According to Simmons NCS/NHCS, nearly two thirds of respondents often snack between meals; yet, only 27% report usually only snacking on healthy foods. Although this represents a small share of highly-committed healthy snackers, the incidence for occasional healthy snack consumption is far-reaching.

Mintel’s custom research finds that among those who eat healthy snacks, the average number of snacks consumed in a given day is 2.55, of which 1.81 are considered healthy snacks. This means that 78% of daily snacks are nutritious choices, which are balanced by a smaller share of indulgent or “junk” food snacks each day.

It does seem that there’s disconnect between consumers’ perceptions of their healthy snacking habits and trends in the incidence for overweight/obese Americans. This report explores this hypothesis using consumers’ attitudes and behaviors toward healthy snacking using insight into market drivers, competitive challenges and category innovation.

Among the topics covered in this report are:

Categorization of healthy snacks

Frequency of snack consumption compared to incidence of healthy snack usage

Economic impact on use and innovation of healthy snacks

Strategic marketing efforts that connect brands and product lines with health

The importance of product attributes, diet/nutritional qualities, and packaging/branding on healthy snack selection for adults and children

Cross-tab analysis that identifies a specific demographic that represents the most significant growth potential for healthy snacks

Cross-tab analysis that identifies the most engaged users of healthy snacks—representing the core demographic for makers and marketers of healthy snacks to consider