Consumers tend to look for a little something extra from the foods and beverages they purchase—like functional benefits. Added ingredients to foods and beverages can provide a perceived functional health benefit that helps drive consumer decision making. Examples would be extra vitamins or minerals, increased fiber, added probiotics—or a focus on the health benefits of naturally occurring ingredients in the product like olive oil or berries containing antioxidants. Functional benefits also refer to what the product does NOT have, like being lactose-free or gluten-free.
More and more shoppers look to the back (and front) of package product labels to substantiate product claims,. Thus, it is important to know which ingredients to include or exclude—and how to describe these inclusions and exclusions to your consumer. According to IFT, “today’s consumers are looking for…foods, beverages, and dietary solutions that will help them more aggressively meet their own unique nutrition and personal health goals.” Top functional benefits they are seeking include food and beverages that support heart health, energy, weight management, and gut health.
Ingredient Benefit Database
Using the InsightsNow Implicit / Explicit Test™, we created an Ingredient Benefit Association database to help uncover what health benefits consumers implicitly associate with what ingredients. This searchable database helps product developers and marketers alike know what ingredients to incorporate into functional foods, beverages and dietary supplements to meet the needs consumers seek. In fact, this database is but one of several databases about ingredient perceptions that you can search within the InsightsNow Innovation Center – Scoring Center. If you’d like more information on subscribing to download a data table, please contact us.
