Hungry For Healthful Options

Health-conscious consumers are looking for foods and beverages that not only fuel the body, but also promote overall wellness and help prevent or manage diseases and conditions.

When it comes to U.S. consumer trends with staying power, health and wellness certainly is at the top of the list. So it only makes sense that demand for foods and beverages that promote health and wellness continues to grow.

According to a January 2012 report from the Packaged Facts division of Rockville, Md.-based MarketResearch.com, growing recognition among consumers, scientists, practitioners and government of the instrumental role diet plays in health is driving this demand. In fact, today's grocery shoppers are "very proactive" when it comes to educating themselves about diet, with more than half of surveyed shoppers saying they consider health, nutrition and wellness websites to be among the most valuable information sources related to nutrients in foods.

They're thinking specific

What's more, today's consumers increasingly are looking to the food and beverage aisles for products that help to prevent or manage specific diseases and conditions.

"Two-thirds of U.S. grocery shoppers have purchased a food or beverage in the past year for the purpose of addressing one or more specific health and wellness conditions or concerns," David Sprinkle, Packaged Facts' publisher, added in a press release related to the report.

Because heart disease remains the leading cause of death and disability within the United States, products that address this area — and the closely related area of weight control — represent a significant opportunity for retailers' store brand programs.

And retailers could take a number of steps to appeal to consumers concerned about heart health, says Dennis Milne, director of the American Heart Association's (AHA) Food Certification Program. For one thing, they could work with their private label suppliers to reformulate existing products to reduce sodium and added sugar. In addition, they could create messaging that educates shoppers about what attributes to look for when reading nutrition facts panels or using front-of-pack labeling systems — and show them how to combine a wide variety of foods into an overall healthful eating plan.

In addition, they could certify heart-healthy store brands under AHA's Heart-Check Food Certification Program. Several store brands currently participate in the program, Milne notes. Introduced in 1995, the front-of-package Heart-Check icon helps direct consumers to heart-healthy products and boasts a high level of consumer awareness (73 percent) and trust (63 percent).

But consumers differ from one another, of course, when it comes to interest in heart-healthy products.

AHA conducted segmentation research to identify four distinct market segments related to consumer behaviors around nutrition and heart health, Milne says. Each segment varies in terms of interest in nutrition and heart health — and the likelihood to be swayed to purchase by AHA's Heart-Check mark. (See the sidebar, this page.)

Heart health concerns also open up an opportunity for product development on the functional food side, explains Mary Hartley, RD, consulting nutritionist for Benelact Dairy.

"In the recent past, 'heart-healthy' foods focused on total fat and saturated fat, but now researchers are reevaluating the role of fats in the diet," she says, "and the evidence demonstrates that traditional recommendations may not be better. This opens the door to new products — like reduced-cholesterol dairy foods — to address heart health by focusing on different nutrients."

Of course, consumers are concerned about conditions and diseases outside the heart health arena as well. Maryellen Molyneaux, president of the Natural Marketing Institute (NMI), Harleysville, Pa., counts diabetes, blood sugar control and digestive health among other top health issues.

Indeed, food and beverage solutions aimed at diabetes and blood sugar management represent a huge product development opportunity. According to the American Diabetes Association, 25.8 million children and adults in the United States — 8.3 percent of the population — have been diagnosed with diabetes or have diabetes and are not yet aware they have it. Another 79 million have prediabetes.

Mind your ingredients

But retailers need not necessarily address healthful product development from a condition-specific perspective.

"Retailers can innovate against health issues, or they can innovate against ingredients," Molyneaux explains.

For example, a 2012 study from Global Industry Analysts forecasts the global market for foods boasting healthful whole grains/high-fiber ingredients to reach $27.6 billion by 2017.

Evan Hyman, business development manager for Ingredion Inc., Westchester, Ill., notes that 67 percent of shoppers believe all food categories could be improved for nutritional functionality, citing the 2011 U.S. Trend Study from St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Health Focus International.

"Unsurprisingly, consumers are paying more attention to nutrition facts and ingredient lists to find products that deliver added benefits," he says. "Retailers and manufacturers need to define their own position in this space in order to connect with health-conscious consumers."

Some options include what Hyman calls "nutrition by addition," or fortifying products with nutrients to achieve label claims; "nutrition by subtraction," or reducing "negatives" such as sugar and fat to improve the nutrition facts label; and the use of clean-label ingredients.

Doon Wintz, president of Chester, N.J.-based Wholly Wholesome, points to gluten-free, allergen-free and vegan formulations as significant areas of interest as far as ingredients are concerned. Moreover, the low-sodium and low-fat standbys still have their place.

Molyneaux also sees growing interest in glutenfree, and says natural and organic ingredients are continuing to grow. She believes the organic side of the industry, in particular, is positioned for another heyday beginning in 2013, and gaining strength in 2014. Expected to drive much of that growth is a market research and promotion order the organic industry is attempting to develop through USDA.

"They're in their second phase of that … and it's being driven by a very large study we did for the industry in the past year," she explains. "There's so much opportunity that is untapped, and we're seeing it in several different segments of the population."

For example, opportunity can be found in what NMI calls the "devoted" segment, which encompasses consumers already committed to organic products, as organic has yet to fully penetrate all categories. And the "temperate" segment also presents opportunities, Molyneaux says.

"This group is poised and ready to try more," she notes. "They're looking for ways to fit organic into their budget. … This is a perfect opportunity for store brands."

Another potential positive for organic going forward is the fact that a group of organic manufacturers is not waiting for the market research and promotion order to develop consumer messaging, Molyneaux adds.

"They have taken all of the work that was done in the study and are now putting that into creative development," she says. "So we could start seeing more consistent and stronger messaging from these companies around organic, I would say, no later than early 2013."

Show your commitment

To show they are serious about their commitment to promoting health and wellness through well-thought-out store brand food and beverage offerings, retailers also will need to educate shoppers and make such items easy to locate. On the educational end, Hartley notes that retailers could use their websites and social networks, as well as smartphone apps and quick-response codes, to reach consumers.

"Plus, retailers can offer store-within-a-store sections to sell healthier products, staffed by trained professionals to assist shoppers," she says. "A crossover between pharmacy and food departments can use fliers and coupons to help connect people with medical conditions to food options that may be appropriate for special diets. Store tours with registered dietitians can highlight foods that meet special needs."

Milne also sees opportunity in educational messaging delivered through the pharmacy upon prescription fulfillment.

"For example, a shopper picking up a prescription for a cholesterol-lowering statin would be a prime candidate to receive information on how to lower their cholesterol through physical activity and diet."

Other educational options include health fairs and themed sales promotions (such as heart health) that showcase food, supplement and/or medical products together as a "total solution," Hartley says. In this way, retailers could help consumers understand that a medicinal approach is not the only way to address specific medical conditions.

On the merchandising front, Wintz believes segregated sections are the way to go for the dedicated "health trend" shopper.

"Stores can do callouts using shelf tags, but if there are too many callouts, it confuses the shopper," he says. "Gluten-free, natural and

organic are best [for] shelf tag callouts."

But Molyneaux does not believe a segmented section is the way to go for natural and organic.

Although the approach works with the devoted segment, NMI's ethnography and shop-along research shows that it fails to capture the temperate segment. Why? Because those consumers simply don't venture into that segmented section.

"I really feel the future is 'integrated segregated,'" she says, "which means in the cereal aisle, there's a 4-foot or 8-foot section of natural and organic cereals, but they are together so they can be easily found where I'm already shopping."

And when it comes to merchandising heart-healthy — or other condition-specific items — shelf tags and on-package nutrition icons are useful. Label claims could center on nutrient content, function or qualified health claims substantiated through clinical science, Hyman says.

"Beyond front-of-pack claims, retailers can call out better-for-you offerings in a variety of ways, be it through in-store signage, a color coding system, end cap and shelf strip features, brand blocks or similar." he offers.

Milne also notes that AHA offers merchandising programs.

"One of the more impactful programs has been a shelf hang-tag program to flag Heart-Check certified products at the point of purchase," he says. "A sales lift analysis conducted by the AHA shows an incremental lift in purchases of Heart-Check certified products when they are promoted in store.

AHA also is able to work with grocery retailers to create shopper marketing health and wellness events in collaboration with participating Heart-Check certified brands — including private brands, Milne adds.

Interest in nutrition, heart health varies

Through its segmentation research, the American Heart Association (AHA) identified four distinct market segments related to consumer behaviors around nutrition and heart health.

The research showed that approximately 29 percent of U.S. consumers are "Proactives" who are very interested in nutrition, read labels and index high in terms of heart health interest, says Dennis Milne, director of AHA's Food Certification Program. About 15 percent of consumers, meanwhile, are "Struggling Dieters" who are interested in nutrition but tend to be overweight and struggle to pull together the information necessary to adopt a sensible and balanced eating plan. Like Proactives, Struggling Dieters index high in heart health interest.

"Overweight/Low Engaged" consumers, on the other hand, represent approximately 33 percent of the population; they are only "somewhat concerned" about nutrition and index just average when it comes to heart health interest, Milne says. And the 23 percent of the population AHA calls "Lucky" consumers, generally younger consumers with higher metabolism rates, are the least concerned about nutrition and heart health.

"AHA research further shows that Proactives and Struggling Dieters are most likely to have purchased products with the AHA's Heart-Check certification mark," he adds.

Mind the message

A study the Harleysville, Pa.-based Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) recently performed in conjunction with the Organic Center and the Organic Trade Association tested 65 different consumer messages related to organic. The purpose of the study, "Engaging the Next Wave of Organic Consumers," was not to find the one right message that resonated with consumers, but instead to find the right message elements, explains Maryellen Molyneaux, NMI's president. The study covered more than 40 product subcategories within all the food shopping channels.

"I think the message needs to be tied into the brand equity of the chain, and it should be tested against the brand equity of the chain," Molyneaux says. "Many chains are already listed in the study, and they'll be able to pull that information."

For more information about the study, contact NMI at 215-513-7300.