How to ride out the crisis
With the financial crisis affecting consumers worldwide, core nutrition trends will be reinforced whereas the fads and peripheral ideas will be swept away. According to functional food specialist Julian Mellentin, digestive health is the biggest trend of them all.
Julian Mellentin is a director of the Centre for Food & Health studies, a London think tank. Every year since 1995, he has published a forecast of trends in food, nutrition and health. This year, he foresees a strong trend towards food products of which consumers can immediately see or feel the benefits. Products that improve our gut health, for example, or that give a satiety feeling.
In weight management, Mellentin predicts a bright future for products that make you want to eat less. Other strong trends are energy drinks with an added value and food products that are all natural and free from added preservatives or artificial flavours.
But the biggest trend of them all, encompassing the top-10 trends mentioned above, is digestive health. As numerous cases have shown, it is a booming market even in times of crisis. Consumers are willing to pay good money for products improving their digestive health, even while spending less money on other products.
More details about the 10 key trends in food, nutrition and health can be found at www.new-nutrition.com.
February 4, 2009
