10 Key Trends in Food, Nutrition & Health 2012

The food and beverage industry’s most-used guide to the trends driving the business of food and health. Published each year since 1996, our long-term forecast enables companies to formulate their innovation and strategy plans around our trends analysis – as many, many companies tell us they do.

About this report

The New Nutrition Business annual analysis of the key trends in the business of food, nutrition and health is what we have become best-known for, worldwide.

We identify, rank and forecast the most important trends, using a methodology that takes into account information of many types, from many sources – scientific developments, consumer research and supermarket sales data.

A key trend:

connects to consumer needs
has a foundation (of some sort) in science
can be the basis for a successful brand message
offers opportunities for genuine innovation.

And because a simple ranked list can’t properly show the complexities of the market, we organise the trends in four silos, as follows:

benefits
categories
nutrition needs
systems

Our analysis shows:

how each trend is developing
the innovation opportunities
which companies and which brands are successful and why
what the sales trends are
how products are branded and positioned
who the core consumers are
what the implications of developments in regulation and science
a summary of the success factors for each trend – and much, much more.

In short, everything you need to inform your strategy.

Table of contents

PART I Key Trends
10 Key Trends in Food, Nutrition & Health 2012
What is a “Key Trend”
Understand the overlaps
Summary of some of the key developments for 2012
Micro-trends for 2012

Key Trend 1: Naturality – a trend that’s powering successful innovations
What “natural” means to consumers
“Naturally functional” needs no health claims
Four factors of success for naturality
A strategy that makes premium prices possible

Key Trend 2: Energy – huge untapped potential
“Natural energy” the new focus
New opportunities in energy
Caffeine – the winning ingredient
Campbell’s debuts energy shot from vege nutrition

Key Trend 3: Digestive health
The digestive health success story
Consumers need help with digestion
Few opportunities for probiotic dairy in Europe
Fibre – the biggest untapped opportunity
Health claims create a digestive health opportunity

Key Trend 4: Feel the benefit – the most powerful marketing tool
1. Feel the benefit
2. Measure the benefit and show it to them
3. Support the effect with science

Key Trend 5: Weight management – where success requires service
Weight management using “regular foods”
Protein to the fore
Fibre has natural appeal
Satiety fails to fly – so far
Providing a service is essential
Differentiate yourself from the competition

Key Trend 6: Movement – muscle, bone and joint health
1. Maintaining muscle strength – fighting sarcopenia
2. Bone health – Anlene leds the way

Key Trend 7: Senior nutrition – the key driver in food and health
There are many types of seniors
New channels to reach seniors
Cardio health shows how all other health areas will develop
Packaging key to seniors market
Tailor taste to an ageing palate

Key Trend 8: Who needs health claims when you have fruit & vegetables?
For consumers, convenient fruit = perceived value
Growing science base
Science + marketing = superfruit (and supervegetable)
Beetroot: a superveg is born?
Limited opportunity for health claims no barrier to success
Campbell’s V8: the rise of a fruit-and-vegetable nutrition mega-brand
Fruit and snacking

Key Trend 9: Dairy – science boosts its “naturally healthy” advantage
Science improving dairy’s image
Sports recovery revival

Key Trend 10: Good grains – set for growth
“Ancient grains” lend a health halo
Low GI back on the agenda
New life from “sustained energy”

PART II Micro-Trends
Micro-Trend 1: Sports nutrition - can it move from niche to the mass market?
Taking sports nutrition mainstream – every company’s ambition
Natural key trend
The undeveloped fruit and vegetable opportunity

Micro-Trend 2: Kids’ nutrition
1. Natural is the no 1 need
2. Snacking, beverages dairy are focus
3. Snacks+naturality = recession-proof brand
4. Fruit a key trend
5. Packaging innovation
6. Significant investment in marketing

Micro-Trend 3: Immunity
Regulation challenge
Fruit and veges offer a way forward for immunity?
Science crucial to claims

Micro-Trend 4: Diabetes
Fibre and good grains

Micro-Trend 5: Differentiate using packaging technology
Conclusions

Micro-Trend 6: Service with a product creates competitive difference
Two approaches to service
Service to become a standard for some health areas?

Micro-Trend 7: Smart thinking finds smarter ways to take health to market
An opportunity for small businesses?

Micro-Trend 8: The high-risk game of products for relaxation and brain health
Ingredient and product understanding vital
What goes up, must come down

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Related research categories

By sector: Trends, Health (in Soft drinks)