Want to talk fiber? It’s no longer your grandmother’s bran flakes. Fiber has expanded beyond bran and whole grains into prebiotics, and fiber is more closely aligned than ever before with overall health through digestive wellness.

The expansion into prebiotic fiber ingredients had expanded fiber use from its traditional home within grain foods to a broader range of categories, including soft drinks and confectionery. Innova Market Insights actively monitors a broad range of trends—including global macro trends, lifestyle forces, consumer insights, ingredient trends, and new food and beverage product launches—that all show the impact of fiber use on various levels.

Fiber benefits from consumer and industry focus on digestive health, the hallmark fiber benefit. We see growing understanding of the composition of the gut microbiome, its optimal nourishment, and its impact on health and wellness. Furthermore, consumers are looking to improve their gut health, seeking foods and beverages with fiber, prebiotics, probiotics, and, most recently, postbiotics that offer benefits.

Ingredients in the Spotlight

Each year, Innova Market Insights releases its top 10 trends predictions and previews factors shaping food, beverage, and supplement launches in the coming year. The top trend for 2024, “Ingredients: Taking the Spotlight,” showcases the importance of hero ingredients in product development, new product launches, and marketing to consumers.

Consumers are drawn toward specific types of ingredients, including healthy ingredients or sustainable choices. They respond to storytelling that focuses on the geographic and ethical sourcing of ingredients. As consumers become better informed, discerning, and sophisticated, they also become more critical of product ingredients. In a recent global survey, one in three consumers told us that they always check for ingredients of interest on a product label.

Natural ingredients resonate with consumers and consumers understand that natural foods and ingredients have the nutrients needed for a healthy diet. We are not surprised to see manufacturers focusing on development and on-pack promotion of natural ingredients. Consumers also are highly interested in health and how food and nutrition can improve their health. Manufacturers are responding to this interest by using on-pack communications to educate consumers on key functional ingredients.

Another trend, “Prioritizing Prevention,” describes the appeal to consumers of products such as fiber-rich foods and beverages that support personal wellbeing, lifelong heath, and healthy aging. End of Part 1