Tapping into kids eating habits

The eating habits of young people remain a hot topic for food manufacturers and retailers, which recognize that they are targeting a fickle audience, Mintel said.

However, they are having an increasing influence on the food that is eaten at mealtimes in the home and a Mintel survey showed that teens in particular are receptive to healthy eating messages.

The report called Kids' and Teens' Eating Habits - US ​said that 66 percent of teens believed "eating gives you energy/vitality", ​while 61 percent said “it's important to eat a balanced diet”.​

Chris Haack, senior analyst at Mintel, said: “Kids understand that food gives them energy and improves their overall health. ​

“Now the challenge is to motivate more young people to actively improve what, when and how much they eat, to place healthfulness above indulgence more frequently than not.​

"Health and wellness campaigns have impacted kids' and teens' food perceptions, but they haven't completely changed their eating habits. ​

"Companies need to find ways to reinvent home-based meals and energize healthy snacking, so today's youth can see the benefits of better nutrition and take action." ​

Obesity ​

An estimated 22m children under the age of five are overweight worldwide, according to World Health Organization figures. In the USA the number of overweight children has doubled since 1980.

Pressure to improve health has been exerted by outside forces such as the government due to rising obesity rates and this has made many food and snack manufacturers wary of how they market their products,

Some food and beverage companies are taking the initiative to help improve nutrition with schemes such as the self regulation of junk food advertising to children and efforts to provide lower-calorie and smaller-portion options in school vending machines.

But Mintel added: “In spite of this, new products aimed at teens and kids abound in the snack and food aisles, and all evidence shows that this will continue to be the case.”​

When asked why they eat what they eat, Mintel found that 42 percent of kids and teens reach for foods that give them more energy. Also 35 percent purposefully eat foods that are rich in vitamins and nutrients, and 22 percent look for foods low-in-sugar.

Purchasing power​

A separate report from Business Insights, called Ethical and Wellness Food and Drinks for Kids, said that parents are the dominant food purchasers for a shorter time as children begin to gain more independence and assert their purchasing power from a younger age.

It added that marketers are appealing to parents by printing clear and bold health and ethical claims on the packaging of kids’ food and drinks. However, these products also need to appeal to children.

Children are also becoming more brand conscious from a younger age and “demanding more gourmet and exotic ingredients”.

At the same time their purchasing power appears to be increasing as the amount of pocket money received by US children, aged five-to-nine, rose from $4.2 per week in 2001 to $8.2 in 2006.