Feeling Good In 2011

PG takes a look at the year's top trends in health and wellness.

Market research firms around the globe have made their predictions for 2011, and when it comes to leading consumer trends, health and wellness is leading this year's top 10 lists from Seattle to Singapore.

In the United States, the heightened focus on health and wellness is being fueled by a number of factors, including epidemic obesity, an aging baby boomer and older senior population, an increased awareness of bad-for-you foods, and, quite simply, the desire to feel good.

Indeed, as Americans become more aware of their health, they spend more to maintain it. According to consumer culture research firm The Hartman Group, spending on wellness products is on the rise, with the lion's share of these expenditures going to fresh categories. The Bellevue, Wash.-based company's recent report, “Reimagining Health + Wellness 2010,” revealed that the average household spends $148.48 a month on categories with wellness cachet.

“Increased spending on products beneath a wellness umbrella, particularly in fresh categories, reflects what we have been witnessing for more than a decade now,” says Laurie Demeritt, Hartman president and COO.

“Consumer understanding of wellness has moved away from traditional notions of condition treatment and disease prevention, and toward attaining a better quality of life.”

A comprehensive study of consumer and shopper health-and-wellness perceptions, Hartman's “Reimagining Health + Wellness” also found that America is in the midst of a “great transformation” with regard to notions of what it means to be well. More than half of all consumers, or 54 percent, said their views on health and wellness have recently changed, notes the company. Their new definitions of wellness included “feeling good about myself,” “being physically fit” and “not being overweight.”

The last of these is what Chicago-based market researcher Mintel is calling “The Big Issue” for 2011. Three of the firm's top 12 consumer packaged goods trends for 2011 hit on the health-and-wellness score, with obesity nabbing the No. 7 spot. As 34 percent of U.S. adults over the age of 20 struggle with obesity, Mintel reports that “consumers' attitude toward weight is polarizing, pitting the rise of the super-healthy against the eternal appeal of indulgence.” The firm expects that we'll see a surge in products catering to the overweight demographic in 2011.

Healthier Sales

Both Mintel and Hartman say all of this spells significant sales growth opportunities in the coming year for manufacturers and retailers of consumer products that promote health.

To find out what products and ingredients will be leading the pack, PG turned to Shelley Balanko, Hartman's VP of ethnographic research. The company's “Reimagining Health + Wellness” delved into the diets of U.S. food shoppers, and then divided shoppers into three groups: the Core, or health trendsetters; Mid-Level consumers, the majority (62 percent) of folks interested in good health; and the Periphery, those who are the least concerned with health and wellness.

Smarter Snacking

In terms of Mid-Level consumers and what retailers can expect them to buy more of this year, Balanko says healthy snacks will be one of 2011 's hottest categories. “Consumers are going to be looking more for things like small-batch kettle chips and snacks with whole grains like rye crisps.“ She also predicts that consumers who like snacking on fruit leather will make a move to whole dried fruits such as mulberries, and that those who reach for snack bars will be looking for examples with raw grains and whole seeds.

Raw Foods

Beyond snack bars, Hartman expects to see the market for raw foods grow. Balanko believes raw cacao and raw honey, in particular, will be on an increasing number of shopping lists. Other ingredients that she anticipates will be in greater demand include pumpkin seeds, flax seeds and oils, walnuts, Brazil nuts, and hemp seeds. Fiber will continue to be a hot item, she notes, but consumers will be looking for new sources of this dietary staple from foods like buckwheat.

Tea: The Beverage of Choice

In the beverage category, Balanko foresees consumers shopping for Iced green tea and kombucha tea, a fermented beverage. Both teas have been linked to digestive health — another hot-button health issue for 2011.

Simple Sweeteners

“In terms of sweeteners, agave and raw honey have been popular with the Core [health trendsetters] for some time,” notes Balanko. “Now we'll see Mid-Level consumers start to embrace these, and we also see stevia moving forward.”

Digestive Aids

While Balanko predicts that an increasing number of consumers will be looking to raw whole foods and beverages to provide the nutrients they seek, there's still a place for supplements at the table. “Digestive health is huge now,” notes Balanko. She sees digestive enzymes as the next big seller in this category, and further predicts Mid-Level consumers will look for it in supplement form.

Trends in Personal Care

What's hot in personal care this year? Think: Good enough to eat.

Consumers are making a move “more toward natural, even food-based ingredients” in their personal care products, says Shelley Balanko, VP of ethnographic research at The Hartman Group, based in Bellevue, Wash.

One reason for this, according to Balanko, is that consumers are broadening their sense of good health to include the environment around them. Shoppers make the connection between ingredients' being good for them internally with nourishing their skin or hair. “They think, if antioxidants are good to consume, maybe a cream with antioxidants will give the desired beauty benefits they seek,” Balanko notes.

And how do consumers feel about the lack of federal regulation with regard to beauty products? Balanko says people are much more concerned with animal testing in the personal care arena. “They believe if the product needed to be tested on animals, then it might be dangerous,” she explains.

Nutritional No-nos

Just as consumers shopping for wellness will be targeting specific ingredients to add to their diets this year, so, too, will they eschew other ingredients for the perceived detriment to health they pose.

The 18th Annual Shopping for Health Survey, conducted by Prevention magazine and the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), looked at top label concerns and found that 66 percent of shoppers are most worried about sodium levels and fat, making them the biggest dietary taboos. Sugar/artificial sweeteners were close behind, with 65 percent of shoppers voicing concern, and calories came in at 60 percent.

Mintel concurs. In its top 12 consumer packaged goods trends report for 2011, the research firm named the “quiet reduction” of ingredients such as sodium, sugar and high-fructose corn syrup as its No. 1 trend.

Giving Back for Good Health

Not surprisingly, consumers feel better about spending money on products or with retailers that give back to those in need. Companies and brands in the health-and-wellness category that do their part to support their local communities and beyond will resonate with consumers more than ever this year, especially as the nation continues to await economic recovery.

“Random acts of kindness” ranked No. 1 on Trendwatching. corn's ” 11 Crucial Consumer Trends for 2011.” The London-based global trend firm says “consumers' cravings for realness” will make giving back one of the most effective ways for a brand or company to connect with customers.

This is particularly important for brands along the spectrum of health and wellness, as consumers define wellness beyond pure physical health to the more general notion of “feeling good.”

“To not think and feel responsible for the health of our local communities and natural environment just isn't good business,” says Justin Cold, founder and CEO of Boulder, Colo.-based Justin's Nut Butters.

Justin's joined forces with Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market nationwide in December to donate $1 of every jar of nut butter sold. The funds went to Conscious Alliance, a non-profit that distributes food and resources to communities in need. Notes Cold: “A healthy business needs to be surrounded and inspired by a healthy community.”

And what's the one item that all generations (millennial, gen Xers, baby boomers and silents) of better-health seekers are expected to avoid? Carbonated soft drinks, according to Hartman's health report, which further noted that Core consumers (the healthiest trendsetters) are going beyond avoiding the obvious foils to good health, and cutting back on gluten, dairy and red meat as well.

Local vs. Organic

For years, “organic” has been associated with a healthier alternative, but Hartman's Balanko says it's now “local” that has become synonymous with fresher, better-for-you food. “People are more keenly looking for local — even more so than natural and organic,” she says, attributing the shift to Mid-Level consumers' suspicions regarding the authenticity of organic claims on certain items.

Henry Mason, head of research and analysis for Trendwatching.com, a London-based global trend firm, agrees. “Natural products with simple, compelling narratives will appeal to U.S. consumers' desire for authenticity,” he notes. “Claimed scientific benefits are often less appealing than consuming products produced by open, honest brands that really care.”

Technically Healthy

This year, market researchers and trendspotters are also predicting consumers will turn to technology to help them create healthy shopping lists, count calories, manage their diets, and more.

“Firstly, 2011 will see continued growth in smartphone penetration, and with it increasing numbers of apps that monitor one's personal health data via new, cheap, portable or even wearable technologies,” says Mason of Trendwatching.com.

In its recent Shopping for Health survey, Prevention and FMI found that more than 25 percent of shoppers choose to receive retailer updates and specials via an app, and that the same percentage also like the idea of using apps to make healthy choices in the store.