Eye & Liver Supplements: China's Fastest-Growing Health Niches

Executive Summary

Eye health and liver health are China's two fastest-growing supplement sub-segments in Q1 2024 — eye health +20.5% YoY and liver health +13.0% YoY, with social media discussion volumes surging +40.5% and +50.9% respectively. These are structural demand trends driven by screen fatigue among working adults and parents, a TCM-linked spring liver nourishment cycle, and format innovation that makes supplementation feel like a snack rather than medicine. Renhe's (仁和) CN¥ 29.9 blueberry lutein gummy achieved +501.6% YoY sales growth on Douyin (抖音) by targeting parents and children with a snack-format product. Swisse (斯维诗) defended its liver health leadership through a second-generation milk thistle formulation and multi-channel marketing. Brands that align product format, ingredient science, and platform strategy can capture outsized share of both segments.

Eye Health: Format Disruption Drives +20.5% Growth

China's online eye health supplements market reached CN¥ 12.4 billion GMV in Q1 2024, up +20.5% YoY — the second-fastest growing functional sub-category. Douyin (抖音) was the engine, posting +91.9% GMV expansion in eye health alone. The core demand driver is screen fatigue: working adults under sustained digital pressure and parents buying for school-age children represent two distinct but complementary demand pools that a single well-positioned product can address simultaneously.

Ingredients: Beta-Carotene Surges, Lutein and Blueberry Lead Volume

Beta-carotene posted the strongest ingredient-level growth at +95% YoY in Q1 2024, signaling early-stage consumer interest expanding beyond the established lutein-blueberry duopoly. Lutein ester grew +42% and blueberry extract +35%, sustained by Renhe and Nutrilite (诺特兰德) product launches. Astaxanthin was the only ingredient to decline (-5%), suggesting it has passed peak interest in the eye health context.

Beta-carotene leads ingredient growth at +95% YoY; lutein ester and blueberry sustain volume

Dosage Format: Gummies Win, Tablets Collapse

Gummy-format eye health products grew +89.7% YoY in Q1 2024, while tablets fell -36.9% and sachets collapsed -99.6%. This is the "snackification" trend in its most extreme form: consumers — particularly Millennials and Gen Z buying for themselves or their children — refuse products that feel like medicine. The format gap between a CN¥ 29.9 gummy bottle and a CN¥ 369 capsule is not just a price gap; it is a positioning, channel, and consumer archetype gap.

Gummies grow +89.7%; sachets collapse -99.6% — format disruption reshapes eye health

Brand Case Study: Renhe and the CN¥ 29.9 Gummy

Renhe's Blueberry Lutein Ester Gummy achieved +501.6% YoY sales growth and a +19.6 percentage point market share gain in Q1 2024 through three compounding advantages.

Pricing: at CN¥ 29.9 per bottle, Renhe positions itself dramatically cheaper than Swisse (CN¥ 369) and Youthit (CN¥ 169) — making eye health supplementation a repurchasable household routine rather than an occasional premium purchase.

Channel: distribution concentrates on Douyin, seeded via family and mother-and-baby KOLs whose audiences are parents making decisions for children. The fit between product, scenario (children's eye protection), and KOL domain is precise.

Format: fish-shaped gummies are intrinsically shareable as social content and palatable to children and parents alike. The format removes the compliance friction of capsules or tablets. Renhe entered as a pharmaceutical brand extending into supplements — it found the whitespace (mass-market, child-focused, snack-format, Douyin-native) and executed with discipline.

Liver Health: Spring Seasonality Drives +13.0% Growth

The online liver health supplements market reached CN¥ 17.8 billion GMV in Q1 2024, growing approximately +13.0% YoY. Social media discussion grew +40.6% YoY — the fastest of any supplement sub-category. The spring seasonal effect is a structural catalyst: in TCM frameworks, spring is the season of liver nourishment, and Chinese consumers have internalized this into purchasing behavior. Q1 encompasses the Qingming holiday period — a proven high-traffic moment for liver health content and product discovery.

Ingredients: Milk Thistle Dominates, Hovenia Dulcis Accelerates

Milk thistle (奶蓟草) dominates liver health, capturing 62.7% of ingredient-level social media discussion and anchoring the portfolios of Swisse and By-Health (汤臣倍健). Its +18% YoY growth demonstrates that category leadership does not constrain growth when total market demand is expanding. Hovenia dulcis posted the strongest growth at +25% YoY, driven by Beijing Tongrentang (北京同仁堂) blending TCM heritage with modern supplement positioning. Traditional TCM ingredients angelica (-5%) and astragalus (-8%) declined, reflecting a consumer shift toward internationally recognized, evidence-backed ingredients.

Hovenia dulcis leads growth at +25%; milk thistle dominates with 62.7% of discussion share

Social Media and Consumer Demographics

Liver health social media divides clearly: 56.9% of posts center on usage scenarios — late nights (39.1%), social drinking (32.5%), and overtime work (18.4%). Brands anchoring content in these culturally resonant life situations consistently out-perform brands leading with clinical ingredient claims. The liver health audience is 61.5% male, concentrated in the 31–35 and 50+ age brackets — the inverse of female-dominated supplement segments — and a valuable positioning opportunity for brands willing to develop male-specific communication strategies.

Brand Case Study: Swisse's Three-Channel Liver Health Strategy

Swisse demonstrates best-in-class category brand building in liver health through integrated product innovation, celebrity-driven social seeding, and offline experiential marketing in Q1 2024.

On product, Swisse upgraded its flagship milk thistle liver tablet to a second-generation formulation, adding choline and broccoli seed to enhance the "purify and liver-protect" positioning. This creates a credible reason-to-switch for existing users and a news hook for media and KOL content while renewing its communications platform without abandoning established milk thistle equity.

On social, Swisse concentrated investment on Weibo (微博) via celebrity endorsers Dilraba Dilmurat and Zhou Ye, and sponsored iQIYI variety show Riding the Wind 2024 (乘风2024) — aligning with its secondary target of women aged 20–35 concerned about "inner beauty" alongside functional liver protection.

On experiential, the offline "Swisse Full-Power Party" dramatized the late-night usage scenario directly: by staging a brand event in the most prevalent liver health context, Swisse generated organic social content and converted product benefit into a brand lifestyle association. The integration is what makes the strategy effective — each element reinforces the others.

Key Takeaways

• Eye health grew +20.5% YoY to CN¥ 12.4 billion GMV; Douyin alone posted +91.9% GMV expansion — structural demand driven by screen fatigue among working adults and parental concern for children's vision.
• Gummy format now dominates eye health: +89.7% YoY growth versus -36.9% for tablets. Brands still relying on tablets or sachets face accelerating structural decline.
• Renhe's CN¥ 29.9 blueberry lutein gummy achieved +501.6% YoY sales growth through mass pricing, Douyin distribution, and mother-and-baby KOL seeding — a replicable playbook for brands entering supplement sub-segments from adjacent categories.
• Liver health grew +13.0% YoY with +50.9% social media discussion growth; spring is a structural seasonal catalyst and the late-night scenario (39.1% of discussion) drives the majority of consumer discovery and purchase intent.
• Milk thistle holds 62.7% of liver health ingredient discussion; Hovenia dulcis (+25% YoY) offers the most accessible growth opportunity for brands seeking ingredient differentiation from Swisse and By-Health.

About the Data

This analysis draws on Moojing Market Intelligence (魔镜洞察) data tracking China's health supplements market in Q1 2024. Market data covers online retail platforms including Tmall (天猫), Taobao (淘宝), JD.com (京东), and Douyin (抖音). Social media data is sourced from Douyin, Xiaohongshu (RED), and Weibo. All figures are in Chinese Yuan (CN¥) and reflect online channels only.