2 events, 2 GourmetPro experts... and a whole lotta insights

At last week’s Growth Asia Summit 2025 and SIGEP Asia 2025, GourmetPro experts in Singapore were immersed in the trends shaping the future of food and beverage in Asia. While Dr. Gan Heng Hui spoke on the urgent need to address women’s health, particularly perimenopause, through functional foods, Kelvin Ng explored what’s cooking and brewing in the food service space.

Growth Asia Summit 2025: Addressing perimenopause with functional foods

Heng Hui delivered a presentation on a rapidly growing area of interest in the F&B industry – women’s health. While menopause has started to gain traction in product innovation and consumer conversations, perimenopause remains under-addressed, despite being the longer, often more disruptive transition phase leading up to menopause. Heng Hui’s session highlighted why this stage deserves attention, and how functional foods can help manage it effectively.

In her talk “Navigating Perimenopause: Functional Foods as a Natural Solution,” Heng Hui shed light on this critical, yet often misunderstood, life stage that affects millions of women globally. Perimenopause can last anywhere from 2 to 10 years before menopause, and it brings a host of physical and emotional changes driven by fluctuating hormone levels. Symptoms can range from fatigue and brain fog to bone loss and mood swings.

She built a compelling case for the use of functional foods to manage the symptoms of perimenopause, highlighting how 78% of women prefer natural solutions to hormone replacement therapy. This is a massive area of opportunity to create functional food products  that go beyond basic nutrition to deliver targeted health benefits.

Drawing from her own extensive expertise in applied nutrition and food process optimization, Heng Hui outlined how functional ingredients like phytoestrogens, L-theanine, omega-3s, magnesium, and high-quality protein can play a powerful role in helping women manage symptoms, maintain energy, support heart and bone health, and improve quality of life.

Women today are embracing a proactive approach to their health and wellbeing, with 77% in APAC adopting a long-term view that spans all life stages – from adolescence to post-menopause. Whether prioritizing skin, gut or immune health, or managing weight and hormone balance, they are taking charge of their wellness journey through nutrition, supplements, and lifestyle changes. As the demand for women's health solutions grows, functional foods are gaining momentum for their ability to deliver benefits beyond basic nutrition. 

However, a significant gap remains in the availability of solutions that cater to the unique health needs of women. This gap presents an exciting opportunity for brands to capitalize on the growing interest in functional foods. By leveraging-backed ingredients, manufacturers can create products that empower women to manage perimenopause and its symptoms with confidence, while meeting their expectations for effective, natural health solutions.

Three trends from SIGEP Asia 2025

Kelvin Ng was on the floor last week at SIGEP Asia 2025 and shared with us what caught his eye. All these photos are from Kelvin.

1. Coffee and chocolate take centre stage

One of the main events at SIGEP Asia was the Singapore National Coffee Championships, with the winner going on to represent Singapore in the World Barista Championship later in the year.

CheerfulGoat’s Pocket Coffee to-go pods contain freeze dried instant coffee that is soluble in both hot and cold water. While this may not exactly be the most sustainable format, CheerfulGoat does give you free refills if you take back the pods, and they have a café where the used pods can be returned.  

In terms of chocolate, this year’s show leaned into bean-to-bar excellence and global craft stories, with a particularly strong showing from Asian players. Unexpected places of origin for chocolate from the region were the highlight.

Khom Chocolatier House, a craft chocolate café in Thailand, specializes in handcrafted desserts and drinks made from Thai single-origin chocolate.   

Chef-artist Janice Wong’s single-origin chocolate bars using cacao beans grown in Singapore were featured at the event. This artisanal bean-to-bar range is the fruit of her efforts of planting 1,000 cacao trees across the country.

She also created a 9-metre chocolate wall for the show in collaboration with Valrhona Asia Pacific. 

Ao Cacao brought a touch of Pacific terroir, with chocolate made with ethically sourced ingredients from across Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific.

All of these products just go to show how Asia’s presence in the chocolate conversation is only getting stronger. 

Check out our deep-dive into emerging chocolate growing regions that could be one of the solutions to the world’s cocoa woes.

2. Functional magic: Tiger milk mushroom

Functional food in Asia is regarded quite highly and there are always intriguing new ingredients on display in F&B events in the region. One such ingredient currently making waves in functional food and neutraceutical circles is Tiger Milk Mushroom, a medicinal mushroom traditionally used in Southeast Asia for its purported antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory properties.

The ingredient was prominently displayed with a price tag reflecting its value as a rare, health-forward ingredient.

3. Alcohol-free drinks go strong 

Zero-alcohol products are clearly bubbling up, as the category matures from trend to mainstay. French brand Sober Spirits was at the event showcasing their range of alcohol-free alternatives as well as their use in mocktails.

🔊 See you in September! 🔊

About Us: GourmetPro is a global network of elite food and beverage industry talents. We provide fractional hiring solutions, allowing international managing directors to scale and transform their local resources and teams with high flexibility and expertise in more than 30 countries. Explore our services.

Made with ❤️ by GourmetPro - your network of Food & Beverage experts, on demand.

💖 And if you think someone you know might be interested in this edition of Market Shake, feel free to simply forward this email or click the button below. 💖

👉 P.S.: GourmetPro is also on LinkedIn!