The wellness industry is still booming, is it time we questioned why?

Former reality-show star and online influencer Art Green smiles at the camera before lowering his chiselled abdomen into a chest freezer he’s converted into an at-home ice bath.

His wife, Matilda, demonstrates a smoothie for her 160,000 Instagram followers, made from “all natural” marine collagen powder, almond butter, protein powder and chia seeds.

Local nutraceutical company SRW Laboratories offers its DNAage saliva kit to “test your biological age”, alongside supplements to help you shave a few years off (starting price: $89 a month). Studio Red Wellness offers yoga in its architect-designed Auckland premises as well as a bespoke range of teas and organic infusions starting at $36 a tin.

All of these things fit within the varied terrain of modern wellness practices. The wellness industry – encompassing dietary supplements, fitness, alternative healing practices, health food, diets and even “clean” beauty – is worth about US$1.5 trillion (NZ$2.3t) a year globally, and it’s predicted to keep on growing. In New Zealand, retail sector research company IRI reports the natural health category is booming – dietary supplement sales alone have grown 13 % in grocery outlets and pharmacies in the past year to $283 million.

Data from IRI’s State of the Industry Household Shopper Survey suggests we’re no longer interested only in supplements. Almost two-thirds of New Zealanders believe food can be as powerful as medicine. As a result, manufacturers in many grocery categories are developing products to cash in on our renewed interest in being and staying well.

There’s been a resurgence of interest in fitness, too. Exercise New Zealand’s latest survey shows that after the enforced shutdowns of the pandemic years, gyms are now operating at 2019 levels or better (see “Working it out” below).

It’s possibly no surprise that we are increasingly seeking to take our health into our own hands. We’ve been through a global pandemic, and many of us have realised our health can’t be taken for granted.

Keith Petrie, a professor of psychological medicine at the University of Auckland, thinks part of what attracts us to the wellness industry’s alternative options is dissatisfaction with the mainstream medical system. “[People feel] medicine’s got quite technical and lost a bit of the personal touch,” he says. “Doctors are probably under a bit more pressure, and people are feeling their health concerns are not listened to. They are looking for more human interaction in their healthcare.”

Petrie believes there’s also growing concern that our modern world, with its fast-paced, stressful lifestyles, is making us unwell. “People are becoming more sensitive to features of modern life that they think cause ill health. We tend to see stress as the cause of most illnesses these days, even if that’s not correct.”