Which Health and Wellness Brands Are Winning AI Search? Avenue Z’s 2026 AIVx Reports Name Top Performers Across Five Categories

AI Visibility Index shows how multivitamins, greens and gut, hydration, protein brands, and GLP-1 providers stack up in AI search - and why each category requires its own Answer Engine Optimization strategy

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Avenue Z, a digital marketing, PR and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) agency that specializes in AI search visibility, today released new AI Visibility Index (AIVx) findings across five health and wellness categories: multivitamins; greens and gut supplements; hydration supplements; protein and performance; and GLP-1 and peptides.

Taken together, the reports show that the sources AI systems rely on vary sharply by category, from review sites and medical journals to manufacturer websites, editorial outlets and trade publications. These findings show that a broad, one-size-fits-all approach to PR and content is unlikely to perform. To succeed in an increasingly AI-driven world, brands need category-specific authority strategies that match the citation patterns and regulatory environment of each segment as shown across the five AIVx reports:

Health & Wellness: Multivitamins

In multivitamins, Nature Made leads the category. The top six brands - Nature Made, Thorne, Ritual, Pure Encapsulations, Garden of Life and FEEL - hold a combined 68% of AI share of voice, with Nature Made and Thorne together accounting for 43%. In this segment, institutional domains are the dominant citation source, at 52%, far ahead of trade publications (6%), editorial media (5%) and a wide range of other sites. Full findings are available in the 2026 Multivitamins AIVx report at: https://aivx.avenuez.com/aivx/multivitamins-2026-08

Health & Wellness: Greens & Gut Supplements

AG1 leads the greens and gut supplements category, where the top three brands - AG1, Amazing Grass and Bloom - account for 66% of AI share of voice. Citation influence is more evenly distributed here: institutional domains, editorial media, competitor content and trade publications all play meaningful roles among a broad set of sources. The full Greens & Gut AIVx report is available at: https://aivx.avenuez.com/aivx/greens-gut-2026-08

Health & Wellness: Hydration Supplements

Liquid I.V. leads hydration supplements. Across the category, the leading brands - Liquid I.V., LMNT, DripDrop, Ultima Replenisher and Pedialyte - collectively control 74% of AI share of voice. Institutional domains, editorial media and trade publications exert more influence on AI citations in hydration than user-generated content, retailer pages and review platforms, despite the volume of content in those channels. The full Hydration Supplements AIVx report is available at: https://aivx.avenuez.com/aivx/hydration-2026-08

Health & Wellness: Protein & Performance

Optimum Nutrition leads the protein and performance category, but concentration is lower than in other segments. The top three brands - Optimum Nutrition, Transparent Labs and Dymatize - together account for 43% of AI share of voice. The report shows a long tail of brands gaining ground, with Isopure, Levels and NOW Sports all posting strong year-over-year ranking gains. Institutional domains represent 40% of cited sources in this category, and review platforms and reference media are more influential here than in other segments. The full Protein & Performance AIVx report is available at: https://aivx.avenuez.com/aivx/protein-performance-2026-08

Health & Wellness: GLP-1 & Peptides

Teladoc leads GLP-1 and peptides. The top six providers - Teladoc, Ro Body, Hims, Hers, WeightWatchers Clinic and PlushCare - are clearly separated from the rest of the field by Z-score. Institutional domains account for 67% of citations, reflecting the category’s high level of regulation. For these providers, building credible expertise around safety, eligibility, approval, coverage and access through authoritative, regulated sources is central to maintaining visibility. The full GLP-1 & Peptides AIVx report is available at :https://aivx.avenuez.com/aivx/glp1-peptides-2026-08.

Across the five reports, AI systems do not treat all cited sources, or all categories, the same. Institutional domains, review platforms, editorial outlets, manufacturer content and user-generated content carry very different weights by segment.

For health and wellness brands, the implication is clear: a generic AEO, PR and content plan will underperform against an AI Visibility strategy that has authority strategies calibrated to each category’s citation mix and regulatory context.

“The most striking through-line in this research is how specific a category strategy has to be,” said Tina Fleming, vice president of AI strategy at Avenue Z. “The mix of institutional, editorial, review and retail sources that matters in multivitamins looks nothing like what moves the needle in protein or hydration. If your AI search strategy isn’t built at the category level, you’re leaving visibility wins on the table.”

As brands compete for influence in AI search, Avenue Z’s AIVx Reports provide a category-by-category benchmark that shows not just who is winning visibility, but which citation sources are shaping authority and where there is room to gain ground. Each report includes key strategic takeaways, an AI visibility leaderboard and ranking, and a breakdown of how editorial media, owned content, and technical optimization contribute to AI citations in that category - along with clear direction on what to do next.

“Our AEO / AI Search strategy starts with a plan that’s specific to the brand, the category, and the buyer,” said Whitney Hart, CSO and Director of the AI Lab at Avenue Z. “To really understand a category, you have to watch it in motion. That’s where our partner platforms come in - Profound, Writesonic, and Peec - giving us a live view of how signals are shifting. When you combine that platform expertise with deep category knowledge, research and real buyer insight, that’s the edge that actually moves the needle.”

Avenue Z’s AI Search / AEO Solutions help brands improve AI search visibility by connecting PR, editorial authority, content, social and user-generated content, and technical optimization to the prompts and decision journeys that matter most. Reporting tracks AI citations, visibility, sentiment and share of voice across leading AI search platforms, including ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews, giving growth-stage and category-leading brands in both consumer and regulated markets a single view of how they appear where decisions are made. Complimentary AI Visibility Assessments, AIVx Reports and AEO Readiness Assessments are available at https://avenuez.com/ai-lab/.

About Avenue Z

Avenue Z is the agency for influence - working with health and wellness, consumer, emerging tech and finance brands to grow revenue, build reputation, and win AI search. The firm provides digital marketing, PR, and AEO programs across PR, e-commerce, agentic commerce and AI transformation. For more information, visit http://avenuez.com/ or http://drivinginfluence.com/.