My Most Unpopular Opinion About Where Wellness Is Going

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I'm calling it. The biggest format shift in wellness is already happening.

Investors Keep Calling Them Beverages. That’s the Mistake.

For a long time, wellness lived in cabinets.

Vitamin bottles lined up next to the sink. Protein tubs shoved into pantries. Greens powders, collagen scoops, electrolyte packets, magnesium capsules.

Wellness was something consumers had to remember to do.

But I think we’re about to watch one of the biggest format shifts in modern wellness happen in real time:

Vitamins turning into beverages.

Most investors still categorize beverages as their own bucket. Operationally difficult. Capital intensive. Margin pressure. Tough exits. Historically spotty M&A.

I understand the skepticism.

But I also think many investors are underwriting the category incorrectly.

Because consumers are no longer buying “drinks.”

They’re buying delivery systems.

And GLP-1s are about to accelerate this shift dramatically.

By 2030, WGV estimate’s nearly 30% of Americans will be on GLP-1s in some form. Whether people are taking them for obesity, longevity, metabolic health, or microdosing them recreationally almost becomes irrelevant to the broader consumer behavior shift.

People are eating less.

And if people are eating less, they’re likely consuming fewer nutrients too.

Which creates a very interesting paradox:

the GLP-1 era may actually increase the importance of supplementation.

More protein for muscle preservation.

More hydration support.

More electrolytes.

More micronutrients.

More digestive support.

More recovery.

But consumers do not want more pills.

They definitely do not want another dusty powder sitting next to a blender bottle they already regret buying.

The modern wellness consumer wants outcomes with less friction.

That’s where beverages enter the story.

Creatine drinks.

Protein waters.

Focus drinks.

Calming beverages.

Electrolytes that feel more like lifestyle than medicine.

The winners are no longer just beverages.

They’re liquid wellness rituals with retail velocity.

And increasingly, they’re shelf-stable.

That matters.

Because I think over the next few years, we’ll watch the VMS aisle start to blur into beverage. Then the snack aisle too.

The future “snack” for many consumers may not be food at all.

It may be a protein-forward beverage.

An electrolyte drink.

A fiber drink.

A focus drink.

A supplement disguised as something enjoyable.

Especially for GLP-1 consumers trying to maximize nutrient intake in smaller windows of consumption.

And there’s another layer investors underestimate entirely:

The can itself became media.

A pill bottle hidden in someone’s cabinet has zero social visibility.

A beautifully branded beverage traveling through airports, offices, workout studios, and TikTok feeds becomes identity signaling.

People carry these products publicly.

Which means the packaging itself becomes distribution.

That changes customer acquisition dynamics in a very meaningful way.

For years, investors separated supplements from beverages.

I think that framework is starting to break.

Because increasingly, consumers aren’t buying drinks.

They’re buying the fastest, easiest, most socially acceptable way to participate in wellness.

Part II: The Part That Actually Changes How You Think (And Where You Put Your Money)

You just read the setup.

The behavioral shift is bigger than beverages, and most investors are only seeing the surface layer.

Behind the paywall, I break down:

What I’m looking for in the next generation of wellness brands

The single word I think defines the next decade of wellness investing (it’s not what you’d guess)

The specific prediction I’m willing to make about the VMS aisle by 2030

I also explain why hemp and THC beverages exploding right now has almost nothing to do with alcohol replacement…and everything to do with where modern consumer behavior is actually heading.

This is the part worth paying for.

The most important thing happening in wellness right now might not be ingredients.

It might be compliance.

Because the reality is: most consumers are not good at maintaining complicated routines.

They want wellness.

They just don’t want wellness to feel like homework.

And the brands winning right now increasingly understand something subtle but important:

Consumer behavior matters more than perfect formulation.

Even the best supplement in the world fails if people forget to take it.

That’s part of why brands like Grüns exploded.

Yes, the formulation matters.

But so does the format.

A gummy feels easier.

More enjoyable.

More portable.

You throw it in your purse.

You travel with it.

You take it between meetings.

At the airport.

After Pilates.

It integrates into life naturally.

That matters more than most people realize.

And beverages are solving for the exact same thing, just at even larger scale.

No shaker bottle.

No powder explosion in your kitchen.

No capsule organizer.

No remembering a twelve-step protocol before bed.

Just:

open, drink, continue day.

Which is why I think the resurgence of hemp and THC beverages is one of the most important case studies in wellness right now.

Not weed broadly.

Not dispensaries.

Not pre-rolls.

Not even cannabis culture in the way people traditionally think about it.

The breakout is the drink.

And that distinction matters.

Because while broader cannabis has had a messy few years, hemp beverages are suddenly everywhere. Even major retail conversations, including Target.

Why?

Yes, consumers are drinking less alcohol.

But I actually think the story is much bigger than alcohol replacement.

Hemp beverages are succeeding because they perfectly match where modern consumer behavior is heading: frictionless participation.

A THC beverage feels casual in a way other formats don’t.

Not overly clinical.

Not overly counterculture.

Not “druggy.”

Not wellness homework.

It fits naturally into modern life.

And importantly, it fits aesthetically into modern identity.

The can becomes the signal.

Functional enough to feel intentional.

Cool enough to feel social.

Easy enough to become habitual.

And once you start looking at hemp beverages through that lens, you realize they’re following the exact same behavioral playbook as the broader functional beverage explosion.

The format is becoming just as important as the ingredient itself.

All the best,

Rachel & WGV Team