Translating Food & Beverage Consumer Trends for Market Success

One of the fastest changing markets in response to consumer demand is the food and beverage area. The Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) has identified several top food and beverage trends facing product developers and marketers. The trends include food as medicine, energy and vitality, children’s nutritional challenges and ethical consumerism.

The notion of ‘food as medicine’ has been evident for thousands of years. More recently, once relegated as a morning refreshment, orange juice is now consumed by many for its calcium content. As consumers begin searching for new delivery systems and product formats, they are beginning to transfer their interest and buying habits from condition-specific supplements into functional foods and beverages. In fact, two out of five consumers believe functional foods can be used in the place of some medicines, a 54-percent increase since 2003.

While 49 percent of consumers use condition specific supplements, 65 percent report using functional foods, a number which has grown 40 percent from 1999 (Figure 1). Consumers are initially driven to use functional foods and beverages for overall health and wellness, but the specificity of use is a driving trend. Based on NMI’s annual Health & Wellness Trends Database™, it is clearly evident that a majority of consumers would use food and beverages to prevent many specific medical conditions, including blood sugar imbalance (67 percent), high cholesterol (67 percent), intestinal irregularity (65 percent), diabetes (64 percent), and heart disease (63 percent).

While some health and medical conditions are more prevalent among older Americans, weight management, energy and appearance are of particular relevance and represent strong platforms for younger consumers, especially those aged 26 to 35. As so, aligning consumer targets by health conditions is vital to any marketing strategy (Figure 2).

It is also becoming increasingly evident that more consumers are hearing the message of ‘health through diet.’ In fact, almost two-thirds of consumers have added foods to their diet to eat healthier and are looking to functional foods to provide extra health benefits.

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