Meditate on this: Ancient wisdom for 21st century living is influencing not just exercise trends, but also food and beverage choices for some Americans, according to Cutting Edge Wellness: Culinary Trend Tracking Series.

Thanks to the huge popularity and mainstream status of yoga, the ancient Indian healing practice of Ayurveda has become better known to American wellness consumers. Ayurveda is a complex holistic approach to restoring balance in a person that includes physical, mental, emotional and spiritual elements. People lose balance due to disease, aging, improper diet, stress and trauma. To restore it, Ayurvedic practitioners use food, beverage, herbal supplements, meditation and exercise as well as mindful eating habits.

Which Consumers are Embracing Ayurvedic Principles and Holistic Health

This notion of holistic well-being is appealing to wellness consumers who aspire to healthier living that includes restful sleep, balanced exercise and diet, traditional herbal supplements and meditation. For example, Packaged Facts found that for Boomers, Millennials and anyone else seeking holistic health approaches, Ayurvedic principles are intriguing and attractive, providing a historical context and reasons to believe.

“Ayurvedic food and beverages fit for consumers well-versed in physical fitness, supplement-supported wellness, and alternative medicine. For yogis and those meditating along with Dr. Deepak Chopra or Oprah, Ayurvedic ingredients may already be part of a personal regime,” says David Sprinkle research director, Packaged Facts. “Paleos, Keto dieters and natural food lovers also find inspiration in some Ayurvedic items, such as ghee and supportive herbs.

However, a specific Ayurvedic diet is not likely to be an exclusive practice beyond those working with a healer for a specific treatment. Instead, as is typical in our try-it-on-for-size wellness society, a few star ingredients and food items have risen out of the tradition and taken on lives of their own. Take turmeric, for example, the recently anointed superspice gilding hot beverages in coffee shops across the country. Or—as Sprinkle mentioned—ghee, a rising good fat in the natural and specialty grocery channels. Behind these health-food darlings are more traditional Ayurvedic herbal and medicinal teas, as well as a host of novel ready-to-drink functional beverages, touting potent botanical benefits that appeal to consumers seeking tonics with a touch of tradition.

What’s Next For Ayurveda Foods and Beverages

Brands committed to Ayurveda say so and find their audience in yoga adherents and others tapped into this wellness vein. For new product or brand development, being authentically part of a real Ayurvedic practice will be key if that positioning is desired. Alternatively, many wellness brands that are picking and choosing healing ingredients—pinch of ashwagandha here and a sprinkle of turmeric there—can still offer education, resources and supply chain reassurances on marketing materials and websites to ground a product’s legitimate benefits.

On the culinary side, regional Indian cuisine flavors and forms connect diners to a deeper cultural context and offer great taste (especially in vegetarian fare), but as these ingredients become more familiar, they don’t always have to be dressed up in that fashion. Instead, they can be part of a broader approach to wellness that intelligently draws from multiple traditions

Ultimately, Packaged Facts anticipates the biggest opportunities for such products lie in the functional health space, where tonics and elixirs offer refreshment with natural-feeling energy boosts and other benefits that are more subtle and long-term, like adaptogenic support.

View more information about Cutting Edge Wellness: Culinary Trend Tracking Series.