Genetic profile nutrition app
 A growing number of consumers are looking for services such as a genetic profile, or metabolism and disease risk via DNA tests.

A key trend in 2017


Such market research companies as New Nutrition Business, London, and Innova Market Insights, Arnhem, The Netherlands, have identified the concept of personalized nutrition as a growth opportunity for food and beverage companies as consumers increasingly turn to individually-tailored diets.

Julian Mellentin
Julian Mellentin, director of New Nutrition Business
“Personalization is about consumers taking back control,” said Julian Mellentin, director of New Nutrition Business. “They want to feel more empowered and confident to create their own healthy eating patterns. It goes hand-in-hand with growing awareness that diet is a personal matter — and it’s another stage in the long slow death of ‘one-size-fits-all’ dietary recommendations.”


Mr. Mellentin said many consumers are embracing such personalized services offered via wearable technology and proving receptive to guidelines based on weight, height, sleep pattern, heart rate and activity. A smaller but growing number of consumers are looking for more in-depth services, such as a genetic profile, or metabolism and disease risk via DNA tests.

“The industry can tap into the personalization trend in three ways,” Mr. Mellentin said. “First, smart companies will create a portfolio of brands, made to meet the needs of different consumer diets and preferences. Second, they will invest in a multi-platform approach, offering support and tailored dietary advice. This means partnering with entities providing advice on diet planning or with fitness gadgets. Finally, they should invest in e-commerce, as it has proven to be a main route to niche consumers.”

Mr. Mellentin also sees personalized nutrition services, including tests for biomarkers for such conditions as chronic inflammation, being another emerging trend for 2017.

Gluten-free nutrition
Free-from foods are a form of personalization, with people believing there is a certain type of food or diet that makes them feel good.

“Just like gluten-free back in 2001, many people say inflammation faces several challenges: consumers don’t understand it, it doesn’t have strong scientific support, and you cannot immediately feel the benefit of anti-inflammatory foods,” he said. “In fact, all of these objections are rapidly being overcome.”

And like gluten-free before it, one of the most important drivers of growing interest in inflammation is consumer belief, he said. Like gluten-free, inflammation taps into deeper levels of consumer concern than is immediately apparent. It is fueled by multiple benefit platforms and early signs of its potential are connected to the intense growth in consumer interest reflected already in sales of supplements featuring turmeric, a spice believed to have anti-inflammatory properties.

In a Nov. 23 webinar, Lu Ann Williams, director of innovation for Innova Market Insights, also tapped personalized nutrition as a key trend for 2017.

Lu Ann Williams, director of innovation for Innova Market Insights

“I think we all talk to people who say carbs don’t agree with me or fats don’t agree with me, but if I eat a lot of protein my body responds really well,” she said during the webinar presentation. “Or (they say) I get bloated when I eat this. There is lots of discussion about how food makes people feel and this is really the beginning of the acknowledgement of personalized nutrition.”

Similar to Mr. Mellentin, she said control is a key component of the trend.

“Even today, maybe someone may sign up for a meal plan and if they write down what their goals were, what they liked and how their body liked certain foods and they have it delivered to their house,” she said. “ … Gluten-free, lactose-free, some of these things, especially gluten-free, free-from foods, are definitely mainstream and that has everything to do with people feeling there is a certain type of food, a certain type of diet that makes them feel good. And that is what personalized nutrition is about.”