Like all aspects of life and habits, nutrition has changed over time to adapt to new trends and needs. This ever-changing process is driven by socio-cultural dynamics such as growing awareness with respect to the health and environmental effects of food choices, areas that are increasingly important in guiding diet.
From the post-World War II period to the present, the industrialization of food and the era of abundance in the Western world have shaped a new approach, which in the last three decades is itself undergoing a significant reversal of perspective based on the pivotal concepts of well-being, ethics, and ecology.
MAJOR TRENDS IN RECENT YEARS
- Sustainable and climate-friendly nutrition:
The main trend is toward sustainable food and attention to the climate impact of food choices. More and more people are aware of the importance of reducing meat consumption and preferring local and seasonal foods. Reducing food waste and eliminating excessive packaging have become important goals in order to reduce the environmental impact of the food industry.
- Plant-based nutrition:
The trend toward a plant- and legume-based diet, such as the Mediterranean diet, is growing. While meat used to take center stage in our daily meals, more and more people have become open to plant-based alternatives with which health and environmental benefits are often associated: in fact, the adoption of vegetarian or flexitarian diets is steadily increasing.
- The practice of mindful eating:
Consists of the willingness to eat consciously. Instead of focusing only on food, this trend promotes attention to the eating process, reconnecting with one’s body and listening to hunger and satiety signals. Mindful eating helps to avoid binge eating and therefore waste, as well as to develop a more balanced relationship with food.
ALTERNATIVE DIETS AND EATING STYLES
Alongside diets that involve the consumption of all types of foods (omnivorous) there are an increasing number of different dietary regimes that exclude some of them due to ethical, environmentalist, religious or trivially fashionable choices:
- diets based on fruits and vegetables with total or partial exclusion of foods of animal origin (vegetarian, vegan, fruitarian diets);
- diets based on the rejection of methods used in food preparation (crudist diets);
- diets with high or low calorie consumption (hyper- or hypocaloric diets);
- diets with high consumption of a nutrient, such as protein (high-protein diets);
- exclusion diets, based on the elimination of a food, or a category of foods, deemed harmful to a particular person;
- diets based on the balanced choice and combination of acidic foods and alkaline foods (macrobiotic diet).
THE VEGETARIAN, FLEXITARIAN AND VEGAN DIET
Vegetarians give up meat and fish, basically, for ethical reasons. While they pay close attention to how foods of animal origin (such as eggs, milk and their derivatives) are produced, they do not exclude them from their diet. In addition to health and environmental reasons, they believe that this is the healthiest and least environmentally impactful way of eating.
Flexitarians turn to a flexible vegetarian-inspired diet that, while emphasizing the consumption of plant foods, does not exclude meat and fish, but urges them to consume them in moderation.
On the other hand, vegans, in addition to not consuming meat and fish for the same reasons as vegetarians, do not eat foods derived from animals such as eggs, milk and their derivatives. By excluding any animal foods, however, these risk deficiencies in iron, calcium, vitamin D and B12, unless they resort to supplements.
THE GLUTEN-FREE DIET
One of the latest trends, in food, is that of the gluten-free diet. An eating habit that for several years has been followed and practiced not only by people with celiac disease or gluten allergy, but also by people who do not have any disease.
At the root of the spread of this food fad is the belief that gluten is bad for you and fattening, but as in everything it is always about moderation.
Excessive consumption of gluten is bad for anyone, because in the stomach gluten becomes like a ball of chewing gum and causes a variety of ailments.
In addition to physical symptoms such as:
- stomach bloating
- gastric problems
- reflux
- digestive difficulties
- nausea
- intestinal gas
- abdominal accumulation
- weight changes
- irritable bowel
- diarrhea
- constipation
- water retention
- rashes
You may also experience:
- headache
- anxiety
- irritation
- nervousness
- depression
- sleep disorders
- chronic fatigue
THE SUGAR-FREE DIET
There is a growing awareness that although our bodies need a fixed source of energy that comes from carbohydrates, the sugars to be eliminated are the simple ones, such as sucrose and fructose, which raise the glycemic index of foods and can cause a dangerous inflammatory state in our bodies.
These are in fact transformed into triglycerides and then into fat that is deposited at the abdominal, intra-abdominal, hip and thigh levels. But it is not only a cosmetic problem, intra-abdominal fat can create serious cardiovascular and metabolic complications.
Sugar is responsible for mild inflammatory states such as:
- cellulite
- water retention,
but it can worsen chronic inflammatory states already present, such as:
- fibromyalgia
- psoriasis
- endometriosis.
So, the sugar-free diet goes to greatly reduce the consumption of those simple carbohydrates, which offer ready-to-use energy but stimulate insulin more.
THE IMPACT OF NEW TRENDS ON THE FOOD SECTOR
Recent nutritional trends and their impact on future trends represent an opportunity for both consumers and the food industry, which in particular finds itself to be at the center of a real revolution. Food companies are responding to these new demands by introducing, increasingly, alternative plant-based and nonplant-based products with an eye toward sustainability and consumer well-being.
By now, there is no food or ingredient that does not have its equivalent or substitute produced thanks to the enormous advances made by science and technology, which never before lend themselves to supporting everything related to food.
A clear example in this regard are gluten free, sugar free or so-called “synthetic foods” created entirely in the laboratory, using genetic engineering and biotechnology techniques and which can be made from plant raw materials such as soy protein or from a stem cell harvest by biopsy from animals (cattle and poultry).
These foods undoubtedly have the potential to solve some of the problems associated with food production, the most obvious benefits result in the:
- reducing environmental impact,
- encouraging alternative diets.
Awareness about the environmental impact of the food industry has also prompted many restaurants and eateries to offer more sustainable options and reduce the use of plastic and polluting packaging. The growing interest in plant-based cooking and has led to more creativity in the culinary world, with chefs experimenting with tasty and innovative new recipes.
We at Demix Group passionately support the development of various projects that have a focus on creating and bringing to market innovative solutions to support the production of foods that encourage the adoption of the diets mentioned in this article, among which we mention that of “Enjoy Food“, “Metacibus.” and “Ultimo Tocco“
