IS IT FINALLY HERE?

The Great One learned his most important lesson from his father, who taught him to anticipate where the puck was going rather chase after it. This approach applies to business just as much as hockey. In the ever-evolving world of health and wellness having a pulse on what is just around the corner is important for all market participants, from business leaders to investors to consumers. The trick is weeding out what will be a lasting change from the latest fad.

Putting aside pharmaceuticals, the health and wellness category is a very broad spectrum of goods and services that improve people’s lives physically, mentally and for many spiritually. For many decades the effectiveness of these offerings was based on one’s own experience with limited supporting data. Unlike the pharmaceutical industry, the data to support wellness claims in many cases is less rigorous. For example, the FDA “food pyramid” provides general guidance on healthy eating, various studies have addressed the impact of stress and other studies have done deep dives into the benefits on exercise. Collectively this work has helped inform consumers but until now it has often lacked depth and specificity. In 2026 and beyond, we believe data-backed, science-driven products and services will lead developments in health and wellness. For many decades computers and data sets have been a factor in developing health and wellness products but the recent advances in AI will greatly accelerate these developments across the spectrum.

For many years the components of integrative solutions to health and wellness have been developing. Consider the following categories; better-for-you foods and beverages, functional foods and beverages, clinically backed nutritional supplements, functional medicine, and wearable tracking devices. For the most part these operate in their own unique silos. Collectively when properly integrated they could be the key to optimal health. Given the rapid advances in AI technology and the proliferation of personal health data from wearables and cell phones, it’s

quite possible that we are at or very close to an inflection point where these elements integrate into a holistic personalized, science and data backed wellness regime.

WHAT TO WATCH

Below are areas of interest that are worth watching. While it is nearly impossible to predict what offerings will last and which businesses will become the next generation wellness leaders, collectively they are indicative of what’s to come. In one way or another these solutions are seeking to address the fundamental human desire to live longer, healthier and more satisfying lives.

Healthy Aging goes Mainstream
For aging Boomers and Gen-X, it’s about getting both quality and quantity from a life span.

• Longevity as Medicine: Evidence-based therapies like peptides and exosomes are moving from niche biohacking into physician-supervised protocols.
• Regenerative Aesthetics: Products like biostimulators and polynucleotides that trigger the body’s own collagen production rather than just “filling” wrinkles.
• Geroscience Startups: Investment in companies focused on mitochondrial health and cellular repair to prevent age-related decline.

Healthy Aging Players to Watch:

• Elysium Health
• NOVOS
• Renuvia

True Personalization via ‘Agentic’ Data
The pieces are coming into place where AI doesn’t just track data but acts as an autonomous health coach and information source for personalized solutions.

• AI-Integrated Wearables: Devices like Apple Watch, smart rings and cell phones now use advanced AI to provide proactive, tailored recommendations rather than just raw metrics.
• At-Home Diagnostics: Mainstream adoption of membership-based health models that bundle frequent blood panels, microbiome testing, and continuous glucose monitors.
• Bio-Harmony Nutrition: Diets evolving into bespoke supplement and meal plans based on real-time biomarkers and genetic insights.

AI Personalized Players to Watch:

• Myoform
• Inside Tracker
• Bioniq Health

Specialized Categories Come to the Forefront
Currently fragmented,specialized, high-growth markets that address underserved constituencies are becoming more mainstream.

• Next Generation Probiotics and Gut Health: Advances in microbiome research and multistrain probiotics emerge to provide new solutions.
• The Menopause Opportunity: A surge in telehealth platforms providing customized hormone replacement therapy and non-hormonal solutions for menopause.
• The GLP-1 Ecosystem: The transition of weight-loss drugs from “quick fixes” into structured, long-term programs that include strength training and nutrition to maintain muscle mass.
• Somatic and Nervous System Health: Mainstream use of cold plunges, red light therapy, and somatic exercises to treat stress as a physiological rather than just a mental state.

Category Specialists to Watch:

• Menoveda
• Pura Collagen
• Pendulum Therapeutics

The Great Unplugging
Like the surge in vinyl records, as technology becomes pervasive, a countermovement toward intentional rest and disconnection is emerging.

• Sleep Tourism: Travel retreats designed entirely around circadian reset and sleep restoration.
• Social Health & Community: A shift back to community and in-person, formal and informal wellness groups and clubs (i.e., walking clubs, sauna socials) as a remedy for digitally enabled loneliness.
• Digital Minimalism: Demand for “analog” wellness, such as phone-free retreats and simplified, 3-step skincare routines.

“Analog Wellness” Players of Note:

• RAKxa Integrative Wellness
• Lanserhof Lans
• Joali Being