Inside BENEO’s new pulse plant: pioneering sustainable protein from faba beans
Jayesh Vithalani, Sr. Business Director, Life Sciences, Lubrizol
As India’s nutraceutical market pivots from preventive wellness to performance-driven health outcomes, the pressure on ingredient science, delivery systems, and clinical validation is intensifying. Today’s consumers are not just seeking general health benefits, they are demanding targeted efficacy, improved bioavailability, clean-label assurance, and superior sensory experiences across formats. This shift is pushing companies to rethink how actives are formulated, delivered, and positioned within increasingly competitive and innovation-led segments such as active nutrition, functional foods, and nutricosmetics.
Against this backdrop, global ingredient players are investing heavily in advanced technologies like microencapsulation, controlled-release systems, and cross-format functionality to address long-standing challenges around stability, taste masking, and absorption. At the same time, the convergence of nutrition and lifestyle—spanning sports performance, cognitive health, and beauty-from-within—is opening up new avenues for differentiated, science-backed solutions in India.
In this interaction with NUFFOODS Spectrum, Jayesh Vithalani, Sr. Business Director, Life Sciences, Lubrizol, shares insights on how evolving consumer expectations are reshaping formulation strategies, the growing relevance of delivery innovations, and the company’s approach to building clinically substantiated, high-performance nutraceutical solutions tailored for the Indian market. Edited excerpts;
The nutraceutical category in India is rapidly moving from preventive to performance-led health solutions—how do you see this transition reshaping formulation science and ingredient expectations?
Customers as well as consumers are demanding performance-based evidence such as clinical trials. We already have a lot of clinical performance-based data for all our nutraceutical and botanical actives, and we continue to substantiate this. Our nutraceutical actives are manufactured to highest standards of consistency, purity and regulatory compliances thereby instilling confidence in all our stake holders.
Microencapsulation has become central to addressing challenges like metallic taste, poor absorption, gastric irritation, and ingredient instability—how does Lubrizol’s approach differentiate itself in terms of bioavailability and organoleptic stability?
Our microencapsulation techniques have been scientifically designed, ensuring enhanced bioavailability and absence of unwanted taste or gut irritation issues. The selection of mineral salts for our nutraceutical ingredients is also made based on scientific evidence.
How are technologies such as enhanced bioavailability and controlled-release systems redefining performance benchmarks in minerals and botanical actives?
While most of the nutraceutical market today is comprised of immediate release formulations, the trend of sustained release formulations that is prevalent in pharmaceuticals is also increasingly being sought for nutraceuticals. . We are closely working with our customers to provide solutions with the required benefits and mechanisms of action.
With increasing pressure for clean-label formulations, how does Lubrizol balance functionality, stability, and consumer-friendly ingredient decks?
All our nutraceutical formulations are produced using FSSAI / EFSA/ ANVISA/US FDA approved ingredients. The list of ingredients is also provided on the specifications, maintaining highest standards of transparency. Ingredients are carefully selected to ensure global regulatory compliance and consistent functionality and performance.
Lubrizol has expanded calcium delivery into functional foods such as yoghurts and milk powders—what technical breakthroughs have enabled this cross-format versatility?
Lipocal™ microcapsules are water-dispersible and bioavailable source of calcium that is stable and can be included in Nutraceutical supplements as well as foods such as milk products and yoghurts. In addition to our Mumbai lab catering to the IMEA region, we have other dedicated nutraceutical formulation laboratories in Europe/APAC/LATAM and USA. Cross-fertilization of formulation ideas, conducting formulation development and optimization trials and stability testing enable us to be ahead of the curve and deliver the desired attribute in a timely manner.
The positioning of Magshape™ microcapsules beyond traditional supplements into sports and active lifestyle products signals a shift toward performance nutrition—how is the active nutrition segment evolving in India?
As the active nutrition segment rapidly matures in India, we’re seeing a clear shift from gym/sports centric, protein only consumption to holistic performance nutrition that supports energy, recovery, sleep, and everyday wellness. Consumer profiles have broadened beyond athletes to include fitness conscious Millennials, GenZ, and older adults, driven by rising health awareness, urban lifestyles, and social media- led fitness culture.
Overall, India’s active nutrition space is becoming more performance oriented, lifestyle integrated, and benefit-led, making it an ideal environment for advanced minerals like Magshape that bridge traditional supplementation with sports, recovery, and sleep support applications.
With Newcaff™ microcapsules entering sustained-energy solutions with a clean taste profile, how important is taste masking and sensory optimisation in driving repeat consumption?
A cup of coffee, a typical source of caffeine, can be bitter-tasting, even though it contains only about 0.04 per cent or 400 PPM of caffeine. Lubrizol’s Newcaff™microcapsules are available as a highly concentrated source of caffeine at 65 per cent or 75 per cent concentration of microencapsulated caffeine.
Microencapsulation uses barrier materials to substantially reduce the bitter taste of caffeine, as well as facilitating sustained delivery of caffeine over a longer time period.
The expansion into nutricosmetics with Curcushine™ microcapsules reflects growing interest in beauty-from-within—how do you view the convergence of nutraceuticals and personal care in the Indian market?
The convergence of nutraceuticals and personal care in India reflects a shift toward holistic, preventive beauty solutions. Curcushine™ microcapsules tap into growing science that shows skin and hair health ar driven as much by internal nutrition as by topical care. Supported by India’s strong familiarity with botanicals and Ayurveda, nutricosmetics represent a natural evolution of the beauty market, blending science, tradition, and wellness to deliver long-term results rather than cosmetic quick fixes.
As consumers demand better taste, convenience, trust, and proven efficacy across gummies, soluble sticks, functional beverages, and on-the-go nutrition formats, what opportunities do you see emerging for next-generation delivery systems in India?
We see consumers increasingly asking for privately branded white-label products rather than plain actives. We have strategies in place to fulfil this customer demand and have strategically partnered with reputed nutraceutical CDMOs to offer marketable formulations in addition to our standard nutraceutical actives.
With the rapid expansion of India’s nutraceutical and functional foods market, how significant is this segment in Lubrizol India’s overall revenue mix, and what growth trajectory do you foresee over the next three to five years?
The nutraceutical and functional foods segments have emerged as one of the fastest- growing pillars of Lubrizol India’s portfolio. While it currently accounts for a modest but strategically vital share of our overall revenue, its contribution is steadily increasing year on year. With heightened consumer focus on preventive health, clean label products and clinically validated ingredients, we expect this category to continue delivering strong double-digit growth over the next three to five years.
Leveraging our science- driven capabilities of microcapsules in bioavailability enhancement, stability solutions and advanced delivery formats, we anticipate this segment becoming a significantly larger and more influential part of our India business. Additionally, our ‘local for local’ strategy is helping us deepen customer engagement, accelerate responsiveness and better serve the evolving needs of the Indian market.
Mansi Jamsudkar Padvekar