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05 January 2024 – FrieslandCampina Ingredients, a global leader in protein and prebiotics, today releases its fourth annual magazine detailing five key trends that will drive the evolution of the food, drink, and supplement industries in 2024. ‘Nutritional Trends 2024’ offers expert insights from the FrieslandCampina Ingredients team on the latest consumer research and market trends to help brands unlock new areas for innovation and new product development (NPD) in adult nutrition.
There’s no doubt that it has been another tumultuous year on the world stage – and consumers are feeling the burden. But people are taking positive action, turning to nutrition as a source of comfort and control – opening up a wealth of opportunities for brands to empower consumers to make healthier decisions in challenging times.
The five key trends shaping consumer habits in the specialised adult nutrition sector are:
1. Securing the future, sustainably
In 2024, the nutrition landscape is shaped by a growing demand for sustainability – 48 percent of consumers have made changes to their diets and lifestyles in the last twelve months to behave in a more sustainable manner.[1] But scepticism looms – 47 percent of consumers doubt brands’ environmental claims, and 49 percent fear greenwashing.[2],[3] With so many nuances and potential pitfalls, manufacturers need to do everything they can to ensure the sustainability claims they make are backed up by robust, tangible data to ensure long-term business success.
2. Nutrition for all
Our nutritional needs are shaped by our age, sex, genetics, lifestyle, and so much more. In 2024, consumers will increasingly understand their unique nutritional needs – and seek tailored solutions to meet them. With 25 percent of global consumers saying there is a lack of available products that meet their nutritional requirements,1 there’s a huge opportunity for brands to develop tailored nutritional applications that meet consumers’ specific – and currently unmet – needs.
3. Alt proteins go global
Plant-based is no longer the new kid on the block – in 2024, more and more consumers are seeking out meat and dairy alternatives as part of their increasingly flexitarian diets.[4] It’s a promising avenue for innovation – but plant-based products need to be as good as their dairy counterparts, both in taste and nutritional quality. Alternative proteins, like those created through precision fermentation, also have the potential to shake up the market, but there is work to be done to dispel myths and inform consumers.
4. Going beyond via the gut
By now, the links between physical and mental health are undeniable in the minds of most consumers. Not only do 41 percent define good mental well-being as feeling active and energetic,1 a whopping 80 percent of consumers say they work out to support their emotional health.[5] But today’s consumers increasingly recognise how the gut affects more than just digestion; it’s a prime area for improving immune, brain, and muscle health. Brands can capitalise on this by taking a holistic, full mind and body approach to their gut health solutions.
5. Ageing – and recovering – well
In 2024, people are taking a more proactive approach to their health – and this statement rings especially true for older populations, who are increasingly looking to age healthily to keep doing what they love for longer. Older consumers focus on how their diets can provide them with the support they need to live healthier and be active for longer. But nutrition isn’t always proactive, and sometimes, we need high-quality nutrients, like protein, to support muscle maintenance and help us recover from illness.[6] Recent innovations in medical nutrition are leveraging muscle-boosting ingredients typically associated with sports and active nutrition – to support those who need it the most.
“Our world is an uncertain one right now – but amid the confusion, consumers are increasingly looking to manage something they can control: their nutrition,” says Vicky Davies, Global Marketing Director, Performance, Active and Medical Nutrition. “People are taking positive action on what matters most to them, whether that’s the environmental impact of their food and nutrition choices, getting a better night’s sleep, or setting a new personal best at the gym. There is so much opportunity to provide consumers with the nutrition they need to live as well as possible. Using these latest insights, we can help brands across the globe tap into the trends that will define the nutritional sector in 2024 with the ultimate goal to help people get the most out of life, always.”
To learn more about the five key nutrition trends and download the ‘Nutritional Trends 2024’, visit the FrieslandCampina Ingredients website.
About FrieslandCampina Ingredients
FrieslandCampina Ingredients is a leader in proteins and prebiotics, addressing the growing need for innovative nutritional solutions to the world’s health and well-being challenges. Its drive is to get the right ingredients to customers to help them create highly nutritious, sustainable applications to help people with special dietary needs and preferences get the most out of life, always.
Powered by 1,700 passionate specialists, FrieslandCampina Ingredients operates globally across the Early Life Nutrition, Active, Performance, Medical and Cell Nutrition market segments. The company has regional sales offices in the Netherlands, the United States, Singapore, China, and Brazil. It reported combined sales of €1.65 billion in 2022. For additional information, please visit www.frieslandcampinaingredients.com.
FrieslandCampina Ingredients is part of Royal FrieslandCampina N.V. The dairy company daily provides millions of consumers throughout the world with dairy products containing valuable nutrients from milk. The company is fully owned by Zuivelcoöperatie FrieslandCampina U.A., with 15,137 dairy farmers in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany as members. Its annual turnover amounted to €14.1 billion in 2022. FrieslandCampina has locations in 31 countries and exports to more than one hundred countries worldwide. In 2022, FrieslandCampina employed an average of 21,715 employees (FTEs). Its head office is located in the Netherlands.
[1] Top Ten Trends 2024, FMCG GURUS
[2] Euromonitor: Five Key Trends Shaping the Sustainability Agenda in 2023
[3] Innova, Top Ten Trends 2024
[4] FMCG Gurus, 2023, Opportunities for Protein Hybrids: Enhancing Nutrition and Appeal.
[5] Mintel, ‘Exercise Trends – US,’ 2021
[6] Oliver C Witard Sophie L Wardle, Lindsay S Macnaughton, Protein Considerations for Optimising Skeletal Muscle Mass in Healthy Young and Older Adults, Nutrients 2016 Mar 23;8(4):181.
