Which diet & sports nutrition brands do AI assistants recommend in Japan? Q4 2026
In Japan, AI assistants most often recommend DHC, Meiji Savas and Pocari Sweat for diet & sports nutrition. DHC is named by 5 of 5 assistants.
What the data says
DHC (DHC Corporation) is the diet & sports nutrition brand AI assistants recommend most in Japan, taking 12.1% of all recommendation points across 5 assistants. Meiji Savas follows with 9.8% and Pocari Sweat is third with 8.8%.
The top spot is close: only 2.3 points separate DHC and Meiji Savas, so a small change in how either brand is described online could flip the order.
DeepSeek and Grok put DHC first, while ChatGPT favours Fancl, Claude favours Meiji and Gemini favours Meiji Savas.
The top five brands hold 44% of recommendations out of 45 brands named in total, leaving room for challengers to break into AI shortlists.
| # | Brand | Owner | AI share | ChatGPT | Claude | DeepSeek | Gemini | Grok |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DHC | DHC Corporation | 12.1% | 25 | 33 | 80 | 8 | 95 |
| 2 | Meiji Savas | Meiji | 9.8% | 35 | 35 | 35 | 90 | – |
| 3 | Pocari Sweat | Otsuka Pharmaceutical | 8.8% | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 |
| 4 | Fancl | Fancl | 8.1% | 35 | 20 | 45 | – | 61 |
| 5 | Aquarius | Coca-Cola | 5.4% | 25 | 8 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| 6 | Optimum Nutrition | Glanbia | 5% | 12 | 20 | 25 | – | 43 |
| 7 | Meiji | Meiji | 4.5% | – | 55 | – | – | 35 |
| 8 | Lipovitan | Taisho | 3.5% | 35 | – | 35 | – | – |
| 9 | MyProtein | THG | 3.2% | 20 | – | – | 20 | 25 |
| 10 | Gatorade | PepsiCo | 3.1% | – | 50 | 12 | – | – |
| 11 | Calpis | Asahi | 2.4% | – | 47 | – | – | – |
| 12 | MuscleTech | Iovate Health Sciences | 2% | – | 12 | 20 | – | 8 |
| 13 | OS-1 | Otsuka Pharmaceutical | 2% | 20 | – | – | 20 | – |
| 14 | Red Bull | Red Bull GmbH | 1.9% | 25 | – | 12 | – | – |
| 15 | DNS | DNS | 1.9% | 25 | – | – | 12 | – |
| 16 | Amino Vital | Ajinomoto | 1.9% | – | – | – | 37 | – |
| 17 | Morinaga | Morinaga | 1.8% | – | – | – | 35 | – |
| 18 | Asahi | Asahi | 1.6% | 8 | 24 | – | – | – |
| 19 | Blackmores | Blackmores | 1.4% | – | – | – | – | 28 |
| 20 | Orihiro | Orihiro | 1.4% | 20 | – | – | – | 8 |
Questions about AI diet & sports nutrition recommendations
- Which diet & sports nutrition brand does ChatGPT recommend most in Japan?
- ChatGPT recommends Fancl most often for diet & sports nutrition in Japan. Across all assistants, DHC leads with 12.1% of recommendations.
- Which diet & sports nutrition brand is improving fastest in Japan?
- Pocari Sweat has the strongest momentum among challengers: AI names it first in 5 of 5 answers where it appears, while holding 8.8% share. This is the first Q4 2026 reading; change over time will be shown from the next update.
- How is the ranking calculated?
- We ask each AI assistant the questions shoppers ask in each category and market, record the top five brands it names, and give 35, 25, 20, 12 and 8 points for positions one to five. Share is a brand's points divided by all points awarded.
Diet & Sports Nutrition: AI rankings by country
Covers: Energy Boosters, Hydration Supplements, Muscle Support Supplements, Weight Loss Aids.
Method: each AI assistant is asked the shopper questions for every segment in the category and market; the top five brands named score 35, 25, 20, 12 and 8 points. Share is a brand's points divided by all points awarded. Rankings reflect AI answers, not sales.
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