The white powder descending on Aspen Mountain on Wednesday won’t be snow, but a finely-milled blend of pearl dust and crushed fish cartilage.
Beneath the mountain’s glittering peak, where ski lifts converge at Gondola Plaza, the upscale wellness brand Agent Nateur will offer weary winter sportsgoers a range of beverages spiked with “Holi (Mane),” a marine collagen powder that promises “flourishing hair, radiant skin, and resilient nails” when mixed with water. The label also sells topical skin and body care, but Holi (Mane) has become its best-seller, and a gateway to its larger range; at the pop-up, guests will be able to sip their collagen while sampling their oils and masks.
Agent Nateur’s founder, Jena Covello, estimates that supplements, which comprise a sliver of its collection, supply about 40 percent of sales. “We’re moving to liquids,” she said, pointing to a recently launched cherry-flavored Calm drink and liquid collagen and magnesium in the pipeline.
The brand’s embrace of health-oriented drinks mirrors a larger trend in the billion-dollar wellness industry: the steady rise of “functional beverages.” From beauty waters to fitness sodas, demand for beverages is flooding the wellness market. Black Swan Data, a social listening firm, has recorded surges in search traffic for “collagen drinks” and “anti-wrinkle beverages,” alongside interest in protein or hydration benefits. Danika Gloege, an analyst at Black Swan, attributes these trends to a variety of factors, from the widespread use of GLP-1 drugs to shifting sentiment on brands like Gatorade, which is increasingly seen as too sugary.
“Popular beverages like sports drinks and sodas are being replaced by these multi-functional beverages,” Gloege said.
They exist on the border between wellness and nutrition. “People want less food, lighter food, but also more nutrient-dense food,” said Chris Gayomali, an editor who writes the men’s health newsletter Heavies and also consults for the Office of Applied Strategy, a firm which has worked on food and beverage products. He notes the particular ascendence of sparkling wellness sodas, citing the success story of Celsius — the canned caffeinated beverage brand PepsiCo bought an 8.5 percent stake in 2022 for $550 million.
But wellness beverages are a tricky business. Gayomali referenced the recent backlash against AG1, the drinkable supplement from the company Athletic Greens, which was relentlessly promoted on YouTube and podcasts. Critics have slammed it as overpromising benefits and obscuring the presence of ingredients like stevia.
“There’s a lot of competition when it comes to these powders,” Gayomali added.
Liquid Assets
The surge of functional beverages is a global phenomenon. But like so many other aspects of the beauty industry, Asian countries are three steps ahead of their Western counterparts. Six packs of collagen-infused waters have long been available at most grocery and convenience stores in Japan, for instance, where they’re sold by brand names like Shiseido and DHC; drinkable beauty is one of the fastest growing markets in Asia-Pacific, according to a 2024 report from Mordor Intelligence, valued at $415.5 million
A majority of demand for these drinks coalesces around benefits to the skin and hair, according to a 2023 Euromonitor survey, though the growing global influence of the longevity industry indicates more and more shoppers will prioritise nutritional or performance claims.
Still, no single nation is as influential in the production and consumption of dietary supplements as the US, which is alone responsible for at least a fourth of the global trade, according to recent estimates from Euromonitor and PWC. The Covid-19 pandemic added fuel to the blaze, causing supplement demand to grow across Europe, the Middle East and in Latin America.
Danny Yeung, who founded the predictive healthcare company Prenetics in 2014, recently launched into consumer goods with IM8, a supplement label also co-founded by David Beckham. The Hong Kong-based label’s hero product is a sachet of berry-flavored powder called the Daily Ultimate Essentials.
IM8 positions itself as a pro athlete-quality performance supplement, blessed for everyday civilians to use; part of its marketing involves a deep bench of physician advisors and certification from NSF, the Michigan-based consumer goods watchdog. “David and I started talking early on about how cumbersome it is to travel with 10, 15 daily pills — he was saying, ‘Victoria makes me take this…’ and I said, ‘Is there a way that we can create something simplified, with 16 different types of supplements in one drink that tastes good?’” Yeung said. “We didn’t want to just come up with another greens powder.” (IM8 boasts 92 superfood ingredients to AG1’s 75.)
Other functional beverage startups are playing for a similar audience. AG1 detractors have found a home in Armra, which sells powdered bovine colostrom, or breast milk. There’s the UK-based Feisty, founded by a former womenswear designer at Louis Vuitton, with marketing claims that each of its canned sodas has as many calories from protein as a chicken breast. Or the magnesium-based drinkable supplement Magna, brought to the market by a co-founder of Everlane, which pairs its bold, colorful branding with testimonials from pro athletes.
Sceptics Tank
Many of the ingredients and nutrients that consumers seek come from plants (like Feisty’s pea protein) or minerals (like Magna’s magnesium). But as the ingredients pile up, it becomes harder to understand what, exactly, these powders are made of.
Despite their widespread use and availability, dietary supplements are not subject to pre-market regulatory approval in the United States. They fall under the guidance of the Food and Drug Administration, but particularly under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, which puts the onus to not mislead customers on brands and manufacturers themselves. Past FDA leaders have also criticised their agency’s regulation power, as the industry evolves much faster than efforts to govern it.
The appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the department of Health and Human Services bodes well for the supplement economy. The Harvard School of Public Health predicted that supplement regulation was “likely to loosen” under President Trump’s second administration; Kennedy has decried the FDA’s “aggressive suppression” of non-pharmaceutical medicines, and groups that represent the vitamin lobby in Washington unilaterally praised his recent confirmation.
Given the vast web of interlaced interests, supplement scepticism abounds, even at home in their biggest market. Organisations such as the American Medical Association, the Cleveland Clinic and Pew have all called for stricter regulation of dietary supplements, citing a need for more research to substantiate their benefit claims.
Jason Diamond, a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, is both a collagen proponent and sceptic. He recently augmented his private label skincare collection, Dr. Diamond’s Metacine, with a “microcollagen” serum that promises to firm and tone the skin. The squat vial costs $325, or about $10 per mL.
But the doctor casts doubt on the promises of potable collagen, among other functional beverages, be they powdered or canned. “Twelve years ago, there was some popular brand of collagen drink, and everybody was doing it, and then it just died down,” he said.
He continued, “I run with the biggest experts in the world, and I can tell you, other than green juice, I don’t know anyone who really understands health and wellness who uses these.”
His favourite beauty beverage, he said, is water.
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