Immunity Boosting Foods: Gut Health & General Immunity Improvement

Report Overview

Immunity Boosting Foods: Gut Health & General Immunity Improvement

In 2020 and 2021, the coronavirus pandemic has had a significant effect on consumer food purchases and desires for health and wellness. Packaged Facts has found that over 40% of consumers have been buying more food or beverage products to protect their immune system because of the coronavirus. Consumers are also eating more immune-boosting or healthy foods in general and buying supplements and vitamins during the pandemic. Survey results also reveal that those who are changing their behavior in relation to their diet are more likely to have experienced negative personal effects due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

What's in This Report?

With a focus on “what’s next” and current consumer trends, Immunity Boosting Foods: Gut Health & General Immunity Improvement is packed with insights about consumer trends, behavior, and motivations to help food producers, retailers, packaging companies, employers, and investors gauge consumer perspectives and find areas for growth in a competitive market.

Immunity Boosting Foods: Gut Health & General Immunity Improvement delivers actionable predictions and recommendations designed to guide producers, retailers, and investors in making business decisions by providing data and insights about what consumers think about foods and beverages and what products consumers are buying/using that have claims for gut health or immunity improvement.

Scope

Immunity Boosting Foods: Gut Health & General Immunity Improvement is the go-to source for a complete understanding of U.S. consumer trends in this functional food market. This report combines Packaged Facts’ extensive monitoring of the food and beverage market with proprietary surveys, and evaluates current trends and future directions for marketing and retailing, along with consumer patterns during the pandemic and across the broader food and beverage market.

Historical and forecast data are available for retail sales of packaged foods and beverages marketed with various claims for gut health or immunity improvement (including claims such as “high in antioxidants,” “high fiber,” and “contains prebiotics/probiotics”). This report also includes figures for fresh produce consumption and production in pound from 2015-2020 and projected for 2025. Historical retail sales of vitamins and foods and beverages that often carry gut health or immunity claims (fruit juice; kefir; sauerkraut; soup, stock, and broth; tea and kombucha; and yogurt and yogurt drinks) are also included.

Immunity Boosting Foods: Gut Health & General Immunity Improvement examines product marketing; surveys retail channel trends; and analyzes consumer trends and motivations. This report contains dozens of numerical tables and charts, as well as numerous product photographs.

Report Methodology

The information contained in Immunity Boosting Foods: Gut Health & General Immunity Improvement was developed from primary and secondary research sources. Primary research includes interviews with food and beverage market experts; participation in and attendance at food industry events; and extensive internet canvassing.

Primary research also includes national online consumer polls of U.S. adult consumers (age 18+) conducted on an ongoing basis by Packaged Facts to analyze attitudes of consumers and their relevant food and beverage preferences.

Survey data from MRI-Simmons are used to analyze the demographics and psychographics of consumers who buy foods or beverages with probiotic or high fiber labels.

Supplementing Packaged Facts’ exclusive survey is analysis of the 2020 Food & Health Survey conducted by the International Food Information Council, which analyzes consumer food purchase decisions, diet and lifestyle choices, and perception of health benefits in foods.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of consumer behavior and daily life, with more people looking to improve their health and boost immunity to prevent or lessen the severity of illness. Consumers are concerned about their own health and the health of people with whom they may come into contact during the pandemic, such as friends and family. Consumers are buying more supplements or vitamins to protect their immune system due to COVID-19, and some are also buying food and beverage products to boost their immune systems.

Packaged Facts finds that consumers who are changing their eating habits most extensively are also more likely to be experiencing personal effects of the pandemic. These consumers are frequently faced with reduced work hours, to be working away from their usual workplace, to be reducing business travel, to have had negative health effects, and to have had negative effects on their finances.

More consumers are looking for food products such as superfoods, functional foods, and those with gut health or immunity claims because they believe in the concept of “food as medicine.” For some, the pandemic has generated more focus on general healthy lifestyles with regular exercise and more whole foods, not just susceptibility to illness. Packaged foods with gut health and immunity-boosting claims – such as those featuring antioxidants, prebiotics, probiotics, or high fiber – are appealing to those who want to make small changes for big results.

Taking a deep dive into these trends, Immunity Boosting Foods: Gut Health & General Immunity Improvement examines the dynamics of the current landscape of the market for functional food and beverage products that are implicated in gut health and immunity boosting, whether through product marketing or consumer perception.