Snacking is central to the strategy of ambitious and creative companies, with explosive growth in the number of new snacks launched between 2010 and 2017: 125% in Europe and 47% in North America.

But this huge growth means that healthy snacking is now an intensely competitive and crowded space, according to a new report from New Nutrition Business, Strategies in Healthy Snacking. “Companies have to work even harder to create a product that brings a real point of difference for the consumer,” says Julian Mellentin, author of the report.

UK consumers think that information about diet and health is confusing, and they would rather believe the internet than a dietitian.

In a survey of 2,000 consumers in the UK, US, Spain and Australia, conducted by New Nutrition Business, 79% said they find messages surrounding health, food and nutrition confusing.

Consumers’ quest for better carbohydrates and fewer carbohydrates is creating a wealth of large and growing opportunities, even in the mass market, according to 10 Key Trends in Food, Nutrition and Health 2018, the annual trends report from New Nutrition Business (available at www.new-nutrition.com).

Once shunned for its high saturated-fat content, coconut has been reborn as a star ingredient of better-for-you foods and beverages. Today Millennials largely perceive coconut as a naturally healthy food, and say it’s one of the main reasons they purchase coconut-based food products, new research by New Nutrition Business shows.

When PepsiCo, the world’s second-biggest food and beverage company, bought small fermented drinks maker KeVita in late 2016, it sent a clear sign that fermented foods have reached a tipping point.

When a giant food company invests $32 million in a startup focusing on personalized nutrition – as Campbell’s recently has – then you know that “personalization” has reached its tipping point. Personalized nutrition is a key growth opportunity for food and beverage companies as consumers increasingly turn to individually-tailored diets.

The massive fragmentation of consumers’ beliefs about health is contributing to the break-­up of traditional food and beverage markets and opening the doors of opportunity for start-­ups and small brands, says Julian Mellentin, director of New Nutrition Business and author of 10 Key Trends in Food, Nutrition and Health 2016. “Big food companies are being forced to rethink their business models,” he says.

Seaweed is a rare example of an opportunity to get in at Day One of a new growth market for snacks, predicts New Nutrition Business, with sales of seaweed snacks in the US already overtaking those of kale.

A fragmentação maciça das crenças dos consumidores sobre a saúde está a contribuir para a quebra dos mercados de alimentos e bebidas tradicionais e a abrir portas para novas oportunidades para start-­??ups e pequenas empresas, diz Julian Mellentin, diretor da New Nutrition Business e autor do relatório das 10 Tendência Chave em Alimentação, Nutrição e Saúde 2016 (10 Key Trends in Food, Nutrition and Health 2016). "Grandes empresas alimentares estão a ser forçadas a repensar as suas estratégias de negócios", diz ele.