Personalized nutrition has gained a lot of attention in recent years and is already proving to be highly profitable for companies offering it as a service. In fact, business intelligence platform Statista valued the global personalized nutrition market at an estimated USD 8.2 billion in 2020, a figure he expects to double by 2025.
But how do consumers actually feel about personalized nutrition? And will this trend, like many health trends before it, continue to grow or fade away? Will it happen?
What is personalized nutrition?
Personalized nutrition (also called precision nutrition) is individualized dietary advice or nutritional guidelines based on a combination of an individual’s genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors.
Factors that determine nutritional advice include dietary habits, health status, phenotype, gut microbiome, and genotype. Personalized nutrition focuses on promoting health.
What are the benefits of personalized nutrition?
The main advantage of personalized nutrition is that, you guessed it, it’s individualized. This means that you will be advised on what to eat based on your specific dietary requirements and taking into account any existing health conditions or allergies.
“The main advantage of personalized nutrition is that it is unique for everyone,” Klaus Grunert, director of the Consumer Observatory, told FoodNavigator. “We have the technology and innovation to give consumers targeted health advice based on the foods they eat. Personalized Nutrition brings a one-size-fits-all approach to health advice to consumers. Instead, we consider individual data to provide targeted advice that is best for consumers and their health.”
Personalized nutrition is also seen as meeting the needs of consumers to better understand their health and dietary requirements.
“Personalized nutrition differs from person to person,” explains Grunert. “Personalized nutrition can be a great solution needed if consumers feel that the currently available advice is not suitable for them or their needs. However, such advice Some people can find healthy ways to eat without it.”
What are the criticisms of personalized nutrition?
Despite the very clear benefits of personalized nutrition, it has raised some concerns among consumers. One of the most prominent of these concerns is the data protection.
A recent report published by the EIT Food Consumer Observatory found that “most consumers are concerned about how much data is collected, who has access to it, and whether it is kept secure.” It turns out that there is a
The report, co-funded by the European Union, goes on to say that “data privacy needs to be very tightly and clearly regulated, and consumers need to be reassured that this is happening.” advises.
Another concern regarding personalized nutrition is that Fee. High one-time payments followed by ongoing subscription costs lead many to believe that only wealthy consumers have access to personalized nutrition. However, this is expected to change over time.
“Price is certainly seen as one of the barriers to consumer access to personalized nutrition tools,” Grunert says. “Consumer watchdog survey participants felt tools were unaffordable and unaffordable, but as prices fall and innovation develops, companies are more likely to be proactive about price and outcomes. We need to be more transparent and try to change this narrative of financial inaccessibility.”
But until the cost of personalized nutrition is lowered, and there is no guarantee that it will be, low-income consumers will continue to lack access to it. This is particularly problematic because high-income consumers are likely to already have better diets and are less likely to need additional nutritional supplements than low-income consumers.
According to the National Library of Medicine, “Low income is associated with poorer dietary intake. Compared to high-income individuals, low-income individuals consume fewer fruits and vegetables, more sugary drinks, and overall The quality of food is low.”
The consumer watchdog’s report found that consumers believe that personalized nutrition is simplyMarketing mechanism”.
“Consumers need to believe that the nutrition science supports this and that this is not a discreditable gimmick,” the report concludes.
The future of personalized nutrition
Although there are concerns about personalized nutrition, it is an area that is expected to grow in the coming years.
“Brands should expect more personalization,” says Rick Miller, associate director of food and beverage specialty nutrition at Mintel. He further explained that “technology will be the driving force behind future innovation and addressing new health concerns.”
But recent layoffs at personal nutrition brand Zoe could perhaps indicate that the personal nutrition trend is stalling.
“After experiencing significant growth and inflated growth forecasts for 2023, the team will… “We have expanded too much and need to cut costs.”
“It is clear that there is a general understanding among consumers of the potential for personalized nutrition to improve health,” explains Grunert. “However, if the industry does not make strides in communication, transparency and education, as cited by consumers in the Consumer Watchdog survey, the sector could be at a crossroads in progress. “Consumers are not only looking for solutions, but also the supporting information and reassurance that comes with it, in order to incorporate healthy nutrition into their daily diets.”
