By NoCamels Staff
Health and wellness-conscious consumers are fueling the functional gummy nutraceutical market, as part of an overall demand for new and more exclusive wellness products. Market reports show that demand for gummies, in particular, are on the rise among adults and children alike because these colorful supplements come in fun shapes and sizes and are easy on the palate, as well.
One of the companies supplying gummies to the global wellness domain is TopGum, an Israeli manufacturer with a catalog of nutraceutical-enriched gummies constantly being updated with new flavors to meet demand of the growing market.
TopGum has vast knowledge in how to design palatable gummies. In 2004, they started in confectionery. Like other Israeli confectioners aligning their products with Jewish dietary laws, the companies making jelly candies or gummies develop recipes that do not contain animal-based gelatin or collagen. By default, these kosher gummies are vegan-friendly, halal certified and healthier, too.
While TopGum’s gummy candy production was successful, five years ago, the company chose to join the nutraceutical market, where they felt they could make a bigger impact.
For starters, they had taste on their side.
“We know how to make tasty gummies,” Menahem Alexander, Marketing Director at TopGum tells NoCamels, “So, when we decided to [switch from confectionery to nutraceuticals], we started with a tasty base. This is why our company slogan is, ‘the proof is in the taste’, because we start with the best taste that we can offer and from there make the gummies as healthy as possible.”
On the one hand, gummies are an important vitamin delivery system. On the other hand, gummies are often very high in sugar.
“In general, the gummies you can find in the market are sugar based and then add active ingredients,” says Alexander. “At TopGum, we have a patent our premium gummies called Gummiceuticals, which are based on prebiotic fiber vegan, are sugar-free or no-added sugar, and fully customizable in terms of formulation, matrix, flavor, shape and color.”
These Gummiceutical dietary prebiotic fiber nutraceutical gummies, which use no added sugars, meet the standards to be labeled as “sugar free” in the US.
Less sugar, still tasty
TopGum’s expertise at cutting back on sugar in its gummies makes sense. It is something Israeli food-tech companies have become known for — innovative techniques to cut back on sugar in different areas of the nutraceutical and new foods arenas.
Another Israeli company in the gummies space is Capsoil. Like TopGum, it too develops innovative functional gummies that are formulated to keep undesirable ingredients, such as sugar, out of the makeup.
Similarly, DouxMatok, a food-tech company and the developer of the Incredo Sugar sugar reduction solution, has a partnership with Better Nutritionals, an R&D leader in nutritional supplements in the gummy category, on sugar-reduced, pectin-based gummies.
There’s also Better Juice, the Israeli startup using technology to reduce the sugar content in fruit juices. They recently partnered with global company Ingredion to penetrate the North American market with their reduced sugar juices.
And Ambrosia Bio, which turns common sugars into allulose, partnered last year with Ginkgo Bioworks, one of America’s biggest biotech companies, to develop low-calorie sugar for healthier food production.
The gummies come in many different shapes with the most common shapes being bears and gumdrops, with a smooth texture that is easy to consume. Alexander emphasizes that taste is very important – and TopGum keeps its gummies tasting fruity.
The company offers two product options: companies can select already made gummies from the catalog, or customize the shape, color, flavor and texture of gummies in a longer manufacturing process that can take up to six months to deliver.
One of these pre-made gummies is the Gummiccino, coffee flavored gummies shaped like espresso pods and launched in early 2023. In Q4 of last year, TopGum introduced their latest gummy, the Multimineral Cube. Part of their Gummiceuticals line, those gummies come in three formulas: calcium and magnesium, full-spectrum, and high-dose calcium.
“With our proprietary micro-encapsulation TopCaps technology, we offer the highest dosage of active ingredient per gummy and offer new gummies using very challenging ingredients,” says Alexander.
In August 2022, TopGum became a USDA-certified organic manufacturer of gummies.
“Receiving formal organic certification entails a lengthy and complex process and marks an important milestone for us,” Doron Delouya, VP of Product at TopGum, said at the time.
Most of the gummies rolling out of the Israeli manufacturing plant, however, are branded under different names. TopGum is a white label company that sells to distributors and manufacturers in South America, North America, Europe, Australia and beyond.
While there are many gummies manufacturers worldwide, Alexander has no qualms about saying that TopGum’s gummies have “the quality of our gummies is one of the best,” he says, referring to TopGum’s sugar-free, pectin-based formulation and proprietary science-backed preparation process.
Indeed, TopGum has won accolades from industry experts in the nutraceutical sector. Last year, the company won second place in the Best Tasting Functional Food competition at the international Vitafoods Europe nutraceutical trade show. In 2022, the company took home first place for Best Functional Food of their high-dosage Vitamin C gummies at the same event.
In October, TopGum launched its new line of high-dose multimineral fiber-based and sugar-free Gummiceuticals at the SupplySide West nutraceutical event in Las Vegas. Natural Products Insider tapped the company’s gummies as one of the top 12 best products at the trade show.
But perhaps even more touching than that honor was the support and encouragement given to company representatives at the event that was taking place just two weeks after war broke out between Israel and Hamas. Alexander tells NoCamels that TopGum had shut down its manufacturing plant when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, noting that the company’s factory is in the southern city of Sderot, one of the main points to have been attacked. Five days after war broke out, the factory opened its doors in a mark of resilience. And two weeks into the war, the company representatives went to Las Vegas with their new product.
“The show must go on,” Alexander says. “We must continue.”
TopGum has an existing production plant in Sderot, about an 1.5 hours south of Tel Aviv. The company is also building a $30 million second production plant to meet rising demand for its products.
