A considerable proportion of adults today make a conscious effort to either cut out completely or sometimes limit a wide variety of food types and ingredients and this is something manufacturers, retailers and marketers need to be increasingly conscious of in order to engage the evolving dietary preferences of consumer audiences.
Top of the list of foods avoided are carbohydrates, which latest GB TGI data reveals 41% of adults claim to avoid or limit, followed by dairy products (28% of adults) and gluten/wheat (26%).
Whilst no foodstuff appears to be seeing a rapid recent rise in consumers cutting back, equally none show signs of fewer consumers doing so. A handful appear to be gradually trending towards more and more consumers avoiding them – most notably dairy, gluten/wheat and red meat.
16% of adults (8.5 million people) claim they 'always avoid' at least one of these three foods (dairy, gluten/wheat, or red meat).
TGI reveals that they are particularly likely compared to the average adult to seek to avoid junk or unnatural foods generally and lean towards vegetarian and free range options.
This group also has a predilection towards strong ethical principles – something important to bear in mind when targeting this audience with the most appropriate messaging.
They are significantly more likely than the average adult to look more favourably on businesses which display inclusion and diversity and give back to society.
