Functional Health Part 1 – CBD – 2020 Trend Report Extract
Consumers are not only taking more care of diet choices for physical health but are also looking at how diet affects mental health. Food and drink products and claims are evolving to include the mind benefits – capturing the trends for self-care, selective eating, and healthy ageing.
The Rise of CBD
Recent FMCG market research estimates the UK’s CBD market could be worth almost £1bn a year by 2025, which is equivalent to the entire UK herbal supplement market (The Guardian, July 2019). CBD usage has doubled from 125,000 to 250,000 over the past year as 1/3 of consumers say they’d give it a go (The Grocer, Jan 2019).
With consumers finding less time to eat, functional and convenient products that can benefit physical and mental health stand out. Claims have been made that CBD products can help treat a wide range of physical and mental issues from anxiety to epilepsy to Alzheimer’s (Harvard Health Blog, Aug 2018). A wide range of products incorporate CBD including carbonated soft drinks, post-coffee drops, mints, and beer (The Grocer, Oct 2019).
Consumers are confused
Since the legislation of some form of prescription-based cannabis products, perception of CBD is changing, but that doesn’t mean that understanding is level or accurate. The issue is that CBD gets inflated with prohibited forms of cannabis due to its current representation in traditional and social media, and its current experimentalist and optimistic consumer market.
CBD is very distinct from cannabis but it is having a lot of trouble distancing itself from the image stigma of cannabis.
Natural Pairings
CBD is not particularly flavoursome so there isn’t much point in delivering it unless it has a proven functional benefit. Enter Good Hemp’s latest release, with sufficient dosage of 60mg. The bitterness of coffee makes it a good match to the flavour profile of CBD.
Currently, oils and blended powders allow consumers to make their own CBD coffee at home, and the trend is gearing up to launch in the RTD market. This is because the pathway is better through the skin than food. Also, serving sizes better manage intake at an appropriate, safe level (Nutra Ingredients, Nov 2019). We’re likely to see a variety of skincare and personal care (remember charcoal toothpaste?).
Second Generation CBD
Second generation CBD brands will have research-proven effective doses. Generally, 2019 releases had a small amount of CBD. 2020 will see an increasing consumer awareness of what constitutes an effective dose. Entry capital cash is likely to translate into a plethora of brands, rather than a select few focusing on reformulation.
Those that win will have clear points of difference that target the genuine shopper need for accurate and reliable education as well as taste. Research-proven extraction processes will be worth its weight in gold to the upcoming CBD market. Like with olive oil, a violent extraction process will lead to unwanted toxins and depending on the extraction method, the taste and colour of the final product can be improved (Hazekamp, June 2018).
The question we’re all asking in the industry right now is: when and who will harvest first in the UK? Contact us if you would like to discuss CBD in further detail, or any part of the functional health 2020 trend report.
