2018 Food Trends #4 and #5: Neuronutrition and Biohacking

For all 10 trends, watch the full video here.

This is an unfortunate reality we live with—that the foods we eat are the No. 1 cause of preventable death and disease in the U.S. It’s time to get our priorities straight. About 10% of the world’s population is on some kind of “exclusion diet”—having to avoid certain foods because of a specific ailment or allergy. Take into account excluding foods for preferences, and that number is reported to be well over 50% of the population. The U.S. consumer is smarter about food choices than ever—and let's talk a minute about “smart.”

Neuronutrition looks at how our foods effect our brains. Biohacking breaks all the rules to create a science for more individualized nutrition and products. We have moved from heart health, to bone health, to gut health, and now to brain health. The food-and-brain connection is important from growing our foods, to cooking, to how we eat, to the nutrient themselves.

Look for EPA, NAD, DHA and omega-3s to explode and become pervasive ingredients in all food and beverage products—and for all consumers, from infants to seniors. 

Innova has tracked a 36% increase in global product launches with brain claims over the past five years, especially in sports nutrition and cereals. We see the trends, from snack bars to baby foods to hip supplements, that are among the fasting growing sub-sector in the $36 billion dollar supplement market.

Related:2018 Food Trend #1: Mindfulness

We see chefs at London’s Squirrel Restaurant combining great taste with great nutrition. Better-for-you claims, according to Innova, now appear on almost half of all products globally.

As we discussed in our 2017 trends, bugs are big—and getting bigger. Loaded with nutrients and protein, their positive nutrition, cost and environmental profile are finally making their way into our diets. Are we going to eat a bug sandwich? Never. But as ingredients, there is little doubt for their success. And where better to start educating than with our next generation?

There are “engay” foods that are products such as salmon that are chopped and formed and reformed to take their natural shapes, designed specifically to help seniors avoid choking. Dulse is a new strain of seaweed that has three times the nutritional value of kale—and tastes, of course, like bacon. 

The most exciting may well be based on our DNA. To determine what foods we need to achieve that fountain of youth that Ponce DeLeon once promised us all. It’s not in Florida after all—just in every supermarket.