This month’s Times&Trends Executive Summary addresses the hot topic of obesity and America’s rapidly growing overweight epidemic and related decaying physical health situation. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two in three adults are overweight or obese.  The percentage of obese Americans has increased dramatically. Seeking solutions, Americans are spending billions on weight-loss products and services.

Next month’s issue will provide an in-depth review of consumer’s food & beverage channel-shifting patterns.  We hope you enjoy this issue and look forward to hearing your feedback.

This free summary is also accessible via the GMA Web site  at http://www.gmabrands.com/publications/gmairi.cfm

The intent of this report is to better understand the consumers who are attacking obesity. 

When given a choice, individuals dealing with overweight/obesity tend to consume diet/low cal/low fat alternatives at a higher rate.  Marketers need to establish where their food and beverage brands stand today vis-à-vis the obese and overweight individual and gauge how different attributes and benefits can lead to the most effective and credible product story.

Recapping consumers’ battle against obesity and an overweight epidemic – Identifying CPG food & beverage wellness opportunities

More than ever, today’s consumers are faced with the challenges of obesity and overweight health negatives.  Approximately 30% are obese according to CDC.  Here are insights from IRI’s Consumer Network’s unique ability to provide a 360º view of these consumers and healthcare issues, focusing on the obese-stricken consumer.

“Light, lean, low and less of” brands growing.  Consumers have renewed interest in brands like Weight Watchers, Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice – after years of declining sales, these and as many as 1,400 brands with better-for-you words in their brand names grew a combined +6.7% in 2002 in just the supermarket channel.  Consumers are looking for weight-loss solutions. 

Better-for-you products are growing rapidly.  Soy products, nutritional/energy/wellness bars, weight-control categories and bottled energy, sport and water beverages are on fire.  In the supermarket channel, they’ve averaged +18% growth as a group per year over the past five years.  Consumers are buying wellness-management solutions.

Households with obesity issues consume more throughout the day.  Whether it's a food or beverage category consumed primarily at lunch or dinner, dessert or as a snack, households with one or more members suffering from obesity index 12% to 16% higher in purchases compared to all other households.  The only exception is breakfast products where obesity-identified household consumption is on par with the rest of the shopper database.  Overweight-Obesity households are prime prospects for new wellness options.

Whether it’s diet soft drinks or sugar substitutes, interest in curbing calories is most evident.  The best prospects for new weight-loss products are buying what’s available. 

It’s not just diet soft drinks.  In frozen dessert, snack bar, salty & sweet snack and candy categories, the diet or low-cal segments index significantly higher.

However, milk, sport drinks, coffee, refrigerated juices and beer consumption from Obesity-identified households are just at or even below average.  Only carbonated beverages – driven by diet soft drinks – and water are above average.  There are big beverage opportunities.

Majority of inflicted consumers do not treat overweight-obesity with medication or OTC remedies.  There’s a serious gap in effective obesity prescription and OTC treatments.  But given a much stronger reliance on diet, nutrition, and food & beverage regimens, there’s a big opportunity for new and better weight-loss CPG products.

Those treating overweight-obesity with medication and/or OTC remedies will also gravitate to the wellness CPG categories and “better-for-you” brands within meal solution categories.