For the third edition of the Trend Report on Nutrition, NUTRITION HUB, Germany’s largest network for nutrition, joined forces for the first time with the Federal Centre for Nutrition (BZfE) and surveyed over 100 international experts. A total of ten trends emerged.
71 percent of the nutrition professionals surveyed see climate-friendly and sustainable nutrition as the most important and irreversible development of this decade. The importance of the topic is particularly noticeable in three areas. Firstly, the number of scientific papers and research projects on this complex is rapidly increasing. Secondly, consumers today value the aspects of regionality and sustainability more highly than health when making nutritional decisions. Thirdly, a rethinking towards more sustainability is taking place in communal catering.
Plant-based nutrition ranks 2nd place in 2022 most important trends
49 percent of the experts surveyed for the trend report observe that the demand for vegan and plant-based nutrition is growing strongly. More and more people, including many responsible persons in canteens and school kitchens, are opting for plant-based food. According to Dr Robert Schaller, Head of the Department of Nutritional Science and Nutrition Research at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), the resulting nutritional and physiological consequences are now an important field of research.
In addition, a boom in healthy food-to-go has also been identified. Not least because of the increased demand due to the pandemic. There is also a trend towards awareness of healthy nutrition and food.
Between 27 October and 12 November 2021, nutrition experts from the NUTRITION HUB and BZfE networks were surveyed on the Trend Report on Nutrition 2022. With the help of open and semi-open questions of an online questionnaire, developments in the nutrition sector were identified that are perceived in daily work. The answers were weighted according to frequency and evaluated. 107 experts from a wide range of areas in the nutrition sector took part in the survey.
What makes this study different?
Only experts, whose experience spans decades in many cases, have their say in the Trend Report on Nutrition. “Influencers in the areas of nutrition and health reach many millions of followers. That’s why it’s clear to us: our professionals in nutrition have to have their say,” explains Dr. Simone Frey, initiator and founder of the NUTRITION HUB.
Dr Margareta Büning-Fesel, head of the BZfE, which is part of the Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food (Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung, BLE), adds: “In our report we rely on ‘expert listening’ instead of ‘social listening’. What do the experts observe? What focal points do they identify? What options for action do they point to with an eye to the future?”
Further information on the Trend Report can be found at www.nutrition-hub.de.
