More help on matching sports nutrition products to personal needs is warranted, given that 44% of those who exercise would like more advice/guidance on this. This holds ripe opportunities for brands, as 67% of category users would like such guidance. However, it also stands to drive category uptake as 25% of non-users show interest in such help.

People stating an intention to focus more on exercise and eating healthily post-COVID, also spurred by the government focus on tackling obesity, will drive relevance of and create opportunities for sports nutrition products among a wider audience. However, the greater focus on weight management makes innovation in the lower calorie and sugar space key to unlocking growth opportunities.

Foods high in protein pose stern competition to sports nutrition products. Their extensive availability is widely seen to make high-protein sports nutrition products unnecessary. 47% of sports nutrition users hold this view. This emphasises the importance for the market of communicating other nutritional benefits and also educating consumers about how all protein is not the same.

The COVID-19 pandemic has added fuel to the ‘positive nutrition’ trend and boosted interest in functional food and drink. There is an opportunity too in sports nutrition for more products with added functional health benefits, given that 38% of people are interested in products supporting the immune system, 31% in products supporting gut health and 28% in products boosting cognitive performance.

• The impact of COVID-19 on the sports nutrition market.

• Usage of different types of sports nutrition products, and frequency of usage.

• Barriers to usage of sports nutrition products.

• New launch activity in sports nutrition and high-protein products, and interest in product attributes in food and drink tailored for taking part in sport/exercise.

• Behaviours and attitudes related to using and buying sports nutrition products.

The first COVID-19 cases were confirmed in the UK at the end of January 2020, with a small number of cases in February. Rapidly rising case numbers led to the first national lockdown, starting on 23 March. It was not until 15 June that non-essential stores were allowed to reopen, followed by pubs, restaurants, hotels and hairdressers on 4 July and many beauty businesses on 13 July.

By September 2020, it had become clear that the UK was at the start of a second wave, and social distancing measures were intensified. Continued increases in infection numbers led to Wales implementing a two-week national lockdown from 19 October, England announcing a month-long lockdown from 5 November and Scotland introducing a new five-level system of coronavirus restrictions.

Despite these restrictions, however, case numbers continued to increase. All four UK nations tightened restrictions further in January 2021, effectively leading to a full UK-wide lockdown.

On 22 February, Boris Johnson announced the roadmap to an easing of restrictions in England, starting with the re-opening of schools on 8 March, followed by easing of restrictions on outdoor gatherings on 29 March, while non-essential retail and indoor leisure facilities such as gyms and pools re-opened on 12 April. Pubs and restaurants re-opened for outdoor service on 12 April and for indoor service on 17 May. It was originally planned for all restrictions to end on 21 June; however, due to the growth of the Delta variant, this was delayed to 19 July. Nightclubs re-opened, and limits on numbers of people at both outdoor and indoor gatherings were removed on this date. The usage of face coverings, while no longer mandatory on public transport (with the exception of the London Underground network and London buses) or in shops, remains strongly recommended by the government and many businesses at the time of writing.

The Welsh and Scottish governments also gave more details on their plans to ease restrictions, with both nations taking a slightly more cautious approach to the one planned for England.

Even before the full re-opening of the economy, retail sales and Mintel’s own household finances tracker provided encouraging signs of a rapid return to consumer confidence and a willingness to spend at least some of the savings that many households were able to build up over lockdown period.

The UK’s vaccination programme started on 8 December 2020. As of 12 September 2021, 89% of the UK over-16s population had received their first dose of the vaccine, and 81% had received their second dose.

Mintel’s economic assumptions are based on the Office for Budget Responsibility’s central scenario included in its March 2021 Economic and Fiscal Outlook Report, but also take into account predictions made by other economic forecasts, including the Bank of England.

After the fall of 9.9% over the course of 2020, the OBR’s scenario suggests that UK GDP will grow by 4% in 2021 and 7.3% in 2022. GDP is not expected to return to pre-COVID-19 levels until the second quarter of 2022, although this is six months earlier than the OBR forecast in November 2020, mainly because of the faster than expected rollout of vaccines.

Unemployment is expected to peak at 6.5% in the fourth quarter of 2021. As with GDP, this is more positive than the OBR’s November forecast, but the OBR does raise the prospect of long-term scarring on employment, especially in the more exposed retail and hospitality sectors.

The rapid vaccine rollout and the continued efficacy of the vaccine, however, means that more recent economic forecasts have been significantly more optimistic than the OBR’s March forecast, even given the rise of the Delta variant. We have factored this rise in optimism into our market analysis and scenario forecasts.

This Report looks at consumer usage of and attitudes towards sports nutrition products. These are foods, drinks and supplements targeted at athletes, as well as for the mainstream consumer who exercises, such as protein bars, drinks and powders, energy bars and gels and related supplements.