Even before German confectionery innovator Hans Riegel established the Haribo candy company and launched gelatin gummy bears in 1922, gelatin-based fruit chews, like wine gums and gumdrops, had been on the market in the United Kingdom since the early 1900s.
A brief history of gelatin gummy bears
Gelatin’s first big foray into mass-produced food in the United States was in New York where Jell-O jelly made its debut in 1897, about 50 years after powdered gelatin was first patented.
Gummy bears, sometimes known as jelly babies, gummy worms and fruit gums, are big business – the global gummies and jellies market is expected to be worth around $38 billion globally in 2024, according to analysts(1).
Vegetarian gummies, primarily made with pectin, have carved out a niche in the market, but gelatin’s superior mouthfeel, transparency and cost efficiency ensures its continued dominance. The fact that gelatin is a collagen-derived, clean-label, natural protein that requires no E number (a European food additive code) further highlights its benefits.
The rise of functional gummies
Today’s growth in the gummy bear category is not coming from the traditional gummy market but from functional gummies.
Functional gummies, which contain vitamins, minerals, fibers, probiotics, proteins, collagen, botanicals and other beneficial ingredients, are meeting growing consumer demand for convenient and accessible dietary supplements.
The global gummy supplement market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.96% between 2025 and 2032, increasing from 11.75 billion USD to 25.57 billion USD. According to analysts at Fortune Business Insights, the US is expected to account for the largest share of the gummy market (44%) in 2024.
A brief history of functional food and functional confectionery
The rise of functional gummies, and more broadly functional confectionery, can be traced back to the 1990s when food formulation advances allowed for the addition of nutrients to a wide range of foods under the umbrella of functional foods and functional beverages.
Some isolated examples of functional foods existed before the 1990s, think Kellogg’s Corn Flakes fortified with vitamins in the 1930s or Yakult probiotic drinking yogurt, which debuted in Japan in the 1950s. Even vitamin-fortified throat lozenges could be considered functional confectionery or medicinal food.
However, it was the convergence of formulation and nutrition science in the 1990s, coupled with growing public interest in health, wellness and disease prevention, that pushed functional foods into the mainstream.
Suddenly, every food group became a candidate for fortification, including dairy, bread, juice, bars, and yes, functional confectionery like chocolate and gummy bears.
Initially, many products failed or underperformed as consumers did not feel they received immediate or significant health benefits. Energy drinks were a stark exception.
Some consumers were turned off by the idea of “medicalizing” food or confused by ambiguous nutrition science, sensationalized media coverage and regulator-issued health claims – or a lack thereof.
Functional confectionery challenges
Functional confectionery makers had to convince consumers that an indulgent food could also be beneficial.
Very few functional confectionery success stories outside of sugar-reduced gum, chocolate and candy which directly appeal to those with weight management concerns. Shifting chocolate bars fortified with a plant sterol to improve blood circulation proved a much more difficult proposition.
Functional gummies have been much more successful because they have an inherent advantage – being sold through dietary supplement and pharmaceutical channels, rather than traditional food supply channels.
Consumers have been more willing to consume functional gummies as an alternative to pills, as a high number of adults and children report difficulty swallowing pills.
Functional gummies with gelatin
The functional gummies success story is strengthened by the arrival of new gelatin formulation technologies tailored for functional confectionery.
In the past, pectin, agar-agar or other hydrocolloids or blends were often preferred to gelatin due to fast gelling time required during production. Today, specialty-designed gelatins, such as Rousselot’s SiMoGel® are ideal for fast-setting processes common among dietary supplement and pharmaceutical API manufacturers.
Essentially, the starch molds typically used to make traditional gelatin gummy bears failed to meet the demands of the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries, where production lines change frequently and drastically, and absolute hygiene is required to meet established Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs).
Gelatin gummy mouthfeel wins
In response, Rousselot developed SiMoGel – a unique gelatin that enables starchless depositing into hyper-hygienic silicon molds, allowing functional gummy manufacturers to offer products with superior mouthfeel that only gelatin gummies can deliver.
Recent refinements include center-filled, soft gelatin ‘gummy caps’, a new delivery form invented by Rousselot, can be fortified with nutraceuticals or active pharmaceutical ingredients in higher concentrations addressing a long-standing challenge for producers.
This new gelatin also reduces gummy setting times to just 15 minutes – a batch time many nutraceutical and pharmaceutical manufacturers find more acceptable, compared to the previous 24-hour process.
- Fortune Business Insights - Gummy Supplements Market Size, Share and Industry Analysis, 2025-2032
Updated March 13, 2025.
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