“Tailored to Fit”: Gut health, aging well and naturality come to the fore in 2021

07 Jan 2021 --- Personalized nutrition is a fast accelerating trend, amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, and it’s making a significant impact on both consumers and ingredient suppliers. NutritionInsight speaks with players active in this space, who share their insights on this year’s trend.

In line with Innova Market Insights’ Top Trends for 2021, where “Tailored to Fit” ranks third, more consumers are looking for options that fit their unique lifestyles. 

Consumers expect a tailored approach to eating, with technological breakthroughs, new launches and sensorial experiences providing the opportunity for customized lifestyles to extend to F&B consumption. 

The pandemic’s effect
Innova Consumer Survey 2020 showed that 64 percent of global consumers had found more ways to tailor their life and products to their individual style, beliefs and needs.

Demand for products with a natural positioning has accelerated during the pandemic.Industry has seen the pandemic’s effects on consumer behavior, says Käte Davis, senior director, pioneering innovation at CP Kelco. 

“Consumers are increasingly seeking out products with health and wellness benefits. We also know that supplement usage has increased dramatically,” she notes.

Bolstering nutrition goals
According to Davis, many in industry are ramping up their efforts to support personalized nutrition. 

“Even before the pandemic hit, CP Kelco was looking at ways to evolve our existing portfolio into prebiotics and more health-based products,” she continues. 

“For example, in 2019, we collaborated with universities in Denmark and Brazil to study how pectin may help protect probiotics in the gut. Because pectin is an FDA-approved fiber, it may offer some prebiotic effect too.”

Good for the gut
Gut microbiome composition and activity is highly variable from one individual to another and largely depends on diet, age and lifestyle choices, says Davis. 

In line with this, CP Kelco is developing prebiotic solutions to maintain this high diversity and more resilient gut microbiota, taking into account the specific needs of different populations. 

“Our plant-based raw materials offer a variety of prebiotic candidates to enhance specific beneficial bacteria growth and enlarge the current market offer in terms of prebiotics,” adds Davis. 

As more research becomes available, it is apparent that gut microbes are essential to many aspects of health, including immune, metabolic and neurobehavioral. 

“Consumers are also beginning to learn how their gut microbiome is tied to more than just their GI tract, with articles emerging on the gut-lung axis and gut-brain axis,” Davis flags. 

Consumers are also discovering that their microbiome is unique, so they are seeking out solutions that address their specific issues instead of a one-size-fits-all solution, she says. 

Sixty-four percent of global consumers have found more ways to tailor their life and products to their individual styles.Tapping into healthy aging
Digestive and immune health are top of mind for Signe Causse, global marketing leader, bakery and digestive health at DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences. Still, there is also a potential for healthy aging when using probiotics and fibers. 

“With consumers being more aware and concerned about any future pandemics, there will be more demand for immune-boosting food and beverage products, including a focus on healthy aging,” she says. 

Increasing demand for naturality
For Joe Katterfield, sales development manager for sports nutrition and health foods at Arla Foods Ingredients, consumers have long been seeking products with a natural, healthy or wholesome positioning. This trend has accelerated during the pandemic. 

“One of its effects has been increasing demand for organic products, which are strongly associated with health and naturality,” he says. 

This is a good time for industry to reflect on the challenges ahead in 2021 and observe how it adapted in 2020.

“Food and ingredient companies play a vital part in feeding the world, and I think we did a good job of overcoming the logistical challenges created by the pandemic,” Katterfield continues. 

“We introduced safer and more effective ways of working, and professionals across the industry had to be agile and innovative to ensure we continued to meet higher levels of demand,” he concludes. 

By Elizabeth Green