What used to matter most to shoppers is which undesirable characteristics their foods were devoid of: fat, sugar, salt, calories, etc. Now, fortification and the inclusion of key health ingredients are on the rise, with fiber (44%) being the most sough-after component; whole grain (36%), protein (27%), omega 3 (23%) and antioxidants (16%) follow.
“While the main criteria for healthy foods was previously determined by ingredients it did not contain, today’s shoppers are now instead wondering what’s in their food, seeking to better understand the nutritional components of what they eat,” said Cary Silvers, director of consumer insights for Prevention.
About half of shoppers have bought cranberry juice, dark chocolate or almonds in the past year, probably because there have been marketing campaigns and news coverage touting the health benefits of these so-called “superfoods,” so dubbed because they contain large quantities of specific nutrients. Shoppers are also purchasing green tea (43%), pomegranate juice (25%) and greek yogurt (21%).
Certain health claims are also proving to be attractive to customers. When purchasing food, heart health (73%) is the top health claim on packaging that matters to consumers. More energy (71%), digestive health (66%) and improving mind health (65%) follow closely behind.
Despite this attention to healthy foods, lack of planning is trumping health in the decision-making process at the American dinner table, as 72% of shoppers decide what to have for dinner that day. When same-day decisions for dinner are made, health (52%) falls well behind taste (73%), quickness of preparation (60%) and craving (52%). Lack of meal planning is so pervasive that one-in-four shoppers (24%) decide what to have for dinner within one hour before eating.
Shoppers can take many routes to healthy eating, from how they shop to how they prepare food to how they eat. Substantial numbers make an effort in each of these areas: 44% use a list when shopping for healthy food most of the time; 54% have tried a new healthy recipe in the past year.
Half of shoppers say they don’t actively monitor their calorie intake on a daily basis but do make an effort not to consume too many calories at a time. About half say they are paying more attention to consuming fewer calories than they did two years ago; the same share say they are paying the same amount of attention; and just 6% say they are paying less attention.
Most shoppers generally read food labels, but that share has dropped the last few years, from 71% in 2007 and 2008 to 67% in 2009 and 64% in 2010.
Even though they say they are not reading labels as much, shoppers are increasingly likely to say they are buying more food products with certain types of labels; attention has shifted slightly away from the unhealthy side of things (trans and saturated fats, sugar/sweeteners, calories) to the healthy side (fiber, whole grains, vitamins/minerals and protein content). In other words, people seem to be more proactively looking for the healthful ingredients.
More than half say they have been buying more whole-grain products in the past year, for example, at 5%, up 6 points from 2009.
The shares are also up for low sodium (42%, up 8 points), all-natural (28%, up 6), low fat (41%, up 4), and lower/less/zero calories (28%, up 4).
The data for Shopping for Health 2011 were collected through an online survey, conducted by Harris Interactive between November 19, 2010 and December 1, 2010, among a nationally representative sample of 1579 U.S. shoppers on behalf of FMI and Prevention.