Watson Blogs

Although anything can be eaten at breakfast, traditional foods like cereal, toast, yogurt, eggs, and bacon hold a special place in people's hearts when morning comes. Comfort and familiarity are highly valued at this eating occasion, but consumers’ growing demand for healthy nutrition and convenience means manufacturers have to get creative. Check out this year’s breakfast table trends, which include a fresh focus on plant proteins and whole grains, keto and paleo breakfasts, and flax and chia seeds everywhere!

Today’s on-the-go lifestyles have fundamentally changed how Americans eat. Grab-and-go meals and snacks are a way to meet consumers’ needs for convenience, portability, and nutrition—whether at work, at the gym, or in the car. Learn which types of foods, packaging, and nutritional benefits are attracting the attention of today's grab-and-go consumer. 

Plant-based product claims increased by a whopping 62% globally between 2013 and 2017, according to Innova Market Insights, with plant-based proteins playing a key role.¹ Plant-based proteins have pushed beyond meat and dairy alternatives, vegan nutrition bars, and protein-fortified beverages into mainstream products like chips, pasta, and frozen meals. This year manufacturers can expect to see growth in pea protein-fortified products, as well as the emergence of new proteins like lupin and water lentils.

A Nielsen poll of over 30,000 consumers worldwide found that 66% would pay more for products from companies committed to sustainability, up from 55% the year before.¹ Consumers are checking a variety of indicators to see if products were sourced sustainability—ranging from organic to recyclable to fair trade. But what exactly is sustainable sourcing and how can it be achieved in a meaningful way? Learn how some major food companies are creating strategies, targets, and frameworks for sustainable sourcing that promise to take the food industry to the next level.

What do red wine, green tea, turmeric, and cranberries have in common? They’re all packed full of polyphenols—antioxidant phytochemicals with enormous potential health benefits. More than 8,000 polyphenolic compounds have been identified, including the trending ingredients curcumin, resveratrol, and quercetin.¹ Learn what’s driving the growth of polyphenols in foods, beverages, and nutrition supplements and how to tap into this expanding market.

A MOOVING TREND

Recently, trends have emerged that encourage the population to completely eliminate dairy from the daily diet. Diets such as Paleo, Vegan, and the Whole 30 remove dairy from the diet because they claim that this elimination will aid in weight loss and improve digestion. However, dairy is essential to the health of Americans! The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) cover 3 “recommended eating patterns” all which include dairy.

Did you know the keto diet was the most frequently googled diet of 2018?¹ Due to promises of weight loss, improved energy, and the elimination of carb cravings, the keto diet has gained a devoted following. But due to its strict fat to carb ratio, consumers are turning to manufactured keto foods, beverages, and supplements to make it easier. Learn what keto followers are looking for and what you can do to tap into this growing market.

The results are in from the latest Center for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) Consumer Survey on Dietary Supplements.¹ The CRN’s national survey tracks consumer use of nutritional supplements, as well as consumer confidence in the supplement industry. Highlights include growing supplement use, the rise of turmeric, and leading consumer motivations for supplement use, including improved energy and bone health. Here’s what you need to know.

Though healthy eating is in, many Americans still struggle to achieve an adequate intake of all the essential vitamins and minerals. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015-2020, this includes vitamins A, C, D, and E, as well as the minerals potassium, magnesium, calcium, and iron.¹ Iron fortification can be a special challenge due to its taste and reactivity. Learn how options in bioavailability and microencapsulation can create successful iron-fortified foods and beverages that meet consumers' needs.

Biotin is a stable B vitamin that functions in the metabolism of macronutrients such as proteins, carbohydrates, and proteins. Other names for biotin include vitamin B7, vitamin H, or coenzyme R. Biotin is a coenzyme involved in the creation of nucleic acids and fatty acids. Additionally, biotin is an important factor in the creation of fats, specifically for adequate fat production in the body. Even though biotin is responsible for the production of fat, it is not stored in the fatty tissues. In fact, biotin is a water soluble vitamin, nontoxic, and excreted from the body. Low biotin intake causes an adverse effect of fat metabolism. (1).

The United States population consumes well below the recommended amounts of fiber (1). The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines has recognized dietary fiber as a nutrient of public health concern (2).

According to health professionals, getting enough potassium can reduce your risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.¹ Yet most American adults are falling short of the recommended daily intake. Research suggests that consuming an optimal amount of this crucial mineral may protect against a host of ailments including cardiovascular disease, muscle wasting, osteoporosis, and kidney stones. It can help to maintain healthy blood pressure and ensure proper nerve, kidney, and heart functions. In 2016, the FDA added potassium to the list of nutrients required to be listed on a food’s nutrition panel.

The average sodium intake is 3,440 mg each day. This is well over the recommended amount of 2300 mg per day. The recommended amount of 2300 mg converts to 1 teaspoon of sodium or 6 grams of salt each day.By contrast, 3,440 mg of sodium per day converts to 1.5 teaspoons of sodium, or 8.35 grams of salt. Needless to say, sodium is considered an overconsumed nutrient of concern for Americans. The Dietary Guidelines recommend Americans to decrease sodium intake in their diet. With the rise in obesity and sodium intake, researchers found a direct association between caloric intake and sodium consumption. The higher the food intake, the higher the sodium content of the diet (1).

The Dietary Guidelines of Advisory Committee (DGAC) identified added sugars as a “cross-cutting topic” of public health importance. In the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), the recommendation was to solely to limit the intake of added sugars. For the first time, the Dietary Guidelines are putting a number on the amount of added sugars recommended for consumption. In the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines, the recommendation is to consume a maximum of 10% of daily calories as added sugars. Americans ideally should be limiting this to 4-6% of calorie intake for optimal health.

Fatty acids are divided into 3 different types: saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Saturated fatty acids have no double bonds, monounsaturated fatty acids have one double bonds, and polyunsaturated fatty acids have two or more double bonds. Saturated fats are solid and unsaturated fatty acids are liquid at room temperature. Foods are comprised of a combination of these fatty acids in varying amounts.

Here's a look at everything you need to know about what’s happening right now in baking—from spinach bread to charcoal croissants to crackers that resemble Swiss cheese. 

The first time I came across someone with Celiac disease was in college on a night out to a restaurant. I never heard of the disease and I rarely ever heard about gluten-free food. So as we were ordering food, hearing someone say they couldn’t eat most things on the menu was surprising to me, even a little annoying, because I couldn’t understand why it was such a big deal. However, when I learned how painful and demoralizing it can be to have Celiac disease, it really made me rethink how important it is to for the victims to have food that is good for them to eat.

Did you know that in the past four years, the grocery store perimeter has experienced a growth rate of more than double that of the center of the store, with a CAGR of 3.8% for the perimeter, compared to 1.8% for the rest of the store?¹ Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods and subsequent price cutting initiative in fresh foods indicates strong awareness of this trend.

What’s in a loaf? A basic loaf of bread contains four ingredients: flour, water, yeast, and salt.¹ But if we stop there, we’ll have a European-style bread that goes stale in a day.² Bread that is mass produced and distributed needs a little help from food science to achieve machining tolerance, volume and texture consistency, and delayed staling.

Emojis are a great start if you are looking for something new to revamp your products.

Ascorbic Acid, or more commonly known as Vitamin C, is naturally found in citrus fruits and many vegetables. It is considered an antioxidant.

The baking industry has made huge leaps in the gluten-free trend. As people become more aware of their food habits, their demand for food they can safely eat has increased. Here at Watson, we have come up with a line of gluten-free mixes that can be used in restaurants and food service institutions.

July 26th is National Bagelfest day! Bagels are unique in the bread world for their hard chewy outsides and their soft, warm insides. There are so many varieties of bagels like the everything bagel, sesame seed bagel, blueberry bagel, etc. There are even rainbow bagels to keep up with food trends.