Healthy eating tops the resolution list
Happy New Year! I hope you all enjoyed the festive season.
The arrival of each New Year brings with it the usual ‘new year, new me’ claims as consumers make their New Year’s resolutions – often including something along the lines of eating less ‘naughty’ foods and/or eating more ‘healthy’ foods.
Indeed, new research from Canadean shows that more than a third of consumers make resolutions to eat and drink more healthily in 2015, with healthy eating the most popular resolution for consumers in the UK – above saving money and cutting stress.
So, what does this mean for manufacturers?
According to Canadean, out of those consumers who want to eat and drink more healthily in 2015, 65 per cent plan to eat more fruit and vegetables, closely followed by 58 per cent of consumers who want to eat less fat and 53 per cent who want to eat less sugar. Next to exercising more regularly, controlling portion sizes and limiting intake of processed foods are also seen as important methods of living more healthily.
Catherine O’Connor, senior analyst at Canadean, says, “It will be important to present consumers not only with low calorie options, but also with holistically wholesome fare and ingredients offering positive nutrition.”
This week’s Shelf Life round-up serves as a timely look at just some of the companies embracing this demand. Love Popcorn, for example, has launched a range of handmade, gluten-free popcorn products in five low calorie flavours to appeal to consumers on the lookout for healthy alternatives to fat laden snacks; while Kopparberg has added a new flavour to its alcohol-free cider range, targeting those looking for a less indulgent treat after the festive season as well as those whose New Year’s resolution list includes partaking in ‘dry January’, which challenges people to give up alcohol for the month.
