Bold colour can power new food and drink products that help consumers connect, explore culture, and find comfort in challenging times, new research from GNT Group shows.

As people worldwide navigate instability and digital overload, shared eating and drinking occasions are becoming a joyful way to come together, express identity, and feel grounded.

This shift is transforming the look and feel of food and drink, putting colour at the center of experiences that feel more social, expressive, and emotionally resonant.

The Gather Together report explains how consumer behaviour is changing and shows how natural shades can inspire new products that reflect their desire for shared, sensory-rich moments.

Dieuwertje Raaijmakers, Marketing Communications Specialist at GNT Group, said: “People are looking to food and drink for connection, comfort, and creativity – and colour helps spark those moments. Gather Together shows how brands can tap into this momentum using plant-based shades that resonate with how consumers want to eat and share today.”

The Gather Together analysis highlights four new trend directions, each supported by an inspirational colour palette to help guide new product development:

• Joyful Unity celebrates communal eating in familiar or reinvented spaces, expressed through warm, hearty shades inspired by seasonal, nourishing, and comforting dishes.
• Cultural Celebration reflects rising interest in regional authenticity and hyper-local flavour exploration, characterized by bold, saturated tones rooted in culinary heritage.
• Sensory Escape showcases surreal, multisensory food experiences that offer a break from routine, with unconventional, mysterious, and futuristic hues.
• Branded Bites highlights the rise of hybrid brand collaborations, from retail cafés to limited-edition snacks, using fresh citrus and floral tones to create uplifting visuals.

In addition to the Gather Together report, GNT is offering category-specific guidance, prototype concepts, and application support across beverages, confectionery, dairy, and bakery.

For more information about Gather Together, visit: https://exberry.com/en/gather-together-color-trends

Vitamin C is a unique, flavourful, and tasty ingredient found naturally in fruits and vegetables, with essential health-boosting properties.

The growth in popularity of vitamin C stems from the ingredient’s versatility across categories where it adds functional health benefits to snacks, energy and vitality to beverages, and natural everyday support for baby care products, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin essential for various bodily functions, including collagen synthesis, immune function, and antioxidant protection. It is commonly found in citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, and grapefruits.

The ingredient is the subject of GlobalData’s latest report: “Ingredients Insights: Vitamin C”, which combines findings from the company’s Ai Palette innovation and consumer insights platform with GlobalData’s consumer intelligence center insights to provide a deep dive understanding of why vitamin C enjoys such positive consumer sentiment and how it is being used as a beneficial ingredient in various markets and categories. The research report also identifies the consumer trends that are driving Vitamin C’s popularity, provides suggestions for other compatible ingredients and reviews how manufacturers can use vitamin C in their products.

Leveraging the world’s largest consumer data lake, with a staggering 61 billion global data points collected in real-time from social media, e-commerce, and foodservice menus, GlobalData’s Ai Palette platform has conducted a thorough analysis of Vitamin C’s ‘engagement score’ and data point growth rates over the latest two-year period. This analysis has pinpointed key innovation opportunities for Vitamin C across key categories. In the food and beverage sector, the primary focus areas are snacks and beverages, while in the beauty and personal care sector, the baby care category stands out.

Beverages

South Korea, the UK, and the US are the top three beverage markets for vitamin C. The natural presence of vitamin C in fruit-based drinks, such as orange and citrus juices, and its increasing inclusion in functional beverages and mocktails have boosted the ingredients’ popularity in these markets.

Vitamin C in non-alcoholic beverages aligns with the vitality and balance trend, which emphasises health, well-being, and maintaining an active lifestyle. This trend is particularly appealing to older demographics, who prioritise ingredients like vitamin C for its role in skin health and joint support.

Olivier Fevre, Associate Consumer Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Consumers and brands associate vitamin C with a healthy lifestyle. Tapping into the health & wellness trend is crucial for brands using vitamin C, as consumers increasingly value ingredients that support overall wellbeing. Vitamin C is strongly associated with skin care and nourishing benefits, making it a natural fit for products positioned around gentle care or daily wellness routines. By delivering added nutrition or nourishing properties, such as natural energy or supporting skin health, products containing vitamin C are a simple, everyday way for families to boost their health and wellness from the snacks, beverages, and baby care categories.”

Ingredients identified by GlobalData’s AI Palette platform are already appearing in new product innovation, tempting consumers with niche flavours, health benefits, and premium offerings.

GlobalData’s AI Palette innovation and consumer insights platform has analysed the data from thousands of flavours and ingredients, pinpointing six that are set to drive new product development in the alcoholic beverages industry in 2025.

Leveraging the world’s largest consumer data lake, with a staggering 61 billion global data points collected in real-time from social media, e-commerce, and foodservice menus, the AI platform delivers powerful insights into emerging flavours and ingredients, as well as category opportunities.

Alice Popple-Connelly, Consumer Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The alcoholic drinks sector is currently navigating significant challenges, including a global trend toward reduced alcohol consumption driven by health concerns, fierce competition from alternative beverage categories, and the ongoing impact of universal tariffs on U.S. imports.

“Tempting drinkers with cutting edge innovation or core brand enhancements based upon new flavours and ingredients is essential for category growth. For example, ingredient innovation will help brewers maintain their “cross-generational appeal”, especially with Gen Z consumers, and compete with other beverage categories in key consumption occasions such as on-premise and at-home.”

GlobalData’s latest report ‘Emerging Flavours & Ingredients in Alcoholic Beverages’, uses findings from AI Palette’s Foresight Engine, to identify one standout ingredient for each of six key markets analysed, that is suitable for alcoholic beverages innovation. These include, White Pepper in India, Tahini in the UK, and Valencia Orange in the US.

Each of the six selected ingredients is classified as having “high growth” and “high engagement” based upon consumers interactions with them across social media, retail and restaurant industry sites over recent years – as measured during the review period in March 2025. The report places each ingredient into an ingredient family, provides suggestions on ingredient pairings, and reviews how brands can leverage these ingredients in alcoholic drinks and capitalise on their benefits.

The six emerging flavours and ingredients identified in the report:

Tahini

Is a creamy paste with a slightly bitter undertone made from ground sesame seeds. Common in Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and North African cuisines. One promising opportunity for tahini lies in the rapidly growing UK stout segment, which is expected to achieve a 14.2 % CAGR from 2020 to 2029, according to GlobalData. Rogue Ales & Spirits has innovatively incorporated the flavours of tahini into ist 2022 Santa’s Private Reserve stout, in collaboration with Honey Mama’s.

Flavour Profile: Nutty, Woody, Bitter

Ingredient Pairings: Chocolate, Tangerine, Honey

Ingredient Benefits: Strong nutritional profile, Creates a creamy texture, Subtle neutral colouring

Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa)

Is a plant known for its red calyces, which are often used in herbal teas, health drinks, tonics, jams, jellies, yoghurt, lozenges and candies. In recent years, roselle juice has become more popular in functional drinks aimed at hydration, digestion and heart health. It is more widely consumed in the Middle East & Africa as well as the Asia & Australasian markets. In the latter, it’s ‘floral’ flavour ranks among the top five flavours within spirits, making it the highest-ranking region for this flavour in the alcoholic beverages sector, according to GlobalData’s Q1 2024 consumer survey.

Flavour Profile: Floral, Fruity, Herbal

Ingredient Pairings: Lime, Lemon, Ginger

Ingredient Benefits: Health functionality, Younger generation appeal, Attractive colour

Valencia Orange

Is a summer variety of Citrus sinensis, which includes other cultivars such as Cara Cara, blood and navel oranges. The inclusion of Valencia oranges in alcoholic beverages, is both appealing and growing in demand in the United States, where consumers express a preference for sweet flavours in wines, beer and cider.

Flavour Profile: Tangy, Sweet, Bitter

Ingredient Pairings: Cranberry, Honey, Vanilla

Ingredient Benefits: Nutritional benefits, Regional authenticity, Versatility with other flavours

Olive (Olea Europaea)

Is a small fruit native to the Mediterranean region, prized for its rich flavour and versatility. The inclusion of olives as in ingredient and flavour in alcoholic beverages is up and coming due to its unique taste profile, with South Africa emerging as a key market, reflecting growing consumer demand for natural and healthy products.

Flavour Profile: Bitter, Nutty, Earthy

Ingredient Pairings: Rosemary, Orange, Lemon

Ingredient Benefits: Unique and distinct flavour, Rich in healthy fats, Digestive health

White Pepper

Often used as a conceptual flavour descriptor rather than a physical ingredient in alcoholic beverages, white pepper is widely utilised in culinary traditions worldwide. The appeal of flavours that white pepper can facilitate in alcohol, such as spicy and woody, are appealing to consumers and demand for them is high in the MENA and Asia pacific regions.

Flavour Profile: Earthy, Fiery, Woody

Ingredient Pairings: Peach, Caramel, Agave

Ingredient Benefits: Subtle and versatile colour, Intensify other flavours, Anti-inflammatory properties

Finger Lime

Finger lime (Citrus Australasica) is a unique citrus fruit native to the rainforests of eastern Australia, known for its vibrant flavour and distinctive texture. Citrus flavours already holds a strong position in the alcoholic beverage market as an ingredient in spirits such as gin and vodka, making finger lime a promising option in high consuming spirits markets like the UK, and in Australasia where the fruit is produced.

Flavour Profile: Citrus, Floral, Bitter

Ingredient Pairings: Peach, Caramel, Agave

Ingredient Benefits: Premiumisation, Versatile flavour, Novelty

Popple-Connelly adds: “GlobalData’s AI Palette innovation and consumer insights platform provides key global insights into which ingredients and flavours are emerging in real time, serving as a powerful foundation for brand innovation. Leveraging these emerging ingredients and conceptual flavours allow alcoholic drink brands to target novel, experiential and health-conscious consumers thereby gaining a competitive edge. Each ingredient identified by the platform presents a unique opportunity for innovation across various alcoholic drink categories, empowering brands to confidently explore new possibilities.”

Most American consumers are now aiming to reduce their sugar intake, and continue to look for new, better-tasting, non-caloric alternatives. Recent consumer research commissioned by food and beverage ingredient innovator, MycoTechnology, Inc., examines attitudes toward sugar reduction and high-intensity sweeteners, uncovering key opportunities in the market.

MycoTechnology partnered with Brightfield Group to gather proprietary, AI-driven insights among a sample of US adult consumers, finding that sugar is the top item people want to reduce in their diets. However, 75% also wish there were better-tasting non-caloric options, highlighting taste as a major pain point in the current market.

Of those who are actively reducing their sugar intake, 71 % report that they do so by eating fewer sweet foods, versus only 31 % that are using products with non-caloric sweeteners, indicating room for improvement across reduced sugar formulations. Additionally, 7 in 10 consumers that use non-caloric, naturally derived sweeteners report that they would be interested in new options. The survey also showed widespread interest in clean label ingredients, combined with negative perceptions of artificial sweeteners.

“This research demonstrates clear demand in the market for new, appealing sweeteners that are derived from nature,” said Caroline Schwarzman, MycoTechnology’s Head of Business Development. “Sugar reduction is top of mind for consumers, but many feel that achieving this goal requires sacrifice—on taste, price or perceived health risks. This trade-off is preventing the reduced sugar market from reaching its full potential.”

In response to this critical food system challenge, MycoTechnology is developing the first ever sweet protein from honey truffles, offering an unparalleled solution for sugar reduction. Following the achievement of several technical and safety milestones, the company continues to scale production and is collaborating with food and beverage innovators to bring Honey Truffle Sweetener to market.

“Innovative fermentation technologies have allowed us to target common challenges, establishing a clean sweetness profile with proven safety and digestibility performance, and low cost-in-use,” added Ranjan Patnaik, Ph.D., MycoTechnology’s CTO. “This new solution is designed to address the top concerns of consumers, presenting an opportunity for food and beverage innovators to meet demands and stand out on the shelf.”

Link between happiness and hydration among Americans found in a survey^* on water consumption habits

While it’s no secret that hydration is essential for health, a new survey commissioned by True Lemon and conducted by OnePoll uncovered its impact on overall happiness for Americans. Among the 2,000 respondents, 46 % who drank the most water (10+ glasses a day) said they were very happy compared to only 22 % of those who drank the least water (1 – 3 glasses a day).

Those that drank the most water also reported finding happiness and appreciating the little things in their days. They also try to improve their mood and fuel their day by staying hydrated (36 %), eating enough to avoid getting “hangry” (31 %) and taking walks (30 %). In addition, 61 % percent of those who drank more than 10 glasses of water a day said they used water additives or drink mixes and powders like True Lemon, while 59 % of those who drank the least water said they did not.

“There are so many health benefits to drinking water, but 43 % of respondents reported that water ‘tastes boring’ posing it as one of the biggest challenges to increasing their intake. The number one problem we solve for our customers is that we help them drink more water. In fact, in a recent study with over 4,000 of our customers, 94 % said we helped them drink more water every day,” said Heidi Carney, Executive Vice President, Marketing at True Citrus. “Adding a packet of True Lemon to your water allows you to reap all the hydration benefits of drinking water by making it delicious.”

^*This random double-opt-in survey of 2,000 general population Americans was commissioned by True Lemon between Feb. 16 and Feb. 22, 2024. It was conducted by market research company OnePoll, whose team members are members of the Market Research Society and have corporate membership to the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR).

Euromed’s natural ingredient Pomanox^® shows potential to help reduce food intake

According to a recently published clinical study by the department of Dietetics, Nutrition and Biological Sciences, those supplementing with Euromed’s natural extract Pomanox^® showed significantly lower levels of hunger and a desire to eat, as well as higher levels of satiety, compared to a placebo group.

In the preliminary, independent, placebo-controlled study conducted at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh1, twenty-eight healthy subjects were given either three-week supplementation with Pomanox^® or a placebo. During week three, satiety parameters were determined on a testing day after participants ingested breakfast and lunch with pomegranate juice (PJ). The results suggest that subjects in the Pomanox^® group with the PJ preload were generally more satisfied than those given the placebo. Participants were also less hungry after Pomanox^® intake with PJ during the meal than those who consumed placebo juice and capsules. Scores from the visual analogue scales (VAS), which record subjective sensations, showed significantly lower levels of hunger and a desire to eat, as well as higher levels of fullness and satisfaction, thus greater levels of satiety in participants consuming Pomanox^® with PJ, compared to the placebo. These participants also liked the smell of the meal significantly more than the placebo group. Interestingly, the consumption of pomegranate extract was associated with a significantly lower amount of food intake during the satiety session compared with the placebo group.

While preliminary, these findings confirm the appetite-regulating effect of polyphenol-rich extracts reported in previous studies, suggesting possible novel new approaches to reducing risk factors for obesity and compulsive eating, and providing more enjoyable meals while dieting.

Andrea Zangara, Scientific Marketing Manager at Euromed, says: “We are very pleased to see these promising results, as they further support the efficacy and safety of Pomanox®, expanding its numerous evidence-based health applications to include weight management and behavioural support. Pomanox^® is available in different formats and strengths, and extracted using safe and eco-friendly, water-only technologies (Pure-Hydro Process^®) as with all the other ingredients in our line of Mediterranean Fruit and Vegetable Extracts™. Their production is vertically integrated as they originate from selected fruits grown in the Mediterranean region – close to our dedicated manufacturing plant and in accordance with strict and transparent quality control protocols. In summary, they are ideal for inclusion in premium dietary supplements, functional foods and pharmaceuticals.”