“But COVID-19 changed all that,” she continues. “The benefits of a robust immune system have become an ongoing topic of interest across age groups and demographics.”
The International Food Information Council (IFIC), Washington, D.C., has been tracking that interest all along, and as Ali Webster, Ph.D., R.D., the group’s director of research and nutrition communications, notes, an April 2021 IFIC survey found that among respondents who cited immune health as a top priority, nearly 75% claimed that it’d become even more important since the pandemic’s outset.
Lovan points to similar findings from Innova Market Insights to the effect that not only did global concern around immune health grow during the pandemic; the most significant increase in interest occurred among Millennials and younger Gen Xers aged 36 to 45—“illustrating,” she says, “the long-term potential for products offering immune-health benefits.”
Defensive eating
“Perhaps most importantly,” Lovan continues, “consumers are taking action.” According to FMCG Gurus, 7 in 10 global consumers have made changes to their diets and lifestyles to improve immunity, she says. Also, Nielsen retailer sales data reveal that products with immune claims showed a 2019–2020 CAGR of 15%.
And that’s where snack and bakery brands come in.
Consider that IFIC’s most recent survey, conducted in December 2021, found 57% of respondents interested in trying foods or beverages that support immune health, Webster notes. What’s more, she says, results of the group’s 2021 “Food & Health Survey” show one in four looking for immune benefits from food, with two-thirds interested in learning how foods and nutrients affect immune health.
All of which makes sense to Sentko. “More often,” she says, “people are aware that the right food choices make the difference for a well-functioning immune system, and they see a healthy diet as a basic step toward supporting their inner defenses.”
In short, she concludes, “What we eat matters.” And though the public was warming up to that truism even before COVID changed everything, “awareness of preventive eating has only sharpened” in the years since, she continues. “And the emphasis has been on strengthening the immune system.”
A fortified fit
Consumers have plenty of options for leveraging nutrition toward better immunity, but Cargill focus groups suggest that most “try to get the nutrients they need first through food, and then fill the gaps with supplements,” Lovan says.
Fortified foods, she points out, fall into that middle area between whole foods and supplements. “Consumers embrace them because they simplify their lives: They let them get the health benefits they want—like immune health—through the foods they already eat.”