Full disclosure: this week’s first-ever Health Issue was originally designed to coincide with the British Nutrition Foundation’s annual Healthy Eating Week. That’s been moved to September, where it’s been bizarrely rebranded as ‘Snacktember’, a ‘celebration’ of healthier snacks, apparently. Isn’t snacking part of the problem?
Anyhoo, there’s plenty to talk about health-wise. Not all of it good. Like the latest National Diet and Nutrition Survey results showing an alarming decline in fruit & veg consumption.
It follows last week’s Office for Health Improvement and Disparities survey, which reports an incommensurate surge in saturated fat and salt consumption, linked to out-of-home sales. And this week the NHS updated its advice on babyfood pouches following April’s BBC Panorama investigation.
Opportunities for GLP-1s and functional NPD
As ever in an industry of the food and drink sector’s size and diversity, threats are also opportunities. That’s certainly the case for chilled mini ready meals brand Little Dish. The same is true for functional soft drinks like Trip, Moju and Hip Pop. Even cottage cheese is having a moment.
Mintel’s Jonny Forsyth has explored the potential around fibre. Harvey Choat sensibly suggests measuring nutrient density as a means to increase fruit & veg consumption. Even the advent of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs – which, as Kantar’s exclusive research shows, is having a massive impact on food and drink consumption – is an opportunity. While GLP-1 NPD is in its infancy, Henry Dimbleby argues it’s only through AI that the true potential for food and drink will emerge.
As we’ve been reporting, there’s growing consensus that mandatory reporting is needed, notably from supermarkets. Suppliers are also making valiant efforts to reformulate HFSS products – with mixed results. Meanwhile the narrative around ultra-processed foods has curiously splintered.
Nor is the pre-watershed ad ban situation much clearer. The fate of Kevin the Carrot and the Christmas spread ads is still in the balance. We’ve even discovered there’s an International Health & Wellness Day this Saturday. So our timing was good after all.
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