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2024 Diet Trends

Lauren Sneyd, Library Assistant & Information Specialist

This article will discuss Mintel’s 2024 diet trends through PESTEL analysis revealing the trends that will shape consumers' diets for the longer term and key takeaways for the Irish food and drink industry.

In 2024 and beyond, diets must support human and planetary health, for the longer term

  1. Planetary health: according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the need to shift to more-sustainable diets and food systems is increasingly evident.
  2. Longevity diets: aim to maximise a person's lifespan, and more importantly how long they live in good health. Using diets to fight and protect against conditions linked to nutrition and diet underpins the concept of a longevity diet.
  3. Dieting for holistic health: The definition of 'healthy' is becoming more holistic, the World Health Organization's definition of healthbeing: 'a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity' (Mintel, 2024).

PESTEL analysis is a framework used to assess the macro factors in which a manufacturer operates including for Political, Economic, Social and Technological, Environmental and Legal factors.

What POLITICAL factors mean for food and drink

Now: greater regulations

The food and drink industry should prepare to encounter bigger challenges in relation to 'unhealthy' food in the retail channel, as government policy continues to put pressure on the industry to take responsibility for consumers' health with added sugar taxes.

Next: separating fact and fiction

Information sources like social media are filled with 'advice' on healthy foods and diets; however, producers should aid consumers in embracing diets that are in line with evidence-based nutrition science and guidelines.

Future: alter to the changing profile of healthy foods

The connection between gut health, dietary fats and the health effects tied to the consumption of ultra-processed foods are factors to watch as they may become more prominent in the future.

What ECONOMIC factors mean for food and drink

Now: concentrate on budget friendly nutrition

Producers should try to find ways to help consumers on a tight budget particularly during the cost of living crisis, by helping them access foods that are both healthy and affordable.

Next: protect future supply chains

Recent events such as the Ukraine conflict, the covid-19 pandemic and Climate change, have highlighted increased risk in the global supply chains, and may cause consumers to move to purchasing more local and seasonal foods.

Future: think outside of the box

Emerging technologies such as smart sensors and actuators in water systems, which are used to detect capacity in real time, demonstrate how water utility companies are making strides towards net-zero goals, by leaning into innovative tech to become more resilient and sustainable (World Economic Forum, 2022).

What SOCIAL factors mean for food and drink

Now: healthy food options for the time-poor consumer

Convenience foods are increasingly popular with time-poor consumers, but many are considered as High Fat, Salt and Sugar (HFSS) foods, and/or ultra-processed foods (Mintel, 2024).

Producers should develop products with healthier nutrition profiles and natural ingredients to improve the perception of processed foods.

Next: connect mood and food

Dietary choices can complement therapy, medication and behavioural approaches for the management of anxiety and mental health symptoms.

Certain micronutrients (such as magnesium) and certain botanicals (such as lavender) are associated with mood and mental health (Mintel, 2024).

Future: shift focus from cure to prevention

As populations continue to age, producers can manufacture products that enable consumers to live healthier lifestyles for longer periods, through the development of foods that connect with the concept of 'food as medicine'.

What TECHNOLOGICAL factors mean for food and drink

Now: connect nutrition and tech

Nutrition producers can connect with the health technology industry (for example companies producing vitamin test kits, gut microbiome analysis, and blood-glucose-tracking equipment) to offer products that can act on and enhance the data captured by health devices and tools.

Next: engage with emerging tech solutions like AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is continuing to grow and will play an increasingly greater role in food innovation. Ingredient producers and manufacturers are engaging with AI tools to discover novel ingredients/flavours and solutions to bring healthy and sustainable products to shelves.

Future: adopt novel ingredient tech and methods

New technologies such as precision fermentation and cellular agriculture are increasingly being explored as techniques that may have the potential to create ingredients with fewer resources with the corresponding potential to improve ingredient sustainability.

What ENVIRONMENTAL factors mean for food and drink

Now: make sustainable options more affordable

Sustainability of food and drink systems will not be feasible without a change in consumer’s diets; however, price is still a significant barrier to the purchasing of sustainable foods with 54% of German consumers who do not buy sustainable foods because they are too expensive (Mintel, 2024).

Next: plan for increased scrutiny

Legal requirements surrounding sustainability claims use will limit 'greenwashing' and promote transparency, with truthful information about the sustainability credentials of a product.

Future: pivot to climate resilient foods

Consider the possibility of diversifying with crops that are more adaptable to extreme climates, for example drought-resistant cultivated grasses like fonio, supply chain processes that are less dependent on fresh water, 'upcycled' ingredients, and food technology like smart sensors and actuators in water systems.

What LEGAL factors mean for food and drink

Now: build trust with firmer standards

Producers can highlight enhanced quality and safety standards to consumers, through on-pack labels calling out additive or 'unwanted substance' removal from the product.

Next: increased regulations to aid sustainability claims

Policy makers are beginning to acknowledge the significance of creating and maintaining sustainable food systems.

The industry should anticipate more legislation on sustainable food production and the marketing requirements of products

Future: regulations to challenge emerging tech

Governments are being urged to act on legislative gaps in the manufacturing, development and labelling processes of foods made with novel technologies.

Key takeaways

Eco-dieting

Technologies like sensors or other monitoring software may create solutions to climate challenges like fresh water scarcity creating promise for water crops looking forward.

Longevity dieting

As the implications of dietary-related health conditions grows, consumers will need to use food as a form of medicine, by embracing eating habits that are proven for good long-term health.

Dieting for holistic health

Foods that aid mood and mind through the gut microbiome are an opportunity for producers going forward. Healthy plant-based diets or anti-inflammatory diets could potentially emerge as solutions to supporting brain health.

References:

Diet Trends: 2024. (2024). [online] Mintel. Available at: https://clients.mintel.com/content/insight/diet-trends-2024.

World Economic Forum. (2022). How the water sector is using innovative tech to become more resilient and sustainable. [online] Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/12/how-water-sector-using-innovative-tech-resilience-sustainability/.

Bord Bia Cultivate: Consumer Lifestyle Trends . (2024). Bord Bia.