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For more information, visit www.win.bevnet.com Welcome to the Community Call Podcast.
I am Melissa Travers, Director of Community here at BevNET & NOSH, here with my co-hosts Monica Watress and Mike Schneider.
If you're enjoying the show, please follow and review us on Apple Podcasts or your listening platform of choice.
Monica and Mike, great to have you here.
I wanted to start off our conversation with one of my favorite topics and condiments, which is salt.
The FDA has been telling Americans to lower salt intake for years.
Their most recent guidance called on food manufacturers to help Americans reduce their daily sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams, which turns out to be a teaspoon of salt, which sounds like way too little to me.
A few months ago, PepsiCo announced that they would aim for at least 75% of its global convenient foods portfolio to meet or be below sodium targets by 2030.
And that includes Lay's, Doritos, and Fritos.
I mean, would you guys eat low-sodium Doritos?
That sounds like...
I know if you have to, you would, but that just sounds so sad to me.
I think the trick is you don't label it low-sodium.
I think people see that, and they assume it's low taste.
But these measures that a lot of CPG companies take where they do a stealth reduction, that's where it's at.
I think maybe that's the play that PepsiCo might succeed with.
That's really smart.
Low-sodium certainly coincides with the Community Call episode that we're introducing today.
The show that we did with NielsenIQ, they shared data around a number of different health and wellness trends, one of them being a low-sodium diet.
The searches for blood pressure in food and beverage, those were up 71%.
Low-sodium qualified foods were up 6% last year.
There was a 54% increase year over year in searches for the DASH diet.
It's low in salt, rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, and lean protein.
Yes, DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, and that's a diet that routinely ranks high on the list from US News and World Report's top list of annual diets.
Is this something that people who don't need to watch their blood pressure are going to be adhering to?
Like, for me, I carry salt around with me, and everywhere I go, I have it in like every bag, so if the food I'm eating isn't salty enough, I can add it.
I mean, I come from a family where Grandpa D'Angelo, God rest his soul, was just constantly shaking the salt onto everything, and you could see it on his plate, and I think I inherited a bit of that.
I like salt.
Did he have high blood pressure?
I don't think so, but he's not around anymore to ask, so.
Right, right, right.
Do you preemptively salt your food in a restaurant without even tasting it first?
Taste first, always taste first.
You?
Oh no, no, I taste it first too.
I taste first, but I will say, for example, I know that certain people in my family under salt things, so if they bring a dish to something or I go to their house, I will preemptively just salt it because I know how salty it's gonna be.
So you're looking for the crust first, if there's no crust.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, I would have a salt lick in my purse if I could.
Oh dear, Melissa.
Oh, that was a good one.
Low sodium is an ingredient trend that's exhibited in the Yo Mama's sauces.
We actually have them right here.
We're gonna give them a try.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Gino Genovese over at Yo Mama's.
He is the newest member of our Slack community, which everybody else can join at slack.bevnet.com.
So Gino, it was so nice to talk to you.
So great to have you in our community, and thank you so much for sending us these samples.
Monica, you have some over there as well, don't you?
Coordinated sampling.
I mean, this is so much fun, right?
So over here, we have the Calabrian Chili Spicy Pizza Sauce.
And I'd like to point out that calling out the chili and focusing on a specific pepper is something that Whole Foods Market called out in their 20, 24-ingredient trends.
Mike, what do you have over there?
I have the Yo Mama's Tomato Sauce Marinara.
They're calling out fresh ingredients bigger than even marinara almost.
Well, not quite, but just right under marinara.
Premium, no sugar added, low sodium.
With love, Yo Mama.
The pizza sauce is also low sodium.
Monica, what do you have?
Let's taste these.
I have the sensitive formula.
So it contains no onions or garlic and fresh ingredients, premium, no sugar added, low calorie, with love, Yo Mama.
All right, let's go for the pizza sauce here first.
And by the way, I can drink.
I'm one of those people who would just drink it.
I just tried it.
And this is coming from somebody who would immediately salt that because it's said low sodium.
It's really tasty, and I don't know if it needs more salt.
I think I could like it either way.
I like it like this, and it's super thoughtful, and the salt is in it, and it comes late.
Like now I have, it doesn't like hit your mouth and is immediately salty.
So that's why you might think, okay, it's gonna need salt, but the spices in this are super thoughtful.
Like you're getting that garlic powder, onion powder, even though they're like the lesser ingredients, it feels like there's plenty of them.
So I could, I would love this on a pizza.
Oh, me too.
And the Calabrian chili is really nice, really pops.
How about you Monica?
Monica, I'm really impressed with this flavor profile.
I thought you would taste the lack of garlic and onion, but they make up for it with salt, parsley, basil, oregano, black pepper, and fresh carrots in the formulation.
So really lovely balanced sauce here.
And what about the sodium level?
Do you feel like it's something that you would expect to be a low sodium product?
No, if you put this in front of me, I wouldn't have thought that it was lacking in sodium.
That is classic marinara.
Classic marinara, so thoughtful.
Marinara, really tasty.
This one I would add salt to.
I wouldn't need to.
I like, see, I like the tomato flavor.
I want tomatoes first.
And that has so much good just tomatoes zing that I'm into it like that.
Now that said, if you made it and you salted it, I would not complain.
All right, Monica, you are shaking up a jar of the alfredo sauce.
Use the table bang.
I got it.
Oh, okay.
Monica's strong.
She's chunky.
She is a thick.
I think she meant the sauce.
I did.
This is a thick sauce right here.
Yeah, what's going on with you, yo mama?
Roasted garlic alfredo.
I'm sorry, I've never seen it.
This cracker is standing upright in the sauce because it's just...
As you're dipping that cracker in the alfredo sauce, I suddenly wondered, what's the difference?
Couldn't you use it as a dip?
Would it function as a dip as well?
Let's find out.
Oh, this definitely would.
Oh, yeah, she's nice.
This is a really indulgent tasting sauce.
It's got fresh heavy cream as one of the first ingredients, and it's well seasoned, but just a nice thick.
I don't even know if...
This is like mashed potatoes in a jar.
I bet it would be good on mashed potatoes.
Definitely.
Well, YoMamas, thank you so much for the product samples.
They were delicious.
We thoroughly enjoyed them, even as a salt fanatic.
I thought they were so well done.
So thank you so much for sending those.
In this episode of Community Call, we talk about the low sodium trend and so much more.
I talked to Sherry Frey, VP of Total Wellness at NielsenIQ.
We discussed what's next in wellness for 2024.
She shared the wellness trends that are shaping consumer shopping habits and the dietary claims that are gaining traction and what clean label means right now.
Please enjoy.
Today on Community Call, we are talking to Sherry Frey, VP of Total Wellness at NielsenIQ.
Sherry, thank you so much for joining us today.
We are so excited to dig into the health and wellness trends that consumers are paying attention to and shopping by right now.
So thanks so much for joining us.
And I would love to start off with a little bit about your roles.
How does that kind of play out at NielsenIQ?
What are you responsible for?
Oh, great question.
And thanks for having us.
It's so awesome to be here.
You know, we at NIQ, we say health and wellness, but we also say total wellness.
And one of the reasons we say that is because we're really finding that as the consumer is thinking about their health and wellness or the health of their family or their pets, it's that personal aspect, but it's also there's a social aspect in terms of like health of other people and health equity that is definitely becoming more and more of a hot topic, and then the health of the planet.
So the idea of sustainability.
And so we kind of loop all of those together under our umbrella of total wellness.
But today I'm excited to talk to you about what's happening specifically around how consumers are thinking about the health of themselves and the health of their families.
It's been such a pleasure talking about this with you, and I know our audience is going to be super excited as we dive in.
Before we do that, could you set the stage a little bit?
What channels does Nielsen collect data from and where?
Okay, so just by way of background, and you'll probably catch me doing it as well, we are actually NielsenIQ or NIQ, so hold me accountable to that as well.
We used to be part of Nielsen, and Nielsen still exists, but it's the Nielsen watch, like the ratings and what people are watching.
And we're really what people buy.
And so we're in 90 countries globally.
I primarily focus in the US.
And what we measure is, you know, think about any channel where food is sold.
So the traditional grocery channel, the natural channel, the drug channel, the convenience store channel, we were just kind of the spew of omni, so even direct to consumer we measure.
And we just started measuring last fall TikTok, and TikTok sales, TikTok shop, which at first I was like, oh, there's not going to be that much there.
I've been blown away with how much health and beauty and food is being sold through TikTok.
So kind of consider anywhere that food is sold and consumer packaged goods are sold, we're measuring that data.
And so we measure the sales, and then we also measure the consumers.
So we have a panelist of consumers where we're seeing not just where they're shopping, but who they are.
And then we also measure what they're searching for.
And Melissa, that's what I'm going to tell you, I think, a lot of today, which is, it's not just what they're searching on Google.
That's not what we're measuring.
We actually measure, anytime a consumer goes into a retailer's website, whether it's a brick and mortar or an online, what are they typing in?
And what are the words that they're using?
And that often tells us a little bit about, we call it a signal identification.
We might not even have products that actually fulfill what their search is, but it starts to tell us, ah, there's something going on here that consumers are looking for.
So I'll share with you where some of that search data is directing us from a future standpoint.
Fascinating that you pick up data from TikTok.
And certainly everything that you laid out makes it clear that this is going to give us a really good idea of what not only consumers are buying, but what they're looking for as well.
So let's dive right into how people are thinking about health and wellness right now.
So of course, we came out of the pandemic.
I certainly heard anecdotally that folks were focusing perhaps more on comfort foods and less health forward foods, and that has shifted.
Inflation certainly is affecting the way that people are shopping.
Can you paint us a broad picture that helps explain how people are thinking about health and wellness right now?
Oh, sure.
So thinking about, even I'll just take us back to the pandemic.
The pandemic did not create any new trends around wellness.
It just accelerated many of the trends for many consumers.
And it was kind of, for a core set of consumers, it was a wake up call.
Because if you think about, especially early on in the pandemic, a lot of the deaths were actually people that had diabetes and had comorbidities.
So huge wake up call for people with heart disease, diabetes, obesity, any of those sort of core ailments in terms of being incredibly vulnerable.
But we all started focusing on our health and wellness.
And there were fascinating things that the pandemic did.
It empowered us in different ways.
So if you remember, we weren't going to the doctor.
We were skipping our doctor's appointments.
We were going to telemedicine.
We were doing much more testing at home.
I mean, just even the idea that we stick swabs up our nose, but it actually has kind of grown into this empowered consumer era where we're testing for sexually transmitted diseases at homes.
We're wearing more glucose monitors.
We're truly more in the driver's seat, and that was one of those accelerations that the pandemic did.
But then, frankly, this last year, a year and a half, it's been really tough.
And in fact, I just did our What's Next in Wellness webinar last week, and it was kind of a bummer because you're like, oh, wellness really took a backseat.
It was truly sacrificed for many consumers because of inflation, because of this idea that, hey, I'm just got to get food on the table.
And we saw it early on with some of the more premium attributes, things like organic.
We started to see early on people kind of pulling back from that.
But just in general, we track this attribute that's called better for, and it's this idea that better for health, better for society, better for the planet.
And we track it just in food and beverage.
And what was interesting was last year, you could really see spring, summer, like in the worst times of the inflation, people really pulled back.
And then about July, August, we saw a switch back.
And we are starting to really see that the better for pick back up again, where a couple things have happened.
I mean, frankly, three years of inflation from a consumer standpoint, it has compounded for so many consumers.
And that kind of was like the last year kind of felt like the painful part of it.
But we also know that as consumers were resilient, and we kind of can reset to new levels.
And so we think that's a little bit of also what's kind of where we're seeing this better for starting to come back from a consumer standpoint.
But if you just look at year over year trends, it actually looks like a tough year for wellness, but it's really isolated to some of those tougher inflationary times.
What are some of the other better for attributes that you found consumers pull back from in those really difficult inflationary months?
It became a little bit for consumers of buckling down for the basics.
It's like, okay, well, I'm going to try and eat more at home, but I'm not going to have as many indulgences.
I'm not going to have the discretionary things.
And frankly, actually, it was some of the other non-food items that went first.
Like, okay, well, maybe I don't need this makeup.
Maybe I don't need these sort of extra things that are in my basket.
And then it became more the indulgences.
Although, I will say, it's not necessarily, kind of like you mentioned in the pandemic, sometimes comfort food is self-care, right?
Like, sometimes that's like, okay, well, things are real tough, and I am going to go and have this confectionery, or I am going to go have this treat.
So it's not necessary that they just, like, fullheartedly cut it out.
But we just did see some of those things where it wasn't a core staple that they told us, and then they also, we all saw it in the data that they pulled back on.
I'm a firm believer that ice cream does make you feel better, so I can certainly agree to that.
Well, we pulled out some specific trends that were of note, and the first one we have laid out there is protein.
That certainly seems, as evidenced by the data, it's something that is affected by inflationary periods as well.
What can you tell us about protein?
I saw in the information that you shared, 25 grams of protein or more per serving is seeing the fastest growth.
Yeah, so it's been really interesting.
I actually said to someone recently, wow, protein is back.
And they were like, protein never went away.
And I'm like, oh, you're actually right.
But what we're seeing is, I mean, first we're actually seeing this interesting thing where search is up.
So search is in, again, in our data where they're going into the retailers searching for high protein.
That has really grown.
And at the same time, like, if the International Food Information Council, they've said, you know, like, 70% of people, 67% of people want more protein in their diet.
So consumers are looking for protein.
And, you know, we were fascinated because we look at everything for serving, you know, in terms of the RDAs.
And so we are seeing a lot of this growth in food and beverage products that are above the 25 grams of protein for serving.
And not just, by the way, in total food and beverage, we even saw it in plant-based, where, you know, plant-based has struggled, right?
It was like up and then, you know, like a lot of issues.
But now where we're starting to see some of the innovation even in plant-based is in higher protein offerings, which makes a lot of sense, frankly, because from a consumer standpoint, when I'm thinking about a replacement or an analog, I want it to meet, you know, those similar needs, not just in taste and in nutrition, but truly in like specific nutritional elements like the protein aspect.
And are you seeing that trend play out across the store?
It sounds like it's not just in the meat department.
Is it everywhere?
Yeah, so one of the things that we took a look at, and Melissa, we'll share the whole presentation with the audience here.
Everyone can access it.
But we were looking at what's happening with perimeter meat, frozen department meat.
What's just going on with protein?
And we all know dollars have been way up, and units are down.
And so we wanted to look at kind of where are those areas of growth specifically within protein, besides those higher grams for protein.
And we found areas like cottage cheese and Greek yogurt and even tofu, while it was flat, comparatively to not being negative.
We consider, and in fact, I'll tell you, when we were doing our What's Next in Wellness, in some instances, because of how tough the wellness trends were the last year, it was like, what didn't stink the worst?
What kind of held a little bit positive?
And that's where we uncovered this protein piece, where we just think what's going on is there's still a high level of interest in protein, but a shifting of where they're getting it.
Even tinned seafood, so canned seafood, which we've seen a lot of that kind of with Instagram and TikTok shop and just that growth of like girl dinner, protein in different kind of formats from a consumer standpoint, which has a lot of implications for retailers.
If we think about, consumers say they choose their store by the meat department, the produce department, like the perimeter, but if I'm shifting what I'm buying, that has a lot of implications for the rest of the basket too.
So if I'm not buying a center of plate protein, but I'm buying something different as a protein, what is the impact to all of those other accompanying items that were usually with the center of plate protein?
Absolutely.
As you mentioned, there is a full presentation, and I will share that in our Slack channel, so everyone will be able to find that there after our discussion.
I did notice that in almost every protein category, the unit sales were either stagnant or perhaps a little down because of inflation.
But as you mentioned, anchovies and sardines and cottage cheese were trending up.
Speaking of TikTok, every time I open my feed, I feel like I'm seeing someone put cottage cheese on something else.
So that's certainly fascinating and seems to mimic what we're seeing in social media.
Yep, absolutely.
Even since I did the presentation last week, I don't know that there's a day that's gone by that someone hasn't said, yeah, stop, I agree with you on cottage cheese.
You know, like, here's what I do with her.
Here's what I've, you know, I'm starting to just, it's definitely, we are being influenced.
What about animal welfare claims?
How are those shaping the way people are shopping for their animal-based protein?
So, you know, one of the things, this is kind of, when we look at sustainability, we kind of put that animal welfare element in that bucket, but we also are looking at very closely within proteins overall.
And it's been one of those places where we can just continue to see animal welfare as a claim across the entire store grow in importance.
And so whether it be, you know, in certain sorts of like cruelty-free or like there's global animal partnership standards, we're starting to see even that, you know, there's a level one, two, three, and four.
We're starting to see more of that in terms of claims on products.
We are seeing cage-free farm seafood not tested on animals.
So again, some of those are non-food related, but we just continue to see animal welfare as an important element of that kind of decision tree from a consumer standpoint on the proteins.
Sounds like a bright spot to me.
And in terms of diet trends, you and I talked about this a little bit.
When I think of high protein, I think about a keto diet, I think about a paleo diet.
It seems like based on how brands are adjusting their labeling and the way that they're presenting themselves, that those two eating trends and sort of diet plans are falling by the wayside a little bit.
Are you seeing those two ways of eating stay current or what do you see in that regard?
So again, this was one of those elements where, and this is where I love data, because the data sometimes will tell you something that you're, like your intuition is like, oh, I think that's going away.
And then when we looked at the data, keto is actually growing, not just in terms of, and paleo too, and not just in terms of brands that are putting it on label, but the sales and the dollars and the volume, the units.
Now, I want to kind of manage the expectations of a couple things.
The reason that we put it into the presentation last week was there's so much stuff that was down that was interesting to see some of these spots that were kind of bright spots.
But the number of items, it's lower in terms of like, this isn't like, oh, this is like a huge proven trend, and it's really large and growing.
It's still kind of in that emerging area, but the fact that we're seeing growth there, I think is kind of an interesting thing for brands to be looking at and maybe watching.
And at the same time, though, I think when you think about keto and paleo, and vegan, by the way, vegan was up too, like in terms of all searches and the data.
I think the other element that's important is from a consumer standpoint, it's not like people are eating, I'm full in all keto, right?
Or I'm only paleo or I'm only vegan.
In fact, we know there's such a small percentage of consumers that are actually consistently vegan, but it's a signal, we think, for them.
It's a signal around, okay, I'm looking to have more protein.
This is kind of like a signal rather than an actual full-on lifestyle or diet that they're completely adhering to.
Well, certainly, when I think keto, I think about sugar as well, which was our next trend.
Some information that you provided me with said that about a third of consumers are seeking low sugar or no added sugar.
How are you seeing this?
And this is something certainly we've been seeing for a while now.
How are you seeing this trend continue into 2024?
You know, sugar has been this one, and I think the FDA, you know, they're kind of looking at this redefining healthy.
And it was the first time, you know, that they had added, and part of the conversation was around added sugars.
And so we know from a consumer standpoint, sugar has become increasingly important.
And frankly, part of it, Melissa, it's just the growth of diabetes in this country.
The fact that we are seeing younger and younger consumers with diabetes, you know, this is just, it's very front and center from a consumer standpoint, and they're becoming much more savvy.
You know, you think about different diets that have kind of been big trends through the years, like Whole30, the savviness around added sugars, and it's not really as, you know, we all know there's sugar in candy, right?
But it's the added sugars in some of those foods that we don't expect it.
That's really kind of woken consumers up to the fact that there is a lot of sugar in what we're eating.
And so we know that they're watching it more and more.
Our research has shown that.
And I think it'll continue to be a spotlight.
But, you know, I'll tell you, I think the next one is really sodium.
I think that's probably going to be, you know, for the last couple of years, I think it was this conversation around sugar, you know, it's like the new cigarettes, right?
And, you know, and I think it's woken up many consumers.
And so you're seeing trends around natural sweeteners and you're seeing trends around, you know, sugar alcohols, you know, which pros and cons there, right?
There's certain consumers where that's got positive digestive challenges.
But there's definitely a focus on sugar.
But the shift, I think, is really going to be, you know, in 2024, we'll see even more of the topic around sodium.
We're going to get to that in just a minute.
You mentioned sugar alcohols, and that's actually something that I find to be a little bit confusing.
Is it sugar?
Is it not sugar?
How does it behave in your body?
How are consumers feeling about that, especially understanding that, you know, from what I understood, that was tied a bit to a keto diet?
So, you know, it's really varied.
You know, for certain consumers who do have digestive struggles, you know, and they are paying more attention to products that are free from sugar alcohols, you know, because they may find that they cause certain digestive issues for them.
Digestion in general is just becoming bigger and bigger, and it's kind of playing out in a variety of ways across the food and beverage space.
And so we are starting to see more brands who are actually laying free from sugar alcohols.
And so there's a little bit where it's kind of a, for some consumers, no big deal, and they actually love it and like it, right?
And so, like, it actually kind of helps them.
And for some consumers, like, it's a very specific thing that they're looking to avoid.
And I just think one of the, you know, the great things about the food industry is, is that the transparency for consumers and the labeling to allow consumers to kind of choose what makes the most sense for their body, I think is really been a big part of empowering consumers.
How about real sugar, but much less of it?
Something we're seeing so much in the beverage industry are brands who are choosing to include maybe five grams of cane sugar instead of a bunch of stevia and monk fruit, for example.
Are you seeing that also as a trend across food and beverage?
Definitely.
And I think if you kind of even think, I probably will get in trouble for even saying this, but I even think about the perimeter of the store.
And you think about how our fruit has become higher bricks and sweeter and sweeter and sweeter.
We have cotton candy grapes, and we almost have trained ourselves to a level of sweetness expectation.
But really, the interesting thing is you start to see brands that are pulling it back and changing formulations and using different types of ingredients to not rely so much on the sweetener.
I think the perspective from consumers has actually been positive of like, oh, you know, now the reality is when you think about a consumer, we've all seen the Instagrams or like, oh, this is this much sugar in this and this is this much sugar, you know, in this.
But the reality is consumers aren't super savvy on like, how much is X gram of the sugar for serving, right?
Like, what does that actually mean?
But they are, you know, like anytime that there's a call out that there's been a reduction, it's starting to kind of fill that need that they have for reducing the sugar that they have in their diet.
Makes perfect sense.
I do love cotton candy grapes.
They are so delicious and sweet.
All right, let's move on.
We love cotton candy grapes.
So salt is something that's near and dear to my heart.
I bring a little thing of flaky salt wherever I go, just in case it's not salty enough.
So are the rest of the folks in this country heading in the other direction?
Am I going to be all by myself?
No, Melissa, I am in the same boat.
By the way, if you open up my cupboard, you would be like, why does this woman need so many different types of salt?
Oh, good, okay.
So it's a passion of mine as well.
I mean, here is truly the reality though.
And when you look at our food and beverage space, 26% of our food and beverage sales is over 300 milligrams of sodium per serving.
So that's a lot.
And I showed that, I've shown that to different retailers, and retailers, their immediate response has been, I need to see how we are, right?
Show me how much sodium we have in our stores.
I've shown it to personal care companies, and you know what they've said?
I mean, they've said, this is what the future of our health looks like, right?
If we are consuming that much sodium, the implications, I mean, primarily one of the first is obviously in high blood pressure, which 50% of Americans, you know, have high blood pressure, and even more so in lower income.
So, you know, like we're really, like that's kind of one of those things where that's putting a big lens on it.
The FDA has asked also, so a big part of why this will be part of 2024, you know, they're asking manufacturers to take a look at and reformulating.
And, you know, frankly, the numbers are, they're basically saying, you know, I've got to hear that, you know, take it down to 2,300 milligrams a day.
We're all consuming about 3,400.
And actually, the recommendation should be really around 1,700.
So the idea from a consumer standpoint of, like, looking for paying more attention to sodium, and so, you know, we see it in the searches.
We've seen more and more searches, 70% increase in, like, people that are searching for things around high blood pressure, people that are searching for low sodium, you know, in specific products, even the DASH diet, you know, searches for that has increased.
And so it's definitely something that consumers are probably being told by their doctors in many instances, and in some instances, there's probably a media element as well, but starting to pay more attention, myself included, you know, like you start to kind of track and you think, oh, wow, you know, like I actually do consume, you know, quite a bit of sodium, not even the fancy salts that I have in my mouth.
Maybe I'll be a little bit more careful with my salt application.
And in terms of the populations who are concerned with salt, I mean, I would assume it's an older consumer who's concerned.
Is that not true?
So that's kind of the historical, you know, like historically.
And I will say, you know, one important aspect of just any big trends that we're seeing in the food and beverage space is those boomers, right?
The kind of aging, you know, there's so many of them.
And so they have changed our consumer packaged goods industry from the day they were born through every stage of life.
And now they're actually, there's so many of them, right?
And they are in this healthy aging, want to live life longer, you know, longevity, like that's very, you know, heavy focus there.
And so for them, you know, which are driving a lot of the, you know, can drive a lot of the trends, it is around this reduction in sodium.
It's around things around mental health and cognition and all of those sorts of things.
So for sure, there's like kind of an older demographic, and especially right now because there's so many of them.
But at the same time, again, blood pressures like diabetes, we're seeing it younger and younger, and so that implications that that has on just more consumers who are paying attention to this and frankly picking up packages and turning them around and looking at the, you know, sodium preserving.
We certainly know that consumers aren't going to forego flavor.
How are you seeing food companies elevate flavor without elevating the sugar and salt content?
I tell you what, this is one of the toughest areas.
I can't remember where the research came from.
It was a university that had shown that when manufacturers reduced this sodium, people actually didn't want it, right?
So again, we're trained for certain sorts of things in our flavor expectations.
You know, things that we're seeing, and it's probably a little more tied to formulation changes around clean label, is we're seeing more growth of like botanicals.
And you know, especially kind of getting away from things like the red dye and that sort of thing.
I don't want to say it's a conundrum for the industry, but I think it's a challenge.
I think this will be a new challenge for consumers and kind of a little bit of being on the journey with them, of understanding that like what our expectations, maybe even of a chip, can be very different if we want to have it deliver flavor, but also not the amount of sodium.
You just mentioned clean label, and with the evolution of clean label, for example, California banned the four food additives last year.
What is clean label?
What does that even mean right now?
So this is one of those, even when I say it, sometimes we don't have a single client that agrees on what clean label is.
Everyone has their own kind of view and perspective, and I think if you ask consumers, same thing.
But really, it's kind of a very broad term, but it is a focus on ingredients, right?
And so California had the Skittles law, and it's got the four ingredients.
I think last week, Illinois just put out a proposal that they're going to do the four plus titanium dioxide.
So the idea that there will be this focus on very specific ingredients is kind of the first phase of what clean label would be.
I think we could all align and agree on that.
That piece.
And then it kind of evolves for consumers based on is it that the ingredients are, you know, what level of processing is done to the ingredients.
It's kind of, you know, we're tracking this topic of ultra-processed, which there's a lot of kind of differing opinions in the industry of what that means.
I think that will be a piece of what clean label looks and feels like because there's the whole, like, not just the level of processing that's done, but there's some general pieces, right?
It's the artificial colors, it's the artificial flavors, it's the preservatives.
I mean, there's kind of that general consensus from consumers that, you know, it's these elements as well that is what defines clean label.
You mentioned ingredients, and this is something that I've been so curious about and that we talked about a little bit.
I feel like there's so much confusion around some of the ingredients that were laid out as perhaps they were vilified, really, by the whole 30-diet, nepelio diet, like canola oil, for example.
I just yesterday saw an influencer talking about how canola oil is totally fine, and there's all this research.
I also think about gums.
There are so many hyper clean label influencers who are telling everybody to stay away from guar gum and xanthan gum, but then you hear other people talking about how they're totally fine.
How are consumers thinking about some of these questionable ingredients, like stabilizers, for example, as well, or natural flavors?
So they're paying more attention than ever before.
And in fact, we did some research with FMI in the fall where we were looking at transparency and what does that mean to consumers and how do they define it.
And the funny part was like one of the first things they asked for was ingredients.
And we're like, well, that's the one thing that's actually legislate required, regulated to be on a package.
But what they really want is they want to know why it's in there.
And so I think one thing we've seen many brands do, which I think is great is if there are binder spillers, et cetera, they're actually explaining.
So putting things in parentheses, being more explicit with the consumer, like this is in here for this.
Because if you talk to many food scientists, they would say, I don't know how the consumer thinks they're actually gonna get this product without it actually having this sort of science behind it.
And so kind of giving them that additional information that they feel that the company is being transparent, that the ingredients are transparent.
And then there's a little bit of an education, right?
Like sometimes you hear words and you're like, oh, wargum, that's terrible.
I would never want that.
And then when you're educated, you're like about what it is and where it comes from, you might be like, oh, okay, I'm okay with it, or maybe I'm still not.
But it's kind of that giving the consumer the information.
I think the seed oil thing, it's interesting, Wall Street Journal, there was just this whole like, are they good?
Are they bad?
What are influencers saying?
It's fascinating, Melissa, the way the industry has shifted.
You know, it used to be that you would kind of get your information from a few trusted sources, and you would trust the retailer, and they would provide much more of that.
And now, on any topic, you can have an influencer on this side and an influencer on this side, and it adds to the confusion.
And I think the other element that adds to the confusion is human nature.
And that is that we love to have a villain, and we love to have a savior, right?
So we're always kind of like, oh, it must be this.
That's why I can't lose weight, right?
And so there's a little bit of this like, what's the latest?
I mean, you're kind of starting to hear glucose, right?
Now it's glucose is the latest.
It's not even sugar.
And so it's a little bit of us always kind of looking for what might be that thing that's causing my problems and what might be that thing that can save me.
That's such a great point.
There's nothing more human than trying to make sense out of chaos.
In your point, too, about how explaining why ingredients are contained in any given product is so interesting, it almost seems contrary to how we would think about clean label ingredient panels.
It sounds like they're getting longer, not shorter.
Yeah, in fact, that was one interesting thing that we found because we track number of ingredients, and we hypothesized that we would actually see fewer ingredient stacks, less ingredients, but we're actually seeing more, even just the last five years, just the count increasing.
And I think, again, that ties to manufacturers who are doing more to actually explain things in the ingredient label, but it also is saying that, hey, as an industry, clean label doesn't mean you have to reduce the amount of ingredients.
That could be a priority for your product, your brand, your consumer, but it doesn't necessarily have to be the case.
Fascinating.
You mentioned digestive health earlier on in the conversation, and certainly we see gut health as being a growing label for both food and beverage alike.
How are you seeing this trend play out?
So it's been that one where we've continued to see this over the last few years, and part of what's going on with digestive health is there are more and more consumers that are struggling with digestive health challenges.
And even in our data, we look at people with ailments and their income levels, and particularly we're seeing it with lower income consumers.
They're in some cases three times as likely to have things, challenges that are tied to their gut health.
But just in general, consumers are recognizing their microbiome, that my gut's tied to my skin, it's tied to my brain.
So that whole kind of view of the holistic as well.
So there's like this kind of, in fact, I'll tell you kind of a funny aside, when we were doing our webinar, we're putting together the slide, one of the team members put in this picture, this guy clutching his gut, right?
And I was like, well, it's actually not always negative, right?
Sometimes it's like this like very positive, like I'm just trying to like be healthier, have better mental acuity, et cetera.
And like, so digestive health is just becoming more and more important, microbiome is becoming more and more important across the store and kind of what they're looking at.
And so in some instances, it's like not having products that have sugar alcohols.
And in some instances, it's saying, oh, I want prebiotics, probiotics.
And I mean, postbiotics is the other big trend that we're seeing more and more of or specific products that are formulated just for gut health.
The prebiotics, postbiotics, and I'm missing a biotic.
Are you seeing brands use those labels and use those ingredients in their formulations more and more?
And are consumers responding to that?
Yes, yes, and yes.
We're starting to see more, you know, and that's, I think, where, you know, sometimes it's a little bit when you look at trends, you're like, is it because the brands are putting this on and the consumers are responding to it?
And it's kind of both.
We're seeing more brands who are talking about microbiome, who are talking about gut health.
We also are seeing, really, consumers, again, back to that search, they're typing in gut health.
So we know that there's this increased interest in that.
And, you know, we've been tracking things like the new weight loss drugs, the GLP-1s, like Ozempic, huge digestive challenges, you know, and so that, again, for that smaller subset of consumers, it's bringing that topic very much to the forefront.
How are drugs like Ozempic and Wigovy impacting the way that consumers are eating and shopping?
You know, it's been really fascinating to watch.
We actually, last week was the first time we actually said anything publicly because it's so controversial, you know, in terms of, you know, this idea of taking an injection and what's the impact.
And, you know, the big question has been, will people eat less food?
Will this impact the grocery store?
Will it impact snacking categories and specialty categories?
And, you know, what is the future look like?
And so we've been tracking these consumers and just, we always track every year people that are on weight loss drugs and, you know, like what they buy.
I always love that too, by the way.
Sometimes it's like what people say and then what you see they actually buy, you know, that whole like, yeah, well, you say and you didn't, you know.
So being able to really track that.
And we had seen this past year in 2023, there was a doubling of people who said they were obese and overweight and were on a weight loss drug.
We're actually taking a drug to treat.
So we knew that there was an uptick.
But again, it's still, you know, we're talking real small bases in terms of the number of people that are on it by growing.
And so we started tracking specifically GLP1s, Wigovio, Zempic, like which one are you on?
Are you on it for weight loss?
Are you on it for diabetes?
Like what's your why behind why you're buying it?
And I would say it's still too soon to say this is the answer.
But here's what we do know.
We know that they're actually not buying less.
We actually have seen their volume up.
And the big takeaway for us is then we think that they're actually not going out to eat as much.
They're cooking more at home.
And part of that would be because, you know, frankly, like if you're full after a few bites, why would you want to go out to eat and pay the money and whatnot?
I mean, there's their hypotheses, right?
We know that they're spending more in the store.
But the other element is, and you can see this a little bit in the other pieces they're buying, they are having digestive challenges.
For some consumers that are on GLP-1s, there's what's called like the osempic burp, and it's kind of a sulfur smelling burp.
So we've seen things around their digestive health.
I mean, whether it's over-the-counter products or foods in the store, anything that's tied to digestive health, they're eating more of.
They're also buying more fragrances.
So we know that they're concerned about kind of what smells, right?
So there's kind of that element that's really key for these consumers.
There's certain categories they're eating more of, so like protein and paleo and all of that, they're interested in.
But they're not eating this many vegetables from the produce department, which again we think has a little bit maybe to do with the digestion.
There's again gas and sorts of things that can happen.
So there's just kind of a lot of different things that are still in question and the cost, right?
Like if this is $1,000 a month out of pocket, that's a very different scenario and subset of consumers who can be on it.
My eyes are just popping out of my head.
I'm so fascinated.
And it will be so interesting to track this and see where we are a year from now with all of this.
I have one last trend.
I love to cover energy.
It's of course something that's huge in beverage.
We hear so many brands talking about clean caffeine, but then we're also seeing that fleet products are becoming more and more popular, moderating caffeine.
Where are we with energy?
Oh, my gosh.
I mean, caffeine alone, I will tell you, we put a slide in the deck that you'll share with everyone, but it's such a mixed bag.
I mean, we're seeing everything from more searches for high caffeine to searches for clean caffeine, and the trends are both way.
You know, like decaffeinated supplements is up, you know, like 1000%.
And what we do know is there's kind of a couple things that are top of mind from a consumer standpoint.
There is definitely a conversation around how much caffeine should I have in one day and when should I have it, especially as it relates to my sleep, right?
Like, so not, you know, not having it after 2 p.m.
So that's definitely part of that kind of consumer conversation.
There's also the conversation around truly, when you look at some of these especially functional beverages, the amount of caffeine, and I think things that have recently occurred with Panera has put an additional spotlight on the amount of caffeine and these products, who is the consumer of them?
You know, is it an adult?
Is it a child?
Is it someone in school?
We can anticipate that conversation will continue, right?
And, you know, a little bit of understanding.
You know, even I was sharing with someone recently, you know, the difference between a cup of coffee and some of the energy drinks and, you know, it's really surprising to a lot of people.
Definitely form is big, so we've seen a shift in terms of, you know, like caffeine, you know, there was a, I mean, last few years, there was a lot of, like, caffeine in bars.
We've seen a shift, you know, away from that in terms of the sales trends.
And so we know they want it in more than just a beverage, but exactly where and how they want it, you know, is kind of continuing to evolve, I guess.
So super mixed bag.
I would say that's one where, if anyone was thinking about, like, putting caffeine or infusing caffeine or whatever, we know consumers want energy.
That's top of the list, right?
Like, in terms of the functional beverages.
But I would really, you know, be looking at, like, who's my target audience and where are they in terms of the types of caffeine sources and how much.
What types?
I mean, certainly I see clean caffeine come up, but then I think what's, like, what's clean caffeine and what's dirty caffeine?
Yeah, and I guess that's a really good point, right?
It's more, we're seeing things where it's, like, searches for half caffeine and, of course, decaffeinated, right?
So just the number, the, like, guarana is an example where we're seeing, you know, more searches for that.
We're starting to see more, like, cow, you know, like, and so, like, just different sources.
But again, not to say anything is bad, but there is this reality of just, again, human nature, how we like to vilify.
And then we, like, try and go for what's the next version of what I really, you know, that meets the needs of the function, but might have a different name.
I can't blame the caffeine.
I can't blame the canola oil.
I'm going to have to come up with something totally different.
This was a treasure trove of data and so well laid out and explained.
I can't thank you enough for joining us.
It's been great to have you here.
Thank you for having me.
That concludes another episode of the Community Call podcast.
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