2016 will present new challenges and exciting possibilities for nutrition and health foods. Here we look at what trends and innovations we predict will affect the industry in 2016:
- Further nutrition scares. Scares on supposedly unhealthy foods will continue as some scientific bodies relish media attention for their revelations skirting the real public health issue of unhealthy lifestyles. This will create a drive for manufacturers to create further anti–obesity products
- Fragmentation of health drives growth of new smaller health food brands. Food manufacturers from all sectors will come under more pressure to deliver food innovation that places health as the core DNA. Combine this with health food success stories, such as coconut water, we can expect a plethora of new ‘health foods and drinks’ in 2016, such as cinnamon water
- ‘Free from’ switches focus from gluten to dairy. Whilst further gluten free options will appear on the market, such as cauliflower rice, the emphasis in 2016 will shift from gluten to dairy free
- ‘Sustainable snacks’. Sustainability combined with the trend for snacks and consumers need to feel good about their food choices will lead to greater dominance of plant and insect based foods