MICHAEL HUGHES
FMCG Gurus, United Kingdom

Abstract

This article focuses on the growing free-from market and the reasons why consumers are turning to products free from gluten, lactose, fructose, and dairy. The article examples how consumers are becoming more health-conscious and believe free-from diets to have a variety of benefits beyond simply being a better alternative for people with allergies and intolerances. At the same time, consumers believe that following such diets can be something of a challenge. Nevertheless, there is an opportunity for brands and manufacturers to continue to launch innovative new products positioned around being free from certain ingredients.

Free-from food and drinks are becoming more popular across the globe. This is primarily being driven by consumers looking to eliminate four different types of ingredients/products from their diets – gluten, lactose, fructose and dairy products overall. This is not just being done for allergy and intolerance purposes. Indeed, consumers associate elimination of such ingredients with benefits such as feeling more energetic and having a better digestive system. Therefore, the market has grown considerably in the last couple of years, as consumers make fundamental changes to their diets. Despite the recognized benefits of these lifestyle changes, consumers can sometimes struggle with such diets – showing an opportunity to grow the market from a new product development perspective.

Across the globe, the free-from market is growing. This is being driven by two key factors – a rising number of consumers believing that they have an allergy or intolerance and health conscious consumers actively looking to avoid certain ingredients they deem detrimental to their wellbeing. FMCG Gurus research conducted in Q3 2019 of 26,000 consumers across twenty-six countries ...