Dietary fat is no longer the demon it once was regarded as, according to New Nutrition Business. Consumers on the younger side are quickly losing the aversion to dietary fat and it’s opening up opportunities for healthy fats to have a greater influence in products across multiple categories.
 
A five-country study conducted by the consumer research company revealed that 34% of consumers between the ages of 25 and 44 want to eat more healthy fats. By contrast, consumers between the ages of 55 and 64 who grew up during a time in which low fat claims were heralded, and lean foods were a “nutritional dogma,” only 23% are trying to eat more healthy fats.
 
Today, carbs and sugar intake is more likely to be targeted by younger people, who hold the belief that these two macros are responsible for weight gain. Just 16% of Americans today view fat consumption as the most likely nutrient to cause weight gain, compared to 48% who pointed to carbs and sugar. It’s a complete turnaround from a decade ago, the company said, when 70% of Americans were reportedly trying to reduce their fat consumption.
 
“When people discover fat, there’s such a taste difference,” Julian Mellentin, director of New Nutrition Business, said. “Fat is the product developers’ friend, improving texture, mouthfeel, structure, and moisture content. In all categories, as time passes there will be less reason to produce products that have low levels of fat. The challenge for companies is to ensure they use good quality fats where they can point to a good, natural source.”
 
The declining fear of fat among younger consumers is starting to reshape a number of food categories across countries, New Nutrition Business said, pointing to a number of examples.
 
In the U.K., two grocery retailers, Marks & Spencer and Tesco, both have launched own-label 10% fat Greek yogurt, featured alongside yogurts with lower fat content. Deliciously Ella’s, a challenger brand popular with millennials and particularly those with a plant-based diet, features nut butter cups sweetened with date syrup and coconut sugar. They have a fat content of 23g per 100g serving, with the fat sourced from coconut oil, cacao butter, and almond butter.
 
A U.S. startup company called Love Good Fats, which launched in 2017, now has distribution in more than 20,000 retail locations, for bars which have over 12g of fat, a level of 33% fat content, from a blend of almond butter, peanut butter, and coconut oil. It recently secured $10.7 million of equity financing to accelerate growth. Yoplait, a leader in U.S. dairy, announced the launch of crème fraiche, one of France’s traditional desserts, which boasts a whopping typical 30-45% milk fat content. Butter is also soaring – according to New Nutrition Business, sales of butter have jumped as people ate at home more, outpacing the growth of margarines and spreads by 360%. Irish brand Kerrygold saw a 28.3% sales jump to $235.4 million, which ranks it as the second top-selling butter brand in the U.S.
 
Mellentin said that increasing fat consumption is a gradual but steady trend, interlinked with new weight management strategies increasing in popularity, declining consumption of carbs and protein, and consumers engaging in more online research and challenging dietary orthodoxies surrounding weight management.
 
The advent of healthier fats allows consumers to enjoy a more satisfying taste and texture, and many consumers believe that they can enjoy high-fat foods without guilt, Mellentin said.
 
“Official dietary guidelines in almost every country still call on consumers to limit their intake of saturated fats,” he said. “But a steadily increasing number of consumers, driven by what they discover during their own online research and the loss of credibility of nutrition experts over the last 15 years, are making their own minds up and embracing the idea that fat can be good, particularly in relation to weight management, one of the biggest consumer motivations.”