Sleep-friendly ingredients in snacks and beverages?

The incorporation of sleep-friendly ingredients in food and drinks is expected to have future potential as it closely aligns with many consumers’ want for a better night’s rest through natural methods, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to the company’s Global 2019 Q3 Consumer Survey, a notably higher proportion of Gen X and Gen Y consumers worldwide (79%) are concerned about tiredness/fatigue than the retired Silent Generation (58%). Among Gen Y, the pressure that comes with starting a new career, combined with a typically higher propensity to watch television or stream apps, could play a part in preventing regular sleep, leading to fatigue in day-to-day life.

GlobalData’s report, ‘‘Foresights: Night-Time Foods and RTD Beverages’, highlights a growing awareness among consumers that their diets can have a major impact on their sleeping patterns.

Ramsey Baghdadi, Consumer Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “As fatigue and tiredness are such a high concern for consumers globally, foods and beverages with ‘sleep-friendly’ claims will perform well in an otherwise highly saturated market, as they create a point of differentiation against traditional energy-boosting counterparts.”

Younger consumers are most vulnerable to feeling sleep deprived due to their hard-working, digital-orientated lifestyle. As a result, manufacturers in the past year such as the sleep-easy ice cream brand Nightfood and sleep-friendly ready-to-drink (RTD) brand Snoooze, have been focusing on foods and beverages specially designed to be consumed shortly before bed to improve sleep patterns.

Young consumers are more prone to sleep deprivation (Photo © Angel_a I Dreamstime.com)

Baghdadi states: “Such products are also an innovative example of how manufacturers can stand out from the competition by highlighting unique benefits to consumers such as specific lifestyle/health benefits, as product specificity is a key driver in consumer purchasing behaviour. Manufacturers should use more natural ingredients in their products as a significant proportion of consumers globally are concerned about chemical/pharmaceutical sleep solutions, following global trends towards simpler and more natural lifestyles.

“The key to these sleep-friendly snacks is that they contain more plant-based ingredients that claim to improve digestion, natural melatonin levels and are low in sugar, leading to a deeper sleep.”