In the post epidemic era, people pay more attention to healthy diet. Consumers' attention is focused on the prevention of health status, vitamins / minerals, immunity and thinking about high-risk groups. Most importantly, it also promoted the development of dietotherapy economy.

01 sales of functional products increased during covid

According to IRI data, during the 8-week covid period (March 8-april 26), US dollar sales of diabetes supported food / drinks in central stores in the United States increased 9-fold in 2019. The sales volume of weight control products increased 11 times, and the unit sales volume changed from negative to positive. Sales of products designed to help control hypertension increased by 22% compared to 2019.

According to the research on the trend of global shoppers' healthy living and eating trip in 2020 published by health focus international, 38% of global consumers always / usually choose food / drink for specific health purposes, which is higher than 30% in 2016.

According to Euromonitor's "Health & Wellness 2020" report, global sales of fortified / functional foods and natural health foods were $267 billion and $259 billion respectively in February 2020. In 2019, 46% of global consumers purchased functional foods.

NBJ data forecasts that sales of functional food / beverage in the United States will increase from $72 billion in 2019 to $88 billion in 2022.

According to the data of February 2020, the addition of immune health to nutritious drinks with weight management or general health claims will encourage 67% of consumers to buy these products, and 44% of consumers will buy them just because of their weight.

02 weight management becomes top priority

Weight loss / weight management has become the primary concern, followed by energy, digestive health, heart health and muscle health / strength, which are the health benefits consumers want most from food in 2020.

According to the "food and health" survey conducted by ific in June 2020, heart health is the most concerned issue for people over 50 years old. Compared with 2019, immune health ranked ahead of bone health, brain / emotional health and sleep, and cancer prevention rate decreased slightly.

Health benefits consumers want most from food

Source: ific 2020 food and health survey

According to the & Fashion report, 120 million American adults tried to lose weight last year. According to the American Heart Association (AHA) in 2020, 168 million people are overweight and 74 million people are obese. In 2024, the company predicts that sales of substitute / diet drinks will reach US $6.5 billion, with 25% of households using meal substitutes and 19% of households using weight control drinks.

Health focus US research in the United States in 2019 shows that weight control and satiety are the two most desirable benefits of functional foods. According to the healthfocus survey, more than half (53%) of adults believe that protein is related to weight management, and 24% feel full.

03 anti fatigue & energy becomes a new consumption scene

The best health benefit consumers want from food is energy, second only to weight control. More than a third (37%) try to improve / prevent fatigue through food / drink. More than half of consumers are extremely / very worried about fatigue / lack of energy, and health focus data shows that 56% of the world pay attention to this group.

Now, 80% of consumers believe that psychological / emotional balance is as important as physical health. Using food to help cope with anxiety, stress, relaxation, insomnia and improve cognitive ability is still an untapped opportunity, and one in five people will use food to treat or prevent anxiety.

Consumption demand of CBD food or supplement from cannabis

Source: NBJ 2019

According to NBJ's data in 2019, 40% of consumers who use cannabis derived CBD food or supplements are to relieve anxiety, 36% to relieve pain, 34% to ease relaxation, 29% to relieve insomnia and 24% to relieve depression. Before the pandemic, retail sales of marijuana are expected to grow from nearly $1.2 billion in 2019 to $4.9 billion in 2024, according to packaged facts 2019. During the eight week covid period, food sales in US dollars increased eight times compared with 2019, IRI reported.

04 common active food ingredients

According to IRI, more than half (54%) of consumers said they would like snacks containing vitamins / minerals, 48% were high fiber and 38% were probiotics. 

According to Sloan trends' analysis model trendsense, potassium is becoming more and more concerned in the category of health care products. Potassium was identified as a nutrient of public health concern by the US dietary guidelines in 2015, and was added to the mandatory nutrition label by FDA. Potassium plays a key role in muscle function, including the heart, and is likely to be the cause of many muscle cramps. 

According to Pollock communications' annual survey, fermented foods topped the list of the most popular superfoods in 2020, followed by avocados, seeds, exotic fruits, ancient grains, blueberries, nuts, non dairy milk, beets and green tea. Green tea, honey, coffee beans, probiotics, apple vinegar, oats, garlic, grapefruit and dark chocolate are all foods that consumers consider to be beneficial to the human body. 

Herbs are the fastest growing health food category, with sales of $9.6 billion in 2019, up 10% year-on-year. According to CrN, half of the users of supplements took herbs last year. In the eight weeks to May 17, 2020, sales of herbal / homeopathic supplements in mainstream stores increased by 85%, in natural product stores by 100%, and in the eight weeks to June 23, 2020, sales fell to an amazing 30% and 35%, respectively.

05 more food products

Proportion of food and beverage consumers think that functional raw materials can be added

Source: Kerry

Kerry data shows that more than 50% of consumers think that functional ingredients can be added to nutrition drinks, yoghurt and protein powder, and more than 40% think it is suitable to add functional factors to chocolate bars, Cereals, smoothies and juice, while more than one third of consumers think that functional ingredients can be added to milk, water, sports drinks, oatmeal, energy drinks and green tea.

IRI data showed that sales of energy drinks exceeded $12.8 billion, an increase of more than 9%. Sales of energy hybrid products increased by 13.5% to $142.5 million, while sales of energy shot products fell 8% to $977 million. As of May 17, sales of non sterile sports drinks were $7 billion, up more than 7% year-on-year.

In 2019, the sales of nutrition / intrinsic value, energy and weight-loss sticks will reach 3.6 billion US dollars, an increase of 3.7%. By 2024, the total value of snacks, meal substitutes and nutrition bars is expected to increase from $7.2 in 2019 to $8.4 billion. In 2020, the retail dollar sales of yogurt are expected to decline, with a compound annual growth rate of 0.3%, reaching 8.6 billion US dollars.