In 2025 and beyond, Mintel anticipates more focus on blood sugar and hormone health, while food and drink will play an increasing role in mental health management. There will be an increase in diversified ingredient sourcing, while the humanization of technology will be essential for consumers who are apprehensive about technology being used to create, modify and produce the food they put into their bodies.

The Mintel 2025 Food and Drink Trends are:

• Fundamentally nutritious:The emergence of weight-loss medications like Ozempic will redefine consumer perceptions of ‘food as medicine’ from being an added functional ingredient, to necessary to meeting daily essential nutrient needs.
• Rule rebellion:Embrace consumers as ‘perfectly imperfect’ beings who are hungry for brands that help them ‘break the rules’ in food and drink.
• Chain reaction:As disruptions to the food supply become more frequent, the industry will need to encourage consumers to welcome and trust the new origins, ingredients and flavors that will emerge locally and globally.
• Hybrid harvests: Food and drink companies will need to illustrate how technology and agriculture work together to benefit consumers, farmers and the environment.

Fundamentally nutritious

“The emergence of GLP-1 weight-loss medications will inspire consumers to reevaluate the relationship between food and medicine. Starting in 2025, brands must streamline their health claims to the critical nutrients they contain. Simplified claims that highlight protein, fiber, vitamins and mineral content will appeal to people who are using weight-loss drugs, as well as the majority of consumers who define their diets based on their individual needs and how food makes them feel. Expect to see an increase in nutrient-dense product innovations to improve short- and long-term health.

“Increased adoption of personal data collection will happen at the same time as consumers paying more attention to two metrics that are key to how GLP-1 weight-loss drugs work in the body: blood sugar and hormone health. Rising interest in blood sugar could increase the demand for low-glycemic formulas, as well as blood sugar monitoring beyond just diabetics. For hormone health, brands can support men and women as they navigate hormonal changes brought on by aging.”

Rule rebellion

“As society increasingly accepts imperfections, food and drink brands can target these ‘perfectly imperfect’ consumers with innovation that breaks the invisible rules around food and drink consumption. Brands can lean into how consumers want to, or actually, consume food and drink rather than how they feel they ‘should’. By supporting these rebellious tendencies, brands can help consumers feel more represented by the outside-the-norm food and drink choices available to them.

“In the near future, brands will seek to break down continued social stigmas surrounding lesser-talked-about health issues. For example, currently less-seen on-pack and marketing messaging that directly mentions the role of food and drink in mental health management will become more commonplace. Meanwhile, there is further potential for ‘rule-breaking’ innovation from food and drink brands that are feeling the pressure to be sustainable, despite knowing that consumers won’t necessarily pay more for eco-credentials. Innovative brands can create new norms by developing products with unfamiliar sustainable ingredients that can be marketed on their unique taste.”

Chain reaction

“More frequent climate-related production challenges and geopolitical events are increasing consumers’ food bills and awareness of how distant world events can affect their meal plans. In an increasingly volatile world, food and drink brands must clearly communicate how adjustments from local to global sourcing were made to benefit consumers. Cross-industry, multinational collaboration and scalable tech solutions will be required, but they are not without complications. More importantly, consumers will feel the consequences of these challenges personally, and brands must be ready with solutions.

“Looking ahead, more ingredients will be sourced from alternative and potentially more reliable growing regions, such as olive oil from Algeria or Peru. Brands can highlight the benefits of diversified sourcing, such as nuanced flavor variations. Many consumers’ local-centric identities will be transformed by social media, immigration and travel.”

Hybrid harvests

“A greater use of technology in food and drink production is inevitable to meet current food supply challenges, yet many consumers are not ready to embrace it. Despite this resistance, brands can tap into consumers being open to technological advances that, for example, enhance convenience. They will need to tell consumers how nature and technology complement—or better yet, enhance—each other.

“Over the next few years, food and drink brands must prioritize how these technological advancements benefit the consumer first through better taste, greater nutrition or consistent supply—and the environment second. It will be imperative that new technology is humanized,

particularly AI. For example, German juice brand Eckes-Granini’s marketing video announcing its partnership with Microsoft draws attention to how this technology makes a positive difference in their producers’ lives, not just making production more efficient.”

Photo: Pexels