What role do dairy ingredients play in providing nutritional pleasure?
In recent years, consumers have become increasingly aware of the need for a healthy diet to maintain good health and age well. This means paying particular attention to what they eat. However, eating pleasure remains at the heart of food and is a major criterion of choice. Consumers are looking for products that are as good for their health as they are good to eat. This expectation represents a challenge for food companies, who have to develop products that are both tasty and have a good nutritional profile.
Nutritional pleasure: at the heart of current trends
Nutrition and its growing importance among the population
Consumers are increasingly interested in nutrition. Indeed, diet is seen as a key factor in maintaining good health, and even preventing certain diseases such as diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease.[1]
In 2023, 31% of global consumers declared they had changed their snacking habits in favor of healthier snacks.[2] What’s more, 70% of consumers want to adopt a healthier lifestyle, with 50% declaring diet to be a priority.[3]
However, the pleasure factor is not forgotten
Eating pleasure is a key parameter for consumers, which is evolving to include a healthier dimension. Indeed, 70% of consumers worldwide consider taste to be the main criterion when it comes to determining value for money, and 57% say that it is important to enjoy moments of eating pleasure while taking care of oneself.2 This desire for eating pleasure is increasingly prevalent despite the inflationary environment, with 75% of consumers saying they can afford food ‘little luxuries’. This reflects the idea that food is seen as a way of looking after one’s well-being.[1]
Consumers are looking for tasty products that do not affect their health. The food industry is well aware of this demand, and this is reflected in the market, where eating pleasure is the focus of more than 1 in 2 innovations. These innovations play on sensory emotions through taste, smell and texture.1 For example, skyrs with ever more original tastes (crème brulé, pear & vanilla, cheesecake, etc.). Many are also revisiting classics by giving them new shapes (hummus bars, savory madeleines, etc.), a trend present at SIAL 2024.
To find out more about the trends observed at SIAL 2024: click here.
In short, consumers want to feel good about themselves and their bodies, and this is reflected in their choice of products that combine nutritional quality and taste pleasure.
Eating pleasure: an integral part of nutrition
Balanced, healthy meals have long been perceived as unappetizing. In fact, 33% of consumers worldwide believe that healthy food is bland and boring.2 In contrast, tasty, gourmet dishes are often associated with foods that should be avoided in order to stay healthy. Nevertheless, food can be both healthy and attractive, and this is one way of ensuring that people eat balanced meals.
The importance of maintaining eating pleasure at mealtimes
We often talk about eating pleasure at mealtimes in the context of clinical nutrition, to address or prevent undernutrition or dysphagia, for example. This applies mainly to the elderly, but it is relevant to the whole population, since maintaining mealtime eating pleasure helps to ensure adequate nutrition.
Eating pleasure at mealtimes is also essential during childhood. Indeed, it is during dietary diversification that young children gradually learn to enjoy all foods. What’s more, they tend to eat what they like. For all these reasons, it’s imperative to ensure that eating is a pleasurable experience, even for the very youngest, for whom eating is synonymous with physical and cognitive development.
While there has been a decline in the number of meals eaten away from home since the pandemic, a trend exacerbated by inflation, consumers have been eating out again more frequently since 2023. This reflects the central place occupied by culinary pleasure among adults.[1]
Finally, for adults and children alike, the pleasure felt with each mouthful helps to make the meal more conscious and to reach satiety sooner, thus avoiding consuming more than necessary,[2] and reducing calorie consumption.[3]
Eating pleasure can take several forms
Firstly, the meal is a moment, a convivial time, during which several people share and communicate together around a dish. This moment is all the more pleasurable when the dishes on offer illustrate the values of the guests (the use of seasonal and local ingredients, for example). Finally, it’s clear that the presentation of the dishes, their aromas, tastes and textures form a gourmet whole that pleases the guests.
The importance of dairy products in providing nutritional pleasure
Food companies have clearly understood consumer demand, and are developing products that combine an effective nutritional profile with good taste. Dairy ingredients, with their diverse technological and nutritional functionalities, play a key role in this development. They can therefore be incorporated into products featuring a pleasurable dimension, such as cheese or sweet products.
Firstly, caseins, the main proteins in cheeses, help to retain a large proportion of the calcium in the milk. The amount of calcium in the curd is a parameter that the cheesemaker plays with to create a wide range of textures (firm and elastic texture for cheeses in which the calcium is retained, more fluid texture for more acidic cheeses in which the calcium is reduced). Texture is a central element of the taste experience and is a key factor in providing eating pleasure. Adding Lactalis Ingredients rennet casein to processed cheeses, for example, makes the product firmer and less sticky.
In sweet foods, sweet whey plays an important role in biscuit production. Thanks to its high lactose content, it affects the color , taste and viscosity of products. This ingredient adds a roasted flavor and serves as a browning agent in biscuits, while balancing sweet and savory flavors, particularly appreciated in fillings.
In chocolate, lactose also provides a cohesive texture while improving crystallization, thereby influencing the eating pleasure associated with the product’s texture.
To find out more about dairy ingredients in chocolate: click here.
To sum up, dairy ingredients, whether incorporated into food matrices such as chocolate or cheese, are essential not only for their technological functionalities, but also for their nutritional benefits. They therefore make it possible to meet growing consumer demand for gourmet products, while ensuring their nutritional quality.
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Sources:
[1] Santé publique France, Rôle de la nutrition dans la prévention des maladies chroniques, 2023
[2] FMCG Gurus, Top ten trends for 2025, 2024
[3] Mc Kinsey Company, Hungry and confused: the winding road to conscious eating, 2022
[4] CTAQ, Le retour du plaisir : Tendances alimentaires pour 2024, 2024
5] Kantar, despite inflation, dining out goes back to pre-pandemic levels, 2023
[6] Chaire UNESCO, Plaisirs sensoriels et pleine conscience, les alliés d’une alimentation plus saine, 2017
[7] P. Chandon, More value from less food ? Effects of epicurean labeling on moderate eating in the United States and in France, 2022