It’s no secret people are more invested in what they eat than ever. Consumers have information available at their fingertips and it’s changing how, and what, we eat. While in many ways technology has increased the speed in which we do things, it has also brought an increase in mindfulness on many subjects, including our food.  As we become more mindful about our food consumers are going to the Internet to learn more about it. Google recently released a study of consumer trends in food from over two years of insights. Their big findings:

• Digital is driving interest in health – Today’s consumers are ten times more aware of healthy eating habits than prior generations. Using the internet to better understand their food and make more informed dining decisions. Since 2005 searches for foods with purported health benefits have increased 10 times.
• Interest in functional foods on the rise – As we move toward more natural foods interest in how they impact our health is on the rise. Rather than looking for things to remove from diets consumers want to add elements with positive nutrition back in.
• Mobile and Mondays matter – In order to better understand consumer needs to we should understand when and how they are learning about what they eat. Mobile continues gain traction as a search medium and many consumers research healthy food choices on Mondays when meal planning for their week.
• Form and function – Once consumers zero in on what they want to eat they delve into the best way to do so with recipe searches and how-to videos not only on how to consume ingredients but also how to transform them into other formats (i.e. skin scrubs, hair masks).
• Jumping on the brandwagon – As consumer demand for functional health ingredients increases more brands are adding these items to products in their portfolio while also making an effort to educate consumers on ingredient benefits and removing those with perceived negative impacts (i.e. artificial flavors, colors).

The big takeaway is consumers want to know about what they’re eating and they rely on mobile to gather that information. By supporting those needs with nutrition programs and digital marketing you help your customers have a better shopping and dining experience.
You can view the entire summary and link to the full report HERE.