovation

The essence of dosage form innovation is the upgrading of delivery efficiency. Traditional powders and tablets emphasize "content", while delivery systems place greater emphasis on "delivery efficiency". As consumers begin to care about whether a product's absorption rate is improved, whether its delivery mechanism is clear, and the principle of synergistic effects, the industry is required to conduct more in-depth research on delivery technology. Clearly, the awakening of consumer awareness and evolving industry trends are the intrinsic drivers of dosage form innovation.

CAGR Comparison by Dosage Form *Source: MarketsandMarkets; Business Research Insights; Nutrition Business Journal (NBJ)

IV. Future Trend: Compound Delivery

If the liposomal encapsulation of single active ingredients is the first step, the core question for the next phase is: how to achieve synergistic delivery of multiple active ingredients? In popular trackssuch as anti-aging, energy support and cognitive health, no single ingredient can solve the problems alone. It is expected that in the next three years, the upgrading direction of functional foods will focus on compound synergy, multi-target support and systematic intervention, with delivery technology serving as the underlying foundation for this upgrade.NF Co-Loading Liposome® is not a simple mixing of multiple active ingredients into the same system. Its core lies in enabling hydrophilic and hydrophobic components to achieve stable coexistence, synergistic delivery and synchronous release, enhanced in-vivo absorption, and synergistic effects in a single delivery system through dosage form design. From a technical perspective, co-loaded liposomes solve three key problems: 1. Synchronous delivery and release of multiple ingredients to enhance synergistic effects; 2. Improved stability to reduce the degradation of active ingredients in the gastrointestinal environment; 3. Enhanced bioavailability of products. This means that liposomes are no longer just a "carrier" for single ingredients, but an integral part of formulation design. At present, the co-loaded liposome platform of Natural Field has innovatively developed curcumin co-loaded liposomes, Coenzyme Q10 co-loaded liposomes, creatine monohydrate co-loaded liposomes, and many other formulations.

The technical topics of FIC 2026 may be just a microcosm, but one thing is certain: the functional food industry is entering a new technological cycle. Industry trends, from raw material innovation to dosage form innovation and from efficacy promotion to absorption efficiency verification, all indicate that delivery technology is no longer a value-added feature, but is becoming a core competitive variable.

For more precise and efficient delivery technologies, please download the white paper on co loaded liposomes. Download link:Product Documents - Natural Field Co., Ltd.