Top 5 Food and Beverage Megatrends for 2024: Part 1

Highlights

• Staying aware of megatrends helps brands create relevant products for consumers.
• More consumers are turning to food to achieve a state of wellness.
• Consumers are refocusing their view of health from treatment to prevention.

Why Megatrends Matter

Understanding consumer trends is essential to the success of any food or beverage company. A knowledge of current and emerging trends lets a company develop strategies to meet consumers’ needs, ensuring no opportunities are overlooked. This is the key to offering consumers the right products and experiences.

When certain trends begin to gain traction globally, they have the potential for widespread impact across multiple industries. These trends, known as megatrends, are significant because they can signal a fundamental shift in consumer values and priorities.  

To identify megatrends, Glanbia Nutritionals analyzes trends from a variety of sources, including market research, social media, and industry trade shows. For 2024, there are five megatrends we’ve spotted that are particularly relevant to the food and beverage industry. Here we look at the first two megatrends.

The 2024 Food and Beverage Megatrends

1. Eatopia

Consumers are increasingly considering food as a way to achieve a perfect state of wellness. The megatrend “eatopia”  (combining the words “eating” and “utopia”) describes this food-for-wellness approach that is impacting consumer choices across food and beverage categories—including indulgent treats.

Companies are already responding with a variety of better-for-you indulgent products, such as functional chocolate with immunity benefits, sugar-free cookies sweetened with chicory root fiber, and high-protein ice cream. Globally, active health claims such as “increases body’s resistance to stress,” “helps maintain healthy immune function,” “rich in antioxidants,” “packed with nutrients,” and “low in sugar” have grown 14% in the past five years¹ on new indulgent products such as desserts, ice cream, sweet baked goods, and chocolates.

One in three consumers globally think reducing non-healthy ingredients is the best way to make indulgent foods and beverages healthier, while over half say they are willing to compromise on indulgence for healthier food.² Consumers report eating more better-for-you cake, cookies, brownies, and chocolate bars than a year ago, and they eat indulgent snacks more frequently than standard sweet snacks (with 50% consuming them at least twice a week, compared to 24% for standard sweet snacks).³  

2. Refocusing

Consumers are also refocusing their approach to health, with an emphasis on prevention and healthy aging (rather than just trying to fix health problems after they occur). More than one in three consumers globally say they are proactive in preventing health issues, with weight management, heart health, and bone and joint health as their top physical health concerns.⁴ 

One in three consumers also consider weight management and a balanced diet the most important steps taken for healthy aging.⁵ From the late thirties to the early forties, more consumers desire to “fight aging” than “embrace aging,” with embracing aging more common in following years.⁶

How consumers approach aging even influences the types of nutrition products they prefer. Those who want to fight aging are more likely to prefer “scientifically advanced” products, while those who embrace aging are more likely to want natural products.⁷ These insights can help food and beverage brands choose the right type of messaging to connect with their target consumer in today’s preventive health culture.

Ingredients for Health and Wellness

Incorporating healthier ingredients into foods and beverages like bioactive ingredients, micronutrients, and proteins can help consumers maintain their health proactively and provide a better-for-you way to indulge in their favorite treats. Watch for our next article about the other three food and beverage megatrends you should know, and watch our on-demand Megatrends webinar today.

Contact Glanbia Nutritionals to learn more.

References

1-2. Innova Market Insights, Innova Trends Survey 2024.
3. Glanbia Nutritionals, Health & Wellness U&A Study - US, 2023.
4. Innova Market Insights, Innova Trends Survey 2024.
5. Innova Market Insights, Innova Health and Nutrition Survey 2023.
6-7. Glanbia Nutritionals, Health & Wellness U&A Study - US, 2023.