A majority of UK consumers are distrustful of food and drinks products that offer a magic bullet health solution. Instead, they opt for traditional health foods such as fruit and vegetables, according to a new survey by Canadean.
Canadean research finds that the majority of consumers are distrustful of product labels that promise miracle health cures, such as a boost to the immune system or improved gut health. Seven in 10 Britons deem them ‘misleading’ or ‘exaggerated’ and less than 4% of consumers rate additional health boost labels as ‘completely trustworthy’.
Sales numbers reflect this trend. Fewer than one in 20 UK consumers buy products that are promoted as offering additional health benefits beyond nutrition, such as energy bars and vitamin water, on a regular basis.
“The health food market is becoming saturated with new products that boast of new-found health benefits from relatively unknown foods or vitamin complexes,” said analyst Thomas Delaney. “However, there is a growing consumer trend towards traceability, natural produce and clean recipes.”
This is shown in Canadean’s survey, as almost eight in 10 consumers believe that basic fruits and vegetables provide equal health benefits to additional supplements.
“Consumers believe that basic is better, turning to ingredients they know and trust as opposed to products claiming ‘magic bullet’ solutions to health,” said Delaney. “Consumers can struggle to see products with a long list of synthetic ingredients as offering convincing health benefits, as they fear that those products may involve ‘bad’ chemical ingredients which counteract the positive effects.”
Canadean expects vegetable and fruit juices to be received well by consumers who are looking for a ‘back to the roots’, holistic approach to food and drink products.
“These juices will be a good-looking alternative to fortified drink products such as vitamin water, as they not only obtain their nutritional benefits ‘naturally’ from fruits and vegetables, but also come wrapped up in attractive branding and packaging,” said Delaney.
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