Consumer Demands in Health and Wellness
Consumer interest in health and wellness continues to accelerate rapidly. This includes both physical wellness (nutrition, fitness, sleep, gut health, skin health) and emotional wellbeing (stress management, mindfulness).
Retailers and brands are capitalising on this momentum by expanding into wellness-related products and services or rebranding existing ranges to meet new expectations. Across food, beauty, supplements, technology, and lifestyle, health is becoming.
Key health & wellness trends shaping 2026:
From tailored supplement plans to biomarker-based nutrition and AI-led wellness insights, consumers are seeking solutions built around their own personal needs. Wearables and apps are accelerating this shift by offering real-time data on sleep, activity and metabolic markers.
Stress has become a major wellness concern. Consumers want practical tools, from mindfulness apps to supplements and sleep aids, all to support emotional stability and resilience.
Shoppers are increasingly rejecting ultra processed foods and synthetic ingredients and instead seeking natural, sustainably sourced products with simple, transparent labelling. Sustainability and clean label credentials have become key in purchase decision making.
Gut health has moved into the mainstream, with rising demand for probiotics, prebiotics, fibre-rich functional nutrition and biotics that support overall wellbeing. This reflects a broader shift to preventive health and daily routines built around immunity and long-term vitality.
Consumers are increasingly turning to snack style products, driving demand for high protein bites, premium mini desserts, grazing formats and “snack tails”. Younger shoppers fuel rapid growth in cold brews, bubble tea and functional tea blends such as yuzu and matcha, alongside the rising popularity of low and no alcohol options as part of a broader shift toward wellness focused drinks.
The increasing demand for weight‑loss jabs is reshaping consumer behaviour, with retailers seeing rising interest in products tailored to people using medical weight‑loss treatments such as high‑protein foods, vitamin supplements and “appetite‑friendly” meal solutions.
Regulatory considerations
Recent UK enforcement shows a sharp clampdown on the promotion of weight loss injections, with the ASA and MHRA heavily targeting ads that directly or indirectly reference prescription only medicines, while simultaneously tightening the rules for food and supplement advertisers to prevent implied medicinal claims, particularly where products (such as “healthy” or portion controlled ready meals) are marketed in the context of GLP 1 style weight loss regimes.
Looking ahead to 2026, we can expect even stricter controls as the new Less Healthy Food & Drink advertising restrictions come into force on 5 January 2026, significantly limiting paid online and pre watershed TV advertising and increased scrutiny of wellness adjacent marketing as demand for weight loss medicines continues to rise and regulators adapt their frameworks to influencer driven and telehealth led promotion models.
Therefore, Brands must therefore carefully navigate advertising rules, especially where wellness claims risk crossing into regulated medicinal claims. Also, with the growing use of biological data and personalised tools, regulatory compliance is essential to maintain trust with consumers and avoid penalties.
For more insights, watch our Advertising & Marketing webinars, including our recent Wellness Claims webinar. This is particularly relevant for those marketing medicines, devices, food, drinks, cosmetics, and therapies in the wellness space.
Additionally, the remaining restrictions on the advertising and promotion of Less Healthy Foods were implemented in January 2026. Check out our legal update on this topic for more details here.
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