Nutrition is one of the most important aspects in any infant’s life. This is why, even during the 2008 global financial meltdown, infant nutrition products sales did not witness a significant slump because parents consider it as an investment in their children’s health. This is also probably why in 2018, the global infant nutrition market was valued at $34.2 billion and is predicted to reach $61.6 billion by 2026 with a CAGR of 7.7% from 2019 to 2026. From hundreds of different kinds of infant formulas to baby food products, the infant nutrition market covers a wide range of products.
In India too, this segment has witnessed growth due to rapid urbanisation and rising disposable incomes. Baby food products are convenience-oriented and with rising participation of women in the labour force across developing countries, the industry is only set to witness an uptick. However, all of this growth is not without significant change. With increasing awareness and access to information about health, nutrition, environmental practises and so on, parents today are keen to have the best products for their child. It is not uncommon to hear parents researching extensively and taking opinions via social media for every single product that they buy for their infant.
Hence, brands need to be cognizant of these changing trends in the infant nutrition market.
- Immunity: With the pandemic having been among for over a year now, the term immunity has entered our everyday lexicon, and this includes the infant nutrition market. Parents are increasingly concerned about the functional immunity claims on baby food products and wish to be assured of the same. In fact, in a survey by market research film Mintel revealed that 66% of Chinese parents have concerns about low immunity when feeding their children aged 0-3 years. Since new-born babies have inexperienced immune systems, their diets play a very important role in building strong immunity. And with Covid-19 showing no signs of abating, these concerns are here to stay and infant nutrition products will have to further work on developing products that are beneficial for building immunity in infants.
- Natural and Organic Foods: This seemingly adult-nutrition food trend has now also extended to infant nutrition. Parents are now increasingly concerned about where their infant’s food comes from and what exactly is in it. Natural and organic today just doesn’t mean environmentally conscious food; it also means traceability, freshness and quality of every ingredient. An increasing number of parents are concerned about the naturalness of the food that they feed their infants and want to avoid foods containing harmful substances. Hence, paediatric nutritional brands have to focus on creating products that are almost 100% natural.
- Health building: Health building is different from immunity building. Immunity is all about keeping children safe from infectious diseases, while health building is all about a child’s physical and cognitive development. Food and nutrition plays a major role in this. According to parents surveyed in the UK over the course of 2019 and 2020, health-promoting ingredients are a key factor while choosing infant formula. Ingredients such as Omega 3 are crucial for a baby’s development and must be present in infant formulas. Today, there are several natural fats and oils such as Flaxseed, Ricebran and Groundnut oils that can be added to infant nutrition products. Several other products such as Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT) that are easy to digest and absorb are also being developed by companies in order to increase the nutritional value of baby food.
While it is well-known breast milk is the best nutrition for babies. In several cases, breast-feeding is not possible and this is where infant nutrition products step in. Paediatric nutrition brands thus need to step up their game and maintain a dual focus on global infant food trends as well as creating healthy products that support infant immunity.