FoodScience Corporation | United States

Pet health trends

Over the last 45 years, FoodScience® Corporation has learned that pet health trends follow closely behind human health trends. 

Consumers are now seeking out healthier options that are grain-free, higher protein, all-natural, balanced, low carbohydrate, made with whole food ingredients, free of preservatives, and even diets that are fortified with vitamins, minerals, and herbs. As these diets gain traction in the human market, there is a commiserate explosion of similar healthy diets for pets. 

In 1972, FoodScience started making nutritional supplements for humans and quickly realized that pet owners wanted the same products for their animals.

Health conscious

Around the world, people are becoming more health conscious and they are willing to pay for healthier alternatives. 

According to a 2015 poll of 30,000 consumers from 60 countries, 80% of people are choosing healthier food to help prevent disease. ‘All-natural’ product sales are up 28% and organic product sales are up by 24%. The poll found that young people (under age 20) are highly interested in buying healthier options and 41% said they would spend a premium for healthier products, while 21-32% of older adults said they would do the same.

Natural alternatives

Healthy choices go beyond food. Consumers also want natural alternatives to prescription medications for themselves and their pets. They are worried about unwanted side effects from medications that don’t address the root cause of disease, but instead mask the symptoms. They don’t want their pets to be on long-term medications that are expensive. 

Increasingly educated, consumers realize that health comes with diet, exercise, lifestyle changes, and optimum nutrition. They want to support the body’s natural healing process to prevent disease. And they apply these lessons to their own health and that of their pets. For these reasons, nutritional supplements are one of the fastest growing categories of pet products in the natural market.

Green-lipped mussel

A perfect example is green-lipped mussel (Perna canaliculus), an all-natural, sustainable, whole food that contains proteins, minerals, and essential fatty acids that have been clinically proven to promote the comfort, flexibility, and hydration of joints, tendons, and intervertebral discs. The standard treatment for joint pain is non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications, which can cause ulcers and bleeding, as well as liver and kidney problems. 

FoodScience introduced green-lipped mussel to the human nutritional supplement market as a natural alternative to anti-inflammatory medications and their side effects. The product was wildly successful among doctors and patients and helped to put FoodScience on the map forty years ago. 

Green-lipped mussel carried over easily to the pet industry because, just like their owners, pets are troubled with joint pain and arthritis. GlycoFlex®, a nutritional formula made of green-lipped mussel and other natural products for joint flexibility and mobility, now tops the charts of FoodScience’s bestselling pet products.

Predicting the next big thing

FoodScience has learned that animal health trends follow closely behind human health trends on the national and international markets. Humans are more and more concerned about making healthy choices for themselves and their companion animals, the world over. These purchasing patterns will only increase as young, health conscious consumers grow older, and sales of organic and all-natural products continue to climb.

For these reasons, pet industry leaders should look to the health trends on the human market to predict the next big thing on the pet health market.

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