All about Nutrition Industry aspects, wellness & job market

Sports nutrition is an application of nutrition knowledge in sports and exercise to help athletes enhance their performance, help in post-exercise recovery and maintain good health. Sports nutrition helps an active individual achieve their sports-specific or exercise-specific goals through proper nutrition. These sports-specific goals have different nutritional requirements and regimes than others. Designing a practical diet plan for individuals to supply the right type of nutrients in the required amount to help them improve the performance as well as help their body to repair and be healthy. Different stages of training and competition require nutritional plans like before competition plan, recovery period plan offseason plans etc.

Sports nutritionists help athletes and fitness enthusiasts understand how the food they eat improves their health and optimises their on-field performance. They work with individual clients to assess and analyse their nutrient intake, lifestyle to create a nutrition plan that will increase their endurance as well as help them recover as quickly as possible.

Designing a practical diet plan for individuals to supply the right type of nutrients in the required amount to help them improve the performance as well as help their body to repair and be healthy.

As people are now aiming more at having a healthy lifestyle and making conscious food choices; nutrition as an industry is growing faster. With a fast-growing wellness and health industry there is always a demand for a nutritionist to help create products like dietary supplements, fortified food products to help reduce deficiencies, sports enhancing supplements or ingredients.

The nutrition industry is divided into smaller parts depending upon the goal and need for nutrition. It includes sports nutrition, clinical nutrition, wellness nutrition as well as public health nutrition. Sports nutrition is one of the aspects of the nutrition industry where increasing demand for various protein supplements, energy bars among athletes is a major factor for the market growth of this industry. The other factors influencing this industry include urbanisation, advertisements of nutrition products and an increase in fitness and gym centre. Today the sports nutrition supplement is one of the largest market sectors.

Wellness is another part of the nutrition industry that includes personal care, beauty care, healthy eating for fitness, weight loss nutrition. Wellness nutrition also includes kids’ nutrition. Clinical nutrition focuses on balancing nutrients to keep patients healthy. This is the growing sector as there is an increase in the number of people suffering from various health conditions and diseases. Public health plays a role in combatting malnutrition and women's nutrition. Focuses on deficiencies nutrition in kids, girl child or adolescent girls, expecting mother in different regions.

This is the growing sector as there is an increase in the number of people suffering from various health conditions and diseases. Public health plays a role in combatting malnutrition and women's nutrition.

Indian nutrition industry comprises functional food, beverages and dietary supplements. Functional foods include fortified items like breakfast cereals, cereal flours or other flours fortified with specific nutrients, beverages like sports drinks, fortified fruit juices or water. The wellness sector includes various nutrition formulas like kids’ nutrition, geriatric nutrition, nutrition for critically ill patients. All these have specific nutrition formulated products to help them get healthy. This industry allows the companies to make client-oriented products with food and medicine under one roof. With India’s rich heritage, knowledge of herbs, food and its medicinal use, there is a wide scope of nutrition implementation in the formulation of new products for consumers.

About the author

Aradhana Sharma is a visiting faculty member at IISM, Mumbai. Besides this, she is Senior Sports Science Consultant at Department of Sports and Youth Welfare, MP; Adjoint Faculty at the Department. of Exercise and Sports Science, Manipal University; Senior Consultant at Naval Tata Hockey Academy, Odisha; and, Expert Trainer at OGQ Coaches Excellence Programme

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha