Designers are sending the latest trends down the runway this week, dictating what’s hot and what’s not. The food industry has ins and outs of its own, with foods falling in and out of vogue. Have a look.
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IN: Fat / OUT: Sugar
Fat: After years of being maligned,revelations about the health benefits of fats boosted sales of whole milk by 5 percent from 2014 to 2015, with skim milk falling 3 percent, according to market-research firm IRI. Sales of Hass avocados more than doubled from 2005 to 2015.
Alamy Sugar: New research published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine revealed the sugar industry paid scientists in the 1960s to downplay the link between sugar and heart disease. But consumers are wise to its games, and sales of the sweet stuff dropped 4.4 percent between 2014 and 2015, the biggest decline in at least four years, according to Nielsen data.
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IN: Coconut Oil / OUT: Margarine
Coconut Oil: Gwyneth Paltrow isn’t the only one who loves it. According to a 2015 study by the Hartman Group, a food-and-beverage research firm, 27 percent of consumers surveyed are now seeking coconut oil (up 6 percent from 2013).
Alamy Margarine: According to the US Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, US consumption of the butter substitute was cut nearly in half from 2005 to 2010, and research from 2014 by Euromonitor revealed US sales have dropped by 32 percent since 2000.
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IN: Pasta / OUT: Gluten Free
Pasta: According to Google’s 2016 Food Trends Report, searches for “rigatoni” saw growth of 26 percent in 2015. Pasta searches in general are also up.
Alamy Gluten Free: The trendy food sensitivity is on the decline. Searches for “gluten-free diet” fell by 14 percent in 2016, according to Google, which also saw a decrease in searches for “gluten-free cupcakes” and “wheat-free bread.”
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IN: Sparkling Water / OUT: Diet Soda
Sparkling Water: A new analysis by industry publication Beverage Digest found that bottled water is on track to outsell soda this year for the first time ever, thanks in part to booming bubbles. LaCroix, the No. 1 brand of flavored bottled water in the US, saw sales grow from $65 million in 2010 to $226 million in 2015.
La Croix Diet Soda: Sales are going flat. Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, the two biggest diet soda brands, saw sales drop by 5.6 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively, in 2015. The decline comes in the wake of research that found consuming artificially sweetened drinks — not just sugary regular sodas — can lead to weight gain.
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IN: Turmeric / OUT: Nutmeg
Turmeric: As the health benefits of turmeric — it can reduce inflammation, cure stomachaches and alleviate joint pain — have been made more widely known, sales of herbal dietary supplements containing the spice grew by 26.2 percent in 2013.
Alamy Nutmeg: While per capita spice consumption has nearly tripled over the past half-century, according to the Economic Research Service, nutmeg has been in decline since the ’80s. While it boasts just as many health benefits as turmeric, it lost its allure when trendier spices became more widely available.
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IN: Green Juice / OUT: Orange Juice
Green Juice: Juice made with the cold-press process, as the veggie variety typically is, now has a $100 million-a-year market in the US. Suja Juice, the largest independent cold-press juice company, doubled its revenue from 2014 to 2015.
Alamy Orange Juice: As Americans begin seeking more veggie-packed juices, the onetime breakfast staple has fallen out of fashion. Sales dropped almost every year for the past decade, with 2015 being the lowest ever, according to Nielsen.In 2013, per capita consumption fell roughly 40 percent.
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IN: Kefir / OUT: Smoothies
Kefir: The protein- and probiotic-packed fermented dairy drink is on the rise. Sales of Lifeway, the largest seller of kefir in the US, grew from $58 million in 2009 to more than $130 million in 2014, according to market research firm IBISWorld.
Alamy Smoothies: Jamba Juice, the largest stand-alone smoothie chain in America, has fallen on tough times. The juicer saw a 39 percent drop in revenue from 2014 to 2015. Once thought of as healthy, fruity smoothies are now seen as high-calorie sugar bombs.
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IN: Whiskey / OUT: Beer
Whiskey: Hard alcohol sales (from liquor producers to stores) are up, and whiskey is leading the growth, with a 7.8 percent increase from 2014 to 2015, according to a statement from the Distilled Spirits Council.
Alamy Beer: Preference for beer over spirits among 18- to 29-year-olds has dropped from 71 percent to 41 percent over the past 20 years, according to a study from Gallup and Goldman Sachs. Mass-market beers have been especially hard hit. In 2015, Budweiser saw a 28 percent drop in domestic sales volume from the previous five years.
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