The average sportswoman does not see herself as a professional athlete. Usually, women train to shape their bodies, to reduce stress, to feel fit or to maintain or lose bodyweight.
With the right sports nutrition, muscles can be built up during training, while in the ideal scenario fat burning and body performance can also be increased. It is therefore recommended that women who exercise a lot or who train for sports competition should adapt their diet accordingly. The most important issue: The respective sports diet is not just based on the type of sport but also takes age, gender and fitness level into consideration.
Men and women have different nutritional requirements. Taking a 25-year old man for example, it is usual that he is larger than a woman of the same age and yet while his body consists of 45% muscle her body is made up of 25-30% fat and almost the same amount of muscle. It therefore becomes clear that there are large differences in terms of a balanced diet.
According to a recent study on sports nutrition, it was found that there is a disproportional number of men in the age range between 16 and 39 who do strength training. Women prefer endurance training such as running or walking.1 Furthermore, women and men feel differently about sports nutrition and thus select different products. Both genders use sports nutrition products for increasing their performance but it is the female customer who wants natural products that are free from artificial additives. Added to that, women are also very focused on delicious taste and convenient packaging.2
A product that caters to both genders is not able to tap the full potential that would occur from products directed at women and men separately. Gender-specific marketing, sometimes also called gender marketing, offers great opportunities for sports nutrition products not only in terms of the product itself but also in terms of appeal on the supermarket shelf.
Sources:
1 Consumer Insights Sports Nutrition, 2014, Mafowerk
2 Consumer Insights Sports Nutrition, 2014, Mafowerk
“In the sports nutrition sector, we are currently seeing an increased demand for low fat and high protein products as well as for RTD formats,” explains Verena Claus, Product Manager at nutrineo, the health food division of the Uelzena Group. In particular women are increasingly looking for natural, "free-from" products that have been enriched with vitamins, minerals or other ingredients. "We have also noted an increasing demand for protein drinks with vegetable proteins such as rice or pea proteins. Female consumers pay attention to natural product solutions, for example water-soluble, low sugar shakes without artificial additives in small convenient sizes or as RTD products.”
The experts at nutrineo took these requirements into consideration when developing the innovation concept Lady Fitness ‘Support and Recovery’. The tasty ‘Support and Recovery Shake’ has in a perfect way been matched to female requirements. Enriched with a special vitamin and mineral complex, the protein based drink supports the muscle toning during training as well as muscle recovery after exercise. The fat-free shake is mixed with water; it is free from preservatives, sweetened with stevia and is thus an alternative for women who are conscious of their calorie intake.
Six decades of experience
As a full service provider, nutrineo supports companies that want to tap this rapidly growing market. “Companies aiming at launching private label products are welcome to discuss their projects with us," adds Verena Claus. “We develop ideas, test their feasibility, verify the possible use of health claims, take care of packaging issues and much more. Our service is based on the Uelzena Group’s six decades of experience as a supplier and innovative problem solution provider to the food and dairy industries.“
