Consumers’ quest for better carbohydrates and fewer carbohydrates is creating a wealth of large and growing opportunities, even in the mass market, according to 10 Key Trends in Food, Nutrition and Health 2018, the annual trends report from New Nutrition Business (available at www.new-nutrition.com).
“Consumers are increasingly experimenting with lowering their carb intakes, or improving the carbs they eat, in the hopes of benefiting their health and/or their waistlines,” says Julian Mellentin, author of the report.
In Spain, as many as 63% of consumers are regularly trying to eat fewer carbs, according to an NNB survey; in the UK, that figure is 48% and in Australia 47%.
And in North America, 36% of consumers believe they should eat less bread, pasta, potatoes and rice.
In Japan, food service operators are cutting carbs, with one restaurant chain kneading spinach and chlorella into noodles to lower their carb content by 25%.
“Companies are responding to these opportunities by adopting one or more of five strategies,” says Mellentin. “The biggest of these strategies is reformulation – not only substituting whole grains for refined wheat, for example, but offering gluten-free variants to take away a big digestive health issue that many consumers have with carbohydrates.”
Another powerful strategy that many companies are following is so-called ‘greener carbs’. “Convenient vegetables, and vegetables in forms that can be substituted for traditional carbohydrates, are the fruit of creative NPD and skilful food technology,” says the report. As examples, it cites Green Giant’s riced cauliflower (for use instead of rice) and Nordic bakery group Fazer’s bread products that contain a 30% vegetable content.
Another trend identified as a driver of the ‘good carbs’ market is personalisation. Increasingly, people are going online, doing their own research and crafting their own eating style that they believe matches their needs as individuals. The belief that diet cannot be “one size fits all” is gaining ground.
The 10 Key Trends for 2018 are:
1 Digestive Wellness – a long-term driver of growth
2 Good Carbs Bad Carbs – five strategies for growth
3 Plant-based – NPD and convenience transforms plants
4 Protein – a growing market for plant, dairy and meat sources
5 Personalisation and Fragmentation – where’s the opportunity?
6 Beverages Redefined – sugar concerns drive opportunity
7 Sugar – four strategies for this new dietary demon
8 Fat – consumers’ emerging embrace of fat gives the green light to taste
9 Snackification – a route to success that’s central to strategy
10 Inflammation – an outlier trend that’s rapidly gaining ground
Picture: Fazer bread, containing vegetables