FrieslandCampina Ingredients predicts gut health and aging well will drive innovation in 2022

31 Jan 2022 --- FrieslandCampina Ingredients has released a report revealing five trends and developments set to drive the evolution of supplements and F&B for 2022.

The trends are named in the company’s report Shaping the future of nutrition, which aims to help brands pinpoint areas for innovation and NPD in the active, performance and medical nutrition markets.

The trends are:
1. Planet-first nutrition.
2. Resilience in an ever-challenging world.
3. The future is flexitarian.
4. Holistic health starts in the gut.
5. Celebrating healthy aging.

“These trends will inform our innovation pipeline – in fact, they have already had an impact,” Vicky Davies, global marketing director, performance, active and medical nutrition at FrieslandCampina Ingredients, tells NutritionInsight.

“These findings aren’t surprising. The trends we have identified are not ‘flash in the pan’ trends – they have been building for years and in some cases accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is why these trends are so important. They reflect long-term changes happening across the industry and they’re only going to get more important with time,” Davies adds. 60% of consumers say improving their general health and wellness is their main priority. 

Gut-boosting opportunities
For many consumers, holistic well-being is the ultimate goal in 2022, the report says. At the same time, the company notes a growing interest in mood, inevitably linked to the COVID-19 pandemic with people feeling stressed and anxious. 

“The sky is the limit when it comes to treating multiple health areas together. People are taking their health more seriously than ever before. But this can also cause some decision paralysis as consumers struggle to choose the functional foods and supplements that will benefit them most,” Davies underscores.

“This is where the gut-brain axis really comes into its own. Sleep, mood and stress management are huge consumer motivators, and there is already an understanding that gut health can be the key to unlocking improvements in these areas. This will ring even more true for consumers as we gain a greater understanding of the science.” 

The company has long spotlighted the importance of the gut-brain axis in bolstering mental wellness, focusing on the interaction between the brain and microbiota.

According to Davies, a number of “interesting studies” are due to be released in 2022 that could highlight even more previously unexplored opportunities to leverage gut health for wider well-being benefits. 

NPD in aging well
The space occupied by the population of people getting older is increasingly concerned with aging well, the report highlights. 

“There is a clear demand for new and innovative products supporting healthy aging, aimed at a range of consumers across age brackets.” 

According to the report, 90% of aging consumers are choosing food and drink over traditional supplements. This has spurred NPD in senior nutrition, with a focus on gut health, personalized nutrition and functional foods.Over one-quarter of consumers consider themselves flexitarians. 

“Future is flexitarian”
The report also outlines that 65% of consumers believe food and nutrition brands should do more to protect the planet. 

This is in line with the Innova Market Insight Top Trend for 2022 “Shared Planet,” which highlights how consumers today are more ethically and environmentally conscious, so food brands need to work alongside the public to breed confidence.

“Brands will also need to make claims meaningful and tangible to stand out to consumers,” the report notes. 

Keeping in line with the trends, Davies notes that after operating in the dairy space for over 150 years, the company launched its first plant-based range at the end of 2021. “We truly believe the future is flexitarian.”

A key observation is that consumers are increasingly incorporating plant-based ingredients into their diets alongside traditional protein sources, with more than one-quarter of consumers considering themselves flexitarians.

“Green protein is seen as clean protein, but with consumers not wanting to miss out on the taste, texture and nutritional value of animal products, combining multiple plant and dairy protein sources ticks every box.” 

By Andria Kades