Gone were the days when food products were judged entirely by its taste, as consumers have become more health conscious and spent more time reading product labels to see if they were aligned with their health goals.
Having said that, it has become even more challenging for food manufacturers to create new products as they need to ensure these products have all the elements that consumers are looking for from the taste, health, price and packaging perspectives.
In recent years, there is however one new consumer perspective which is growing in popularity – the ability of certain food and beverage products to provide relief to stress or to enhance mood or mental well-being. More concerning is the data from World Health Organisation that more than half of all suicides that occur globally among the young to middle aged adults come from the Asian region. As such, apart from the important role of psychologists and social institutions in addressing these mental health issues, one can also find a partial solution via food and beverages. A Euromonitor survey conducted in early 2023 showed that 18% of Asian consumers claimed to follow a special diet to treat stress and anxiety issues.
To tackle depression and mood swing, food and beverage manufacturers look at the age- old idea that food brings ‘happy moments’ with the right taste and ingredients. In the current decade, manufacturers have the ability to add certain functional ingredients that can trigger positivity or relieve stress.
This idea about food relieving stress is entirely new and a niche category, however according to Euromonitor International, the growth in this segment in terms of NPDs is double-digit ranging from 27% to 29% CAGR over the period 2019 to 2022.
The following Chart 1.0 identified the food and beverage products in Asia Pacific with various mental/stress claims from the period 2019 to 2022. Apparently, products with stress relief claim ranks 1st in terms of number of SKUs followed by enhanced mental performance and sleep aid.
Meanwhile, with rising health awareness, food and beverage manufacturers need also to be mindful of the ingredients they use in these products. In the past, sugar was often considered to trigger positive mood however manufacturers now need to review their formulations to consider less-sweet flavor profiles but leveraging on functional ingredients to cater to these health needs. One good example is Guylian, a Belgian chocolate manufacturer, which announced in July 2023 that it was cutting some SKUs in Asia and to focus on dark chocolate variants, as dark cacao is known to promote feel-good emotions.
In the beverage space, tea has often been perceived as a beverage which aids relaxation and sleep, due to its ingredients such as camomile, ashwaganda and ginger. Euromonitor tracking data showed claims of relaxation and aiding sleep were the 2nd and 3rd most popular claims for tea brands after antioxidant claims.
