Why functional food and drink must align with real eating habits

Together, these factors are driving increased demand for products that deliver tangible functional benefits. However, translating this demand into products that achieve impact at scale is not straightforward.

Fibre consumption is a prime example of this challenge. Despite its well-established role in supporting gut health, intake remains below recommended levels in many markets. Functional foods offer a way to address nutritional shortfalls, but to make a meaningful difference, they must align with existing eating habits.

The multiplicity of modern diets

While whole foods and home cooking can provide balanced nutrition, daily decisions are often driven by convenience, cost, and enjoyment. Closing nutritional gaps requires a deep and pragmatic understanding of the routines and preferences that shape everyday food choices.

As Sagentia Innovation’s Eris Duro, PhD explains, consumers do not follow a single, consistent approach to health. “People move between different needs and priorities throughout the day, across the year, and during life stages,” he explains. “Someone who cooks mostly from scratch may choose to snack on a protein bar or take supplements if they feel they lack certain micronutrients. Being intentional about health and wellness does not remove the need for the convenience and benefits of packaged food.”

These themes were explored in a recent panel session at Future Food-Tech San Francisco, where Eris joined industry leaders to examine health and wellness trends shaping the next generation of foods and beverages. The discussion focussed on industry ambitions and the practical challenges of delivering functional benefits at scale.

A key theme to emerge was the multiplicity of modern diets, where whole foods, functional foods and beverages, and supplements each have a role to play in health and wellness.

Working with behaviour, not against it

Understanding how to deliver functional benefits at scale starts with consumer insight. Behaviours are shaped by habit, context and preference as well as emerging influences such as use of GLP-1s. They may also vary during the day or at different times of the year. In other words, day-to-day food choices are influenced by lifestyle pressures as well as personal priorities.

This helps explain the value of products that fit naturally into established routines, whether that’s a quick weekday breakfast, an on-the-go snack, or an evening treat. It also reinforces a fundamental challenge of food innovation: consumers may care about health, but they still expect products to deliver on taste, texture, and overall experience.

One solution is to optimise widely-consumed formats. Soft drinks are a strong example, as highlighted by Olipop’s Senior Director of Quality, R&D, and Regulatory, Seth Crass during the panel discussion. Olipop has reimagined the soda category with products that combine classic flavours with functional ingredients such as prebiotic fibre, which supports the gut microbiome and digestive health.

“Traditionally, sodas offer limited nutritional value, yet they remain widely consumed,” Seth explains. “This makes them an ideal vehicle for delivering functional benefits, and Olipop was founded on this principle. However, since consumers don’t primarily choose soft drinks for their nutritional profile, our functional versions must match or exceed taste expectations. We achieve this by tapping into familiar or nostalgic flavour profiles.”

This approach illustrates both the opportunity and the complexity involved. Incorporating meaningful levels of functional ingredients such as fibre can affect products’ flavour and mouthfeel. Large scale production may introduce new supply chain and processing requirements too. In Olipop’s case, overcoming these challenges has involved close collaboration with production partners to establish new standards and capabilities.

Importantly, this model does not position functional beverages as an alternative to whole foods. It’s about providing an additional route to improving nutritional intake in the context of real-world diets.

Improving established food formats

A similar principle applies to more staple food product categories. Sarah Ludmer, Chief Wellbeing and Sustainable Business Officer at WK Kellogg Co, says that building on established eating patterns is often more effective than trying to create new ones.

She highlights breakfast cereals’ longstanding role as a platform for delivering fibre, whole grains, and fortified nutrients at scale: “When consumed with milk and fruit, cereals can contribute to a broad nutritional profile, combining fibre and micronutrients with calcium, vitamins, and other essential components.”

Sarah also underlines the importance of accessibility: “For functional foods to have a meaningful impact, they must be affordable and widely available. The perception that healthier options are more expensive can be a barrier, reinforcing the need to deliver nutritional improvements within familiar, cost-effective formats. It’s also important to promote the benefits of diverse intakes of nutrients such as fibre to support a healthier and more varied gut microbiome.”

This reinforces an important point: the impact of functional foods depends on affordability, availability, and habitual use.

Reformulating everyday products such as breakfast cereals may appear more straightforward than launching something entirely new, but there are significant technical trade-offs to navigate. Reduced sugar, increased fibre, or the addition of new ingredients must be achieved without compromising taste, texture, or consumer acceptance.

The challenge here lies in enhancing nutritional value while maintaining the qualities that made these products staples in the first place.

Practical constraints on functional innovation

Delivering functional nutrition products at scale brings a host of interconnected challenges.

Balancing efficacy with sensory performance is just one part of the equation. Stability is another concern. Processing and packaging choices need to consider the protection of functionality over time, as well as preserving sensory properties and maximising shelf life.

Cost adds a further layer of complexity. Functional ingredients and more sophisticated formulations can increase production costs, making it harder to maintain cost-effectiveness at scale. At the same time, communicating and evidencing health benefits in a clear, credible, and meaningful way is an ongoing challenge. Product health claims and the dosage of certain functional ingredients introduce additional regulatory constraints which may vary across markets. Growing demand for more personalised nutrition, alongside the need to accommodate dietary variations and allergies or intolerances, also complicates product development.

Advances in AI and data analytics could offer new ways to help companies bridge the gap between complex public health data and the decisions consumers make in their everyday lives. However, the challenge of translating insights into products that people choose to eat or drink remains. Multidisciplinary approaches are required to make the leap from a concept to a market-ready product that balances consumer desirability, formulation feasibility and commercial viability.

Designing for real consumer needs

Ultimately, the success of functional nutrition products comes down to consumer acceptance.

As Eris puts it: “When we talk about different health journeys, we need to recognise that most people don’t make food choices based on nutrition alone. To support consumer health, we must give people convenient ways to enjoy good food, not just optimise products.”

This highlights the importance of consumer insight and communication. Eris notes that health and wellness benefits are ultimately delivered “by scientific progress communicated sensibly.” It’s about integrated, holistic innovation that connects scientific understanding, product development, and consumer behaviour from the outset.

By innovating around the realities of everyday consumption habits, the industry can deliver functional benefits in practical ways that offer an effective route to improving population health.