For years food and beverage companies have competed by adding a hefty helping of the latest trendy ingredient to their products, even if it was incongruous at first glance, such as double-digit doses of protein in chips or candy, pre- and probiotics in soda or fortifying baked goods with enough fiber to qualify for keto-friendly low net carb claims.
But increasingly the health halo surrounding a single star ingredient is not enough to capture consumers’ attention. Rather, in a post-GLP-1 era where shoppers are consuming less and looking for more from each bite, manufacturers and ingredient suppliers must deliver products that solve multiple problems at the same time.
The industry has dubbed the trend “benefit stacking,” and it was on full display at the Institute of Food Technologists’ FIRST Event in Chicago last month. At the annual show where food science and innovation come together, exhibitors were less likely to tout a single ingredient, like protein, fiber or a specific sweetener, as in prior years. Rather, callouts on booths and handouts focused what ingredients deliver for consumers and the science to back up claims, such as sustained energy, immunity, digestive support, mental clarity and low glycemic.
This episode of FoodNavigator-USA’s Soup-To-Nuts podcast, recorded from the floor at IFT FIRST in Chicago, explores how benefit stacking has become one of the defining innovation strategies for food. Emma Cahill, global marketing director for sweeteners, fibers and GLP-1 at Tate & Lyle explains how five trends, including nutrient density, gut health and cognitive wellness, are converging with consumers’ intensifying focus on “value” to influence the next generation of food and beverage products.
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The end of the ‘hero ingredient’?
Walking the show floor at IFT FIRST this year, Cahill says her main take away was the focus on outcomes – like energy, satiety, gut health, cognition, hydration or overall wellness – rather than “hero ingredients,” which historically rotate every few years and promise to transform the way we eat.
“Things have changed a lot in the last number of years. Earlier in my career, I would have been looking for the new ingredient, the innovation, something new and something special,” but now consumers are more intentional in their diets and so “it is less about the faddy new ingredient” and more about “how can we stack benefits in ways that consumers can be intentional with their diets and not compromise on taste and mouthfeel?” said Cahill.
She is quick to add that product success is not just about stacking need states, but also about fitting into consumers’ everyday lives with a product they want to eat and which is convenient.
Two examples of the evolution of hero ingredient to benefit stacking are protein and fiber.
Cahill explains that protein is now expected and the escalation of grams is no longer a point of differentiation. Rather, consumers are looking for products that deliver protein and also the best taste, mouthfeel, calorie-count and other nutrients to help absorption and support dietary goals.
Likewise, fiber’s recent boom hinges in part on its versatility – so the benefits it brings beyond digestive health to include satiety, support absorbing other minerals, bone health, the gut-brain axis and other health benefits consumers want, she said.
Three other need states that Cahill says are ripe for “stacking” are hydration, permissible indulgence and nutrient density – all of which also double as platforms for delivering multiple benefits.
GLP-1s are accelerating the future of food
Taken together, these trends point to a bigger shift in how consumers define value. A product is no longer valuable simply because it contains a trendy ingredient or makes a single health claim. It has to earn its place in the diet by delivering more nutrition, function, satisfaction and, importantly, reasons to choose it.
And perhaps nothing has challenged the food industry to rethink value more than GLP-1 medications.
While GLP-1s initially sparked concern about declining food consumption, Cahill argues they are ultimately acting as an accelerator and pushing manufacturers to develop foods that better meet consumers’ evolving expectations.
And, she adds, those expectations change depending on whether consumers are on GLP-1s, have discontinued the medication or never took it but want the same benefits.
The invisible innovation behind benefit stacking
Delivering more benefits in a smaller nutritional package creates a significant formulation challenge.
Cahill explains consumers may want more from their food, but they don’t want their food to feel like a compromise. And that is where one of the least visible, but most important, pieces of innovation comes in: mouthfeel.
Cahill argues that as companies stack functional ingredients into products, maintaining the sensory experience becomes just as important as delivering the health benefit. Because ultimately, a product only succeeds if consumers want to eat it again.
“If we want to help everybody be healthier, we have to make food that people want to eat, and mouthfeel preferences are right up there,” she said.
Benefit stacking can insulate products in a difficult economy
The shift from focusing on hero ingredients to benefit stacking has just as much to do with value perceptions in a difficult economy as it does with consumers seeking nutrient density as the cut back on volume.
As Cahill notes, consumers are weighing whether a product delivers benefits that matter to them, whether it fits into their daily routines, whether they enjoy consuming it — and whether those benefits justify the cost.
For manufacturers, that creates a new challenge. The goal is no longer simply adding more ingredients or making bigger health claims. It’s identifying the combination of benefits consumers truly value and delivering them in a product that is affordable, accessible and enjoyable enough to become part of everyday life.
In short: The future of food innovation belongs to the products that quietly solve multiple consumer needs at once.
