Creating Value in Food: The New Economics of Wellness Claims

Delivery

This report comes in PPT.

Key findings

In packaged food growth, value creation supersedes volume

As packaged food volumes stall and calories per occasion shrink, growth increasingly depends on selective willingness to pay. Health and wellness remains a critical value lever, but only where claims credibly add meaning, functionality or reassurance rather than simply signalling virtue.

Mainstream wellness claims lose pricing power

Claims such as high protein, gluten free and no added sugar continue to drive participation and growth, but their price premiums are structurally compressing as penetration rises, formulations standardise and private label scales them into everyday expectations across staples.

Diverging wellness strategies between staples and formulated food

In staples such as bread, pasta, rice and milk, value creation increasingly depends on affordable wellness, anchored in inherent nutrition, simplicity and clean reformulation. In more formulated categories, particularly sweet snacks, health still supports premiumisation, provided benefits feel additive rather than corrective.

Outcome‑led health claims increasingly anchor the premium end

Pricing power now concentrates around digestive health, immune support, cognitive health, omega-3 and metabolic benefits, particularly in indulgent or discretionary categories. These claims erode more slowly because they signal purpose and physiological outcomes, not baseline nutritional compliance.

Coherent, single wellness narrative over claim proliferation

As fortification faces scrutiny and nutritional baselines rise, brands must align wellness claims tightly with category roles, sourcing and sensory appeal. The strongest propositions blend inherent nutrition, selective functionality and occasion relevance, ensuring value-add feels justified within constrained, choice-led consumption.